Spinnerbait Design

[Larry Richards]

What is your favorite color,size,and blade combinations for spinnerbaits.What's in your box

[eric1978]

I'm glad you brought this up because I was going to start a similar post, but aimed at smallmouth spinnerbaits. The responses will vary greatly depending on type of water, color of water, depth, temperature, baitfish, etc...

But for river smallies I like smaller spinnerbaits, usually 1/4 or 3/16 oz, natural colored skirts with whites, silvers, clear and goldish/brownish colors. Sometimes I'll throw one that has a little chartreuse in it, but rarely a purely chartreuse skirt...just doesn't look right to me in really clear water, even though I'll throw a chartreuse/pearl fluke all day in the same water...don't really have an explanation for that.

I prefer smaller single or double willow leaf blades, depending on how fast and deep I want to fish it, but if the water is really murky or I'm fishing at night I'll throw a darker bait with a single colorado blade. I haven't decided which color blades I like best, copper or silver, and I'm looking forward to hearing opinions on that.

I've usually used a trailer of some kind, a single curly tail grub sometimes, but they fall apart pretty quick and slide down the hook if the bait doesn't have a keeper, so I kind of like those trailers that are marketed specifically as spinnerbait trailers. I feel like they hold up a little better. I've been thinking about tying some zonked rabbit or squirrel hair trailers onto some of my baits to see if that works so I don't have to mess with changing trailers when they get chewed up.

I wish some guys who have made their own spinnerbaits would share some pictures of their inventions, ahem...Al.

[Al Agnew]

Here ya go, Eric...

This is my homemade twin spin. I fish it in everything from extremely clear to moderately murky water, anytime I think the fish will be looking up. Most retrieves are fast and close to the surface. If I want to fish a spinnerbait slower and deeper, I go with a "regular" safety pin type spinnerbait, usually tandem spin with smallish willow leaf blades, but I also will fish Indiana blade single spins. I always use a trailer--curly tail grub. To solve the problem of the trailer grub sliding down the hook, I don't thread it on the hook, instead I nose hook it. I also always use a trailer hook on the twin spin, even though probably 95% of the fish are hooked on the main hook.

Color--I'll usually go with chartreuse, white, or a chartreuse/white combination on the twin spin. I'll stick with light colors on any bait that the fish will be looking up at, unless the water is very murky, then I'll use black. For spinnerbaits with a deeper retrieve, I'll use browns, black, or some I tie myself with green, gray, and white bucktail.

[cnr]

Al

Do you pour your own jig heads with this so you have the correct wire to then bend and attach to the cross piece?

cnrMark

[eric1978]

Here ya go, Eric...

This is my homemade twin spin. I fish it in everything from extremely clear to moderately murky water, anytime I think the fish will be looking up. Most retrieves are fast and close to the surface. If I want to fish a spinnerbait slower and deeper, I go with a "regular" safety pin type spinnerbait, usually tandem spin with smallish willow leaf blades, but I also will fish Indiana blade single spins. I always use a trailer--curly tail grub. To solve the problem of the trailer grub sliding down the hook, I don't thread it on the hook, instead I nose hook it. I also always use a trailer hook on the twin spin, even though probably 95% of the fish are hooked on the main hook.

Color--I'll usually go with chartreuse, white, or a chartreuse/white combination on the twin spin. I'll stick with light colors on any bait that the fish will be looking up at, unless the water is very murky, then I'll use black. For spinnerbaits with a deeper retrieve, I'll use browns, black, or some I tie myself with green, gray, and white bucktail.

That's a very interesting lure, Al, and wasn't exactly as I had envisioned it. Would you mind sharing what led you to that design? The evolution of how baits arrive at their final design and the thought process behind it interests me, and I'm betting that lure is very different from the original incarnation.

[fishinwrench]

Here ya go, Eric...

This is my homemade twin spin. I fish it in everything from extremely clear to moderately murky water, anytime I think the fish will be looking up. Most retrieves are fast and close to the surface. If I want to fish a spinnerbait slower and deeper, I go with a "regular" safety pin type spinnerbait, usually tandem spin with smallish willow leaf blades, but I also will fish Indiana blade single spins. I always use a trailer--curly tail grub. To solve the problem of the trailer grub sliding down the hook, I don't thread it on the hook, instead I nose hook it. I also always use a trailer hook on the twin spin, even though probably 95% of the fish are hooked on the main hook.

Color--I'll usually go with chartreuse, white, or a chartreuse/white combination on the twin spin. I'll stick with light colors on any bait that the fish will be looking up at, unless the water is very murky, then I'll use black. For spinnerbaits with a deeper retrieve, I'll use browns, black, or some I tie myself with green, gray, and white bucktail.

For the love of Pete, Al.... That thing is built for Musky

[Al Agnew]

Ain't that big, Wrench, quarter-ounce head, little blades, arms spread about two inches wide. Add a 3 or 4 inch curly tail grub and the whole thing is maybe 5-6 inches.

Nope, don't pour my own, just buy quarter ounce spinnerbait heads/frames. Bend the wire to make the eyelet and cut off the excess, add the wire for the arms, add the length of wire in the front to tie to, tie on the bucktail, add swivels and blades. (Well actually I tie on the bucktail right after bending the wire and cutting off the excess.)

Eric...not much of a real evolution. This is pretty much like the old Shannon Twin Spin, same size more or less as their quarter ounce model. That lure was produced up until about 20 years ago. For a while I did pour mine using a mold I made from a Shannon, but decided it was easier to just use spinnerbait heads. Trickiest part has always been to make the spinner arms, especially to make the ends that the swivel attaches to so that the swivel, split ring, and blade didn't get all tangled up around the end of the wire. The original Shannons didn't have that problem because they soldered the eyelets at the end of the wires, so it was a clean loop with nothing to hang on. Later Shannons just bent the wire into a double loop, which did allow the stuff to tangle occasionally. I never figured out a way to solder stainless steel wire, so experimented with different loop configurations until I came up with my current design.

[lonkm]

Ain't that big, Wrench, quarter-ounce head, little blades, arms spread about two inches wide. Add a 3 or 4 inch curly tail grub and the whole thing is maybe 5-6 inches.

Nope, don't pour my own, just buy quarter ounce spinnerbait heads/frames. Bend the wire to make the eyelet and cut off the excess, add the wire for the arms, add the length of wire in the front to tie to, tie on the bucktail, add swivels and blades. (Well actually I tie on the bucktail right after bending the wire and cutting off the excess.)

Eric...not much of a real evolution. This is pretty much like the old Shannon Twin Spin, same size more or less as their quarter ounce model. That lure was produced up until about 20 years ago. For a while I did pour mine using a mold I made from a Shannon, but decided it was easier to just use spinnerbait heads. Trickiest part has always been to make the spinner arms, especially to make the ends that the swivel attaches to so that the swivel, split ring, and blade didn't get all tangled up around the end of the wire. The original Shannons didn't have that problem because they soldered the eyelets at the end of the wires, so it was a clean loop with nothing to hang on. Later Shannons just bent the wire into a double loop, which did allow the stuff to tangle occasionally. I never figured out a way to solder stainless steel wire, so experimented with different loop configurations until I came up with my current design.

what are you doing for wire? cutting up safety pin spinners?

[eric1978]

Ain't that big, Wrench, quarter-ounce head, little blades, arms spread about two inches wide. Add a 3 or 4 inch curly tail grub and the whole thing is maybe 5-6 inches.

Nope, don't pour my own, just buy quarter ounce spinnerbait heads/frames. Bend the wire to make the eyelet and cut off the excess, add the wire for the arms, add the length of wire in the front to tie to, tie on the bucktail, add swivels and blades. (Well actually I tie on the bucktail right after bending the wire and cutting off the excess.)

Eric...not much of a real evolution. This is pretty much like the old Shannon Twin Spin, same size more or less as their quarter ounce model. That lure was produced up until about 20 years ago. For a while I did pour mine using a mold I made from a Shannon, but decided it was easier to just use spinnerbait heads. Trickiest part has always been to make the spinner arms, especially to make the ends that the swivel attaches to so that the swivel, split ring, and blade didn't get all tangled up around the end of the wire. The original Shannons didn't have that problem because they soldered the eyelets at the end of the wires, so it was a clean loop with nothing to hang on. Later Shannons just bent the wire into a double loop, which did allow the stuff to tangle occasionally. I never figured out a way to solder stainless steel wire, so experimented with different loop configurations until I came up with my current design.

I guess I'm just wondering what the advantage of the two spinners is? Profile? They're painted so it can't be about flashiness. Enlighten me, sensei.

[Ham]

What is your favorite color,size,and blade combinations for spinnerbaits.What's in your box

I pretty much reach for War Eagle stuff first these days. I prefer the Screamin Eagle 1/2 oz. I throw whatever color looks good to me based on available light and water color. I do lean towards the shad colored stuff. Typically with one silver and one "gold" blade.