Hey Al... Homemade Spinner And Buzz Baits For Idiots

[Al Agnew]

Here's a diagram of how to finish off the wire arm attachment, the wire leader, and the ends of the arms of my twin spin:

1. bend wire of spinnerbait head to form a round eyelet, horizontal to the head, and leaving a quarter inch or so of straight wire coming out of the head, then cut off excess.

2. bend eyelet right behind the wrap, so that the straight section of wire and eyelet form a V.

3. bend the wire of the arms into a narrow U shape, straddle the straight section of wire with it, and insert ends into the eyelet from the inside of the V, and pull it tight up against the straight wire.

4. bend eyelet upwards so that it's horizontal with the head, and bend arms outward.

5. Attach wire leader to eyelet as shown...make sure wire leader is a bit longer than the arms will end up being.

6. This shows the ends of the arms, with a double loop and the tag end brought back up against the arm. You're wanting as little chance as possible that the swivel, split ring, and blade will get tangled around the arms.

There are probably other ways of doing all this, but this is the easiest I've found that works well.

[ness]

Good stuff Al! I'm curious what you use to bend the wire -- pliers or some kind of tool?

You draw pretty good too

[Gavin]

You will need a set of round bend pliers for the bends...Most hobby stores sell them...look in the jewelry making section..A good set of linesmans pliers and some split ring pliers is a plus too. A dial caliper or a good ruler helps too. Pretty simple really.

[jdmidwest]

Holy crap, I have not fished twin spins for years. Come to think of it they were pretty deadly, but they just moved to the back of the tackle box somewhere.

I have some twin spin spinners that you simply attach the jig to and some bucktail ones that were molded with the twin spinners.

I have a jig and tools somewhere with all the fixins. There was a time I made rooster tails and panther martins. It was how I actually started fly tying, making the skirted trebles for them. One thing led to another and the original use went to the back burner. I have not made a spinner in 20 years.

[Al Agnew]

I don't use calipers and round bend pliers, even though I have them. Here's how I do the loops and arms:

1. I drove five nails up from the underside of a piece of 1 X 4 plank, so that the heads are flush with the underside and about 3/4 inch of the nails are sticking up from the top side. One nail, out by itself, is a little thicker than the others, about 3/32 inch thick, the others are about 1/16 inch thick. I make two versions of my twin spin, one with a bit longer arms and bigger blades, the other with shorter arms and smaller blades. Two of the nails are 7/8 inch apart for making the shorter armed ones, and two are 1 1/8 inch apart for making the longer armed one.

2. I use the thicker nail to form the eyelet off the head. Holding it by the head in one hand, I use a pair of pliers to grasp the wire and wrap it around the nail as shown, so that it comes all the way around and the tag end goes out at a 90 degree angle.

3. I then take it off the nail, grasp the loop flat in a pair of pliers, and use my hand to wrap the tag end around the shaft a couple of turns.

4. I then cut the tag end off as flush as possible with the shaft with a Dremel Tool, and use a very pointy set of needlenose pliers to refine the shape of the eyelet so that the loop is centered at the end of the shaft.

5. To make the shorter armed version, I use the two nails that are 7/8 inch apart. I slip the eyelet over one nail, so that the hook point is down and the arm is sticking out at a 90 degree angle to the shaft and hook and touching the other nail as shown.

6. Grasping the wire of the arm with my fingers (be sure and leave plenty of wire for the arms, don't cut them off short yet!), I bring it around the nail and out at a 90 degree angle as shown. I then cut off the wire so that the tag end is just short enough to fit between the nails.

7. This next part is a little difficult to describe...with my fingers, I gently push the tag end back toward the arm shaft until I can slip it under the arm shaft...instead of coming around over the shaft, it's now coming around under it. Stainless steel wire is springy, and it should spring back to about the same 90 degree angle, but also be very tight up against the shaft.

8. Then using both pliers and my fingers, I wrap it around under the shaft one more time and up against the shaft, cutting it off with the Dremel Tool as shown. (Cutting it with the Dremel makes it easier to cut it flush with the shaft than you can with wire cutters.)

I then remove the lure from the nails and slide the eyelet over the other nail to do the other arm the same way. The plank, by the way, is c-clamped to my workbench so that it's solidly mounted.

With the needlenose pliers, I twist and reshape the arms so that they are bent at the angles shown in the photos below:

top view

side view

[ness]

Nice -- thanks for sharing that.

[Gavin]

Sweet template...ensures consistency!

[mic]

I went into the tackle store in Highland last night. They still make and sale twin and triple spins. I got some supplies for small spinner baits, and an idea for an inline spinner fly for the fly rod. I'll take some pics when I'm done. I wasn't able to get the high quality ball bearing swivels, because they didn't have any small one. So I got the next best thing according to "Mary" the shop owner.

FYI... If you like the "old school" type shops you really have to try this place out if your are on the east side. They have fly tying material, lures, lure making, bait, knife sharpening, and a gun section. Overall, it has that "place like when I was a kid" feel.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Do jigs, more fish and more lost. For twins you can do this.

http://www.barlowstackle.com/Twin-Spin-Wire-Forms-P913C124.aspx

[exiledguide]

Duct tape buzz baits to your radio antenna or your outside rear view mirror for a week or two until you get the right squeak. Lunker lures always seemed to be the easiest to get a better squeak...........also seemed to catch more fish...........the squeaking buzz bait catches the most fish..