Spinnerbait

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A Spinnerbait refers to any one of a family of fishing lures that get their name from one or more metal blades shaped so as to spin like a propeller when the lure is in motion, creating varying degrees of flash and vibration that mimics small fish. The two most popular types of spinnerbaits are the 'in-line spinner' and 'safety pin' spinnerbaits, though others such as the 'tail-spinner' also exist.

[edit] In-Line Spinner

The in-line spinner is named for the fact that a metal blade revolves around a central axis (a wire), which may be attached by a clevis (a c-shaped metal piece with holes that accommodates the wire) or by itself. Most inline spinners have metal weights rigged behind the spinning blade and beads or brass hardware that separates the two for frictionless spinning. Due to the fact that the spinning blade cause the whole bait to rotate, line twist builds that creates line problems and tangles. Swivels are used to solve the problem of twist.

The Blade Factor:

As with all spinner type baits, various shapes of blades are used depending on many factors. Speed of retrieve is a major consideration because different blade designs revolve at different speeds. For example, the elongated willow leaf design requires the most speed to start and maintain the spin. The broader and more circular Colorado blade requires less speed and a slower retrieve to maintain spin. An Indiana blade falls somewhere in between. Vibration is higher with broader blades, less with streamlined blades, but flash depends more on blade size, texture and color than on design.

A hammered nickel (pock marked) blade has the most flash in that the dimpling reflects light at more angles than a smooth polished blade. Painted blades can have more or less flash depending on color and patterns, but always less flash than silver finishes under a sunny sky and have more flash under low light conditions. Under low light conditions florescent colored blades stand out over regular colors or polished metal.

Treble or Single Hook Dressing:

The treble hook can be dressed or not, depending on personal preferences of bait profile and action. By itself, the flash and maybe the vibration are the only attractors. But anytime you add something to a bait, you change its appearance and action and may have to alter presentation. The simplest hook dressings have been hair or feather and add a fluttering tail action that is imparted by blade vibration. These materials come in many colors, though black or white have been traditional attractors. Flashy artificial materials such as Flashabou, add a fluttering flash in different incandescent or solid flash colors, increasing the total flash profile of the in-line.

Many believe that a dressed treble presents a body/target that follows the flash ahead of it and that it may entice more strikes than a bare treble hook. For this reason, some companies have added soft plastic dressings to the hook to change the appearance and action of the bait and these are routinely called trailers. Soft plastic trailers have traditionally been curly tailed grubs and come in any color desired, as well as either single tail, double tails or quadratails. The speed of retrieve will always depend first on the blade size and design, but trailers provide lift for any spinner type bait, allowing a slightly lower retrieve speed. The weight material on the wire behind the spinning blade and also been made to look like a fish or like traditional minnow type baits such as the Rapala.

Trailers Anyone? What do skirts or trailers represent to a fish or for that matter, what does an undressed blade bait represent? Everyone has an opinion, but the author of this entry believes that fish have a general idea of things it can eat or attack without danger. If a fish is feeding on schooled minnows, it may attack anything of a general shape or color of its prey. If a feeding or aggressive fish attack a prey item it has never been exposed to in its lifetime, it may do so out of curiosity, irritation or any of a variety of behavioral factors unrelated to prey recognition.

In-line spinners have limitations such as not being good for heavy weeds or where very slow or vertical presentations are required. In-lines are usuall considered swimming, horizontal baits and may be cast or trolled behind a slow moving boat. In-lines come in all sizes: small trout and panfish sizes to musky and salmon sizes up to six inches in length. In-line spinners are a multispecies bait that have a time and place in anyone's tackle box.

[edit] Safety Pin or Overhead Arm Spinnerbait

The 'safety pin' or overhead blade style spinnerbait is probably the most popular spinnerbait design for bass anglers. Like the in-line spinner, the heart of its' design is a wire that is bent roughly 90 degrees and imbedded in lead shaped like a bullet, along with the single hook behind it.

Blade Options: The rearmost blades is attached by a swivel to a bent enclosed wire circle in the overhead wire's tip. An added blade (ie. tandem spinnerbait)is attached in-line on the wire arm by a clevis ahead of the rear blade the same as for an in-line spinner. The characteristics of blades used that are stated above for in-line spinners, also apply to (overhead arm) spinnerbaits. There is no rule for when to use a particular design, color or size blade,or blade combination, but generally the rounder Colorado blade is used for slower colder water retrieves, dropping the bait in a free fall during retrieve pauses or slow rolling the bait along the bottm. (Slow rolling a spinnerbait is similar to the presentation of a skirted jig that is in contact with the bottom in shallow or deep water.) The Colorado blade helicopters above the weight/hook as the bait drops, thus simulating a dying prey target. Most times the strike occurs as the horizontal retrieve is continued. For more on blade hydrodynamics, see below.

Skirt Options: Like in-line spinners, skirt material options are many and depend on the body/target/action profile desired. Skirts are tied on or attached by a rubber collar to the lead molded on the hook. Typical for bass, silicone skirts have recently dominated the field over(living) rubber skirts because of the molded-in patterns, metal flakes and incandescent colors available. The pulsating, fluttering action caused by blade spin is the same as for in-lines, but the body target is rounder and has more action with the similar retrieve or a pause in retrieve. The skirt also slows the bait down with added resistance depending on how many strands are used, but again, minimum or maximum speed capability is dependent on blade size and shape. The length of the skirt is typically 1/4" past the curve of the hook, but some anglers like longer or shorter skirts depending on profile size and skirt action.

If a bait with a certain style and size blade is retrieve too fast, the bait has a tendency to roll over, ruining the horizontal swim. Ideally, the bait should run true, meaning the overhead arm and blade are directly over the skirt/hook on the horizontal swim.

Trailer Considerations:

Spinnerbait dressings or trailers trailers are even more varied than for in-line spinners and personal preference dominates choice. Shaped pork rind and soft plastic trailers are the norm, with soft plastic being the majority material of trailers used and come in many colors. As with in-line spinners, the trailer affects lure profile, action and lift depending on shape and size. For example, a straight double tail design has the least lift or drag and is more of a skirt-like extension; whereas a large curl tail grub produces the most rear action, lift and the largest profile within the pulsating skirt. Pork or soft plastic chunk baits offer the most lift and allow a planing of the bait on the horizontal retrieve.

Wire Arm length Consideration:

There are spinnerbaits that have a short overhead arm and are used for more vertically dropping presentations down steep structure (banks or points). The have a little less weed resistance than the larger overhead arm and blade, but fall better and are closer to the skirted jig versus the spinnerbait design in useage. Typically a Colorado blade is used to slow the fall and create the maximum fluttering flash on the way down.

Long arm baits are used when a bait has multiple blades or when more weed resistance it needed during a horizontal swim. Single large blades allow for maximum skirt and trailer pulsation and provide added lift to the bait on the slowest retrieve. Long arm baits are typically used to cause a surface wake (ie. waking a spinnerbait) when run near the surface or buzzing when the blades chops the surface into a bubbly, noisey trail. For bass, the target hit is usually the skirt and/or trailer; for northern pike, musky and pickerel, the entire bait may be engulfed.

Stinger (trailer hook) option:

Adding a single or treble hook (a stinger hook) to the main hook is also a personal preference and may ensure a better hook up as well preventing fish that jump from throwing the bait. Some anglers prefer the single hook to be rigged so that the point is down, others prefer it rigged up, but in either case the hook must be prevented from coming off the main hook or grabbing weeds. To accomplish this, there are a few choices. The first is to use rubber tubing cut to 1/8", inserting the eye of the trailer hook and forcing the main hook through the rubber covered eye. The trailer hook is now fixed stationary behind the main hook. The other way allow the hook more side to side motion and consist for stops above and below the eye placed on the main hook. These stops can be 1/8" cut rubber tubing or plastic circles cut from the plastic lid of a coffee can and placed above and below the hook eye encircling the main hook.

The overhead arm spinnerbait used for less species, but is a great tool for larger sportfish that dominate the food chain. For smaller species, the Beetle Spin type design is preferred.

[edit] Beetle Spin

The Johnson Tackle Company introduce the clip-on jig/spinner over twenty years ago for people who like using small jighead and soft plastic body combinations. Typically used for panfish, other sport species also attack the bait. A small blade is attached by a swivel (the as for overhead arm spinnerbaits), but the wire frame is formed into a spring clip that opens to allow a jighead to be attached by sliding the jig eye into position such that the jig hook runs in the same direction as the overhead blade.

Jighead dressings are on the short, more compact side and variable in material and design. The curl tail grub is popular, along with striaght tail plastics and hair. The original jig dressing was called the cricket, a straight, double-tailed soft plastic creature that had little action except that it wagged up and down and side-to-side behing the spinning blade or with variations in retrieve speed. As the Beetle Spin became more popular, more designs were introduced and softer plastic was used for better action. Many species of fish will hit a Beetle Spin combo.

[edit] Tailspinner

A tailspinner is a type of spinnerbait that consists of a lead body with the line tie point on top, a single treble hook on the bottom, and a single small blade mounted on the tail, hence the name.

[edit] Blades

The most important part of any spinnerbait next to the hook is the blade. There are several different shapes, and numerous sizes, with colors ranging from gold, silver, and bronze, to painted blades with a myriad of different colors and patterns. The two main characteristics of a spinnerbait blade are flash (available light reflecting off the blade as it moves) and vibration (the 'thump' of the blade as it spins). Some blade designs produce more vibration, while other designs produce more flash. The most prominent blade types include the following:

• Colorado blade: A round, spoon-shaped blade, the Colorado blade is designed for maximum vibration, its broad shape and parabolic cross-section producing a deep, heavy vibration that can be detected by fish at long distances via their lateral line, and by the angler through the rod. It is often favored for use in situations where the fish cannot see the lure very well, such as in murky water or at night.

• Willowleaf blade: A long, narrow blade shaped like the foliage it's named after, the Willowleaf has an almost flat cross-section, and stresses flash over vibration, having very little vibration at all. This type is most commonly used when there is ample visibility for the fish to see the blade flickering and flashing as the lure moves. A popular safety-pin blade setup is to have a Willowleaf blade with a Colorado blade mounted just ahead of it on the frame in a 'tandem' configuration.

• Indiana blade: This blade is a hybrid of the Willowleaf and Colorado blades, sharing design features of both, such as the narrow width of the Willowleaf and the rounded shape of the Colorado, with a curved cross-section halfway between the two. This blade is highly flexible, and provides a middle ground between the extremes offered by the other two, and is the primary blade type used on most in-line spinners.ja:スピナーベイト

sv:Spinnare