Spring spinnerbait selection

If you never fish spinnerbaits you're really missing out on some great action. I've been experimenting with spinnerbait patterns and head shapes for various situations. Seems that, so far this year, the best results have been sunfish and crappie looking patterns. Blade combinations vary depending on lots of things...water color, light levels, etc. Anyway, here are a few pics of the patterns and skirts that are showing good results. All the heads pictured are 3/8 ounce. A couple are Santone spinnerbaits and the others are generic no name baits. All of them have been stripped and cleaned as per another post in this section.



I'll put the blades on with connections that make finding the right blade combo as quick and easy as possible. My goal is to have only a few spinnerbait weights and head styles that can be easily reconfigured to fit the needs of the moment using multiple skirt and blade combinations. End result...small tackle bag with lots of choices. If you got this far you probably fish spinnerbaits... so what's your favorite spinnerbait weight/color/skirt/blade combo?

My favorite in the spring prespawn is a 3/8 ounce with a single number 6 deep cup Colorado. Color pattern I've done well with is a white/chart type color I make that's hard to describe because its actually 4 different colors but looks like white/chart from a distance. Find sandy banks on the north and spawning pockets toss it around any cover, grass available. Otherwise cruise down the bank tossing to the dirt and slow roll out. I usually keep my boat is 3-4 feet of water. If you are too far from the bank to hit the bank its too flat, if you are hitting the bank but deeper than 4 feet it drops too quickly is my rule of thumb for this pattern. I catch some really nice fish that are moving up to feed and getting ready to spawn soon. In Oklahoma this works usually in March sometimes as late as early April depending on conditions. The big blade is key it seems like the thump gets the bite even in fairly clear water. I don't do as well with tandems or willows or smaller blades until postspawn. Summertime my bait selection varies from lake to lake. In the fall I usually go to multiple blades and try to use small blades depending on the size of the baitfish. Color patterns in the fall are mostly baitfish colors whites, blues, silvers, gold, etc.

These are the ones that have been working best for me this spring in 1/2 oz.
- Counter rotating blades in Yellow Hologram Diamond Dust.
- Hand Tied Chunkin Punkin Skirts
- Stanley Pro Trailers.
- A Custom Chatter Bait to match in 3/8 oz.

Good post OKbassforum. This is pretty close to the method used over the last several weeks to catch good numbers of bass like this one..

Some days they're in the thickest stuff other days on the outside edges. The arrow head style spinnerbait with Indiana/Colorado blades pitched up to the edge of the water and slowly pulled thru vegetation and brush was the ticket. Yesterday every fish came from the middle of the thickest junk moss I could find. The arrow head shape cuts thru vegetation like a knife making it pretty easy to pull thru thick stuff. Lost a few larger fish due to short strikes...trailer hooks are just about impossible to pull thru areas the bass were holding in...and too many snakes around to be trying to get a bait unsnagged!! No luck on the Crappie pattern with double willows, but a guy did tell me where he's been catching lots of small Crappie out of brush near the shoreline . Keep thinking good thoughts

I bought some from Donald. I tied one on and threw it 15 times. I really need to stick with it. I know they will catch fish, but for some reason it's not my thing. I've caught them on spinnerbaits before. I just can't make myself throw them long enough to build the required knowledge and confidence in the bait. I will usually throw a squarebill where others are throwing spinnerbaits.

No trailer hooks? Or am I being passe?

Not sure what you mean... so... choose the one you like?

Simple Definition of passé: no longer fashionable or popular
Full Definition of passé: past one's prime, outmoded, behind the times

Pretty sure the Full Definition fits me best

I love chunking squarebills but there's no way a treble hook goes thru the junk these bass are holding in. I did catch a few dinks out of a stump row by bumping the wood with 1.5 squarebills yesterday. Big ones haven't set up shop there...yet...later this month squarebills will be the ticket on that spot. Also, like running squarebill 2.5's over treetops along creek channels in 8-10 foot of water...deadly at times

You are right on that, but when you paint them yourself, it doesn't quite hurt as bad when you lose it. Just paint another one.

With spinnerbaits the head shape is important...turns out the one in the middle (arrowhead shape) is awesome in
vegetation but tends to hang on snags a little more than the top (teardrop shape), but the top head shape picks up a little more trash when used in vegetation. The bottom spinnerbait is a Santone brand and hasn't been used yet. Saving it for the fall spinnerbait bite. My Stanley 1/2 ounce refurb died a brave death....

....it caught so many bass the wire finally just gave up. The bream skirt and head pattern with Indiana/Colorado blades has been awesome this spring...too many bass to keep count. If you enjoy experimenting with lures and fine tuning them to match the bite, spinnerbaits are hard to beat. Keep thinking good thoughts and keep chunkin'.

I've been working on some spinner-bait mods that make it easy to change skirts and blades as conditions require. Not a new idea, but worth some experimentation:

The ability to change both blades in a split second makes it pretty easy to fine tune a spinner-bait bite without slowing down to retie a bait. Just have a couple of head styles and weights along with a bag of blades, skirts, and trailers then its "game on". Was on the lake yesterday and found a spot where the bass were feeding in about 2 foot of water. The area is full of buckbrush, tules and alligator weed. Tried several styles of baits and found a 3/8 ounce spinner-bait was the best tool for the job at hand. Had several bass strike short or slap at the bait on several casts so I started changing things up. Pretty quickly got down to a white spinner-bait with just a touch of red in the skirt. Kept changing the blades until I ended up with the double willow in a #4 silver upper and #2 gold lower blade. From that point on it was all about making accurate casts. Lost count of how many I caught...lots of 2-3 pounders with a few dinks mixed in...loads of fun. Lost track of the time and ended up getting caught in an evening thunderstorm complete with lots of lightning. I'd do it again in a heart-beat. Keep thinking good thoughts and keep chunkin'.

Me too! But I'm talking about the hooks you attach to the spinner bait hook to trail along behind it. Increases hook ups I think, maybe more if a red trailer hook. Below is one attached to the spinner bait hook.

All my spinner baits are extended shank hooks. Not quite as long, about 1/2 inch short of running your trailer hook. I have to build my living rubber skirts longer so the hook is covered. A 6" skirt will do that job. I have never had to use a trailer hook after changing over to the extended shanks.

I almost never use trailer hooks...not sayin' they are a bad thing...just don't use them much. I cast into some pretty tight spots and I guess its a mental thing...worrying about getting snagged on stuff. Usually when bass short strike or slap at a bait I can make a few changes and get better hookups...usually. Takes a little time and attention but its worth it. Sometimes its a blade change, other times its a skirt color change or a different trailer or head weight/shape and at times a combination of all three. Patience pays off when tuning in on a spinner-bait bite. And then there are those days when there ain't nothin' you can do to get a bass to hit your spinner-bait except cut the line and tie on a squarebill or a chatterbait or a swim jig or just about anything but a spinner-bait!

Early Summer Hologram collection for the high stained water. Just in time for the Baby Carp and Blue Gill spawn.

I agree. It's one thing to use a trailer hook in wide open water, but in vegetation or around wood it can be a neg. in my opinion. Many times when the fish are striking short, I have down-sized. A 3/16 oz. SB is a tool that everyone ought to have in their SB box. And just as a crankbait fisherman changes colors until they find the one that the fish are choking on, a SB fisherman should be ready to do the same thing but not only with colors, but with overall size and types/sizes of blades. I'm not a big proponent of colored blades, but years ago while fishing in club tournaments we had a non-boater who would wear us boaters out on many days with a SB with chart./orange blade combination. I bought a couple like his and while fishing by myself would throw it a little and could never catch one on it...lol. So not sure if he was doing something a little different. The photo of the Stanley brought back many memories as the Vibra-shaft was the lure that made me a big SB fan. I bought my 1st one back in the day when W-Mart sold them and the heads weren't painted. First SB I ever had with that much vibration and caught more fish than I had ever caught on one before. But, after so many fish they would break (as most will). Today, what little I get to fish anymore, I like the Talon Shibui with a white/chart/red/mylar skirt. It's the 1st color I pick up and many days don't need to change. Thanks for the thread as I don't feel the SB gets the respect it still deserves.