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Put
the right spin on your technique for better odds
I believe there’s at least one thing us northerners have in common with the good people of the south. The safety pin spinner bait is as widely used a fishing lure in both parts of the country as is cream and sugar in coffee. That’s where the similarities just about end though. No history lessons now--but spinner baits have been around for a long time. The first one I used was a Shannon Twin Spinner on Channel Lake. Not knowing what we were doing, my father and I proceeded to slow-troll the spinners right through the weeds. In 10 minutes time we caught four northern pike and two largemouth. It was our best effort of the year--and our only real productive one to boot. I remembered that incident because my father loved to use those lures and bragged how he had a huge collection of them. Years later I acquired my first "southern style" spinner baits and read everything I could get my hands on about how to use them for bass and pike. That never-ending educational process continues to this day. It was only in the last 15 years or so that I have come to appreciate the fish-catching abilities of these great lures. Today’s modern spinner bait is more of a refinement of what was used 30 years ago. Keep in mind that a safety pin spinner bait is a search lure, in that anglers use them to rapidly cover a wide expanse of water. The actual spinner blades come in a variety of shapes--Colorado and Indiana blades, which are mostly round shaped, and also a willow shaped blade. The willow version is long and narrow and looks like a big tear-drop All three styles are designed to imitate a single or small school of baitfish. The blades reflect light and act as a homing beacon for fish. Some spinner baits have extra-long arms that extend out quite a bit from the skirted body. Experience has shown that the longer the arm, the more noise the blade will produce. Some anglers claim fish are able to detect a low-frequency, thumping or pulsating noise as the bait is retrieved through the water. The spinner bait’s purpose is to attract attention, and that it does. Getting a fish to hit is another matter. I’ve met hundreds of anglers who won’t use these lures, claiming they’re too difficult to cast and retrieve or manipulate through the water. I think the reason is because most spinner baits are used with casting rods--and the average angler is more comfortable with a spin-cast rig or spinning rod. But that excuse has been overcome by spinner bait manufacturers who now produce 1/8th oz. spinner baits for use with lighter spinning gear. Here’s how I’ll use a spinner bait on a lake. I’ll look for a weedline near shore. My first cast will be to the inside weed edge and I’ll allow the lure to "dip" into the weed pockets. I don’t let the bait sink too far down. I’ll start the retrieve by pumping it back up to the surface and alternately allowing it to re-submerge as I bring it back to me. If there’s no takers, I’ll swing the spinner bait to either side of the weeds and start parallel casting the outside edges. Sometimes if I’m fishing a back-bay area and there are a number of dead trees in the water, I’ll run a 3/8 oz. spinner bait right up against the logs and see if I can drum up some business. On lakes where there are main-lake stick-ups, like dead, partially submerged trees for example (Shabbonna Lake), I’ll run the bait down a bit so it bumps the tree trunks and flutters around the limbs. I’ll do the same thing around a large dock area, especially when I notice that the dock itself is made out of wooden timbers. The older the timber, the more it will attract algae and bait fish. The food chain is then served by the arrival of gamefish, like a largemouth bass. Some anglers like to use pieces of pork or plastic as trailers on the lure’s hook. A trailer is just another piece of material used to add some enticement to the bait, some gravy if you will. On one Minnesota lake while bass fishing with spinner baits, I kept getting strikes from fish I never managed to see. When I realized that pike were slashing at the blades, I tied a trailer hook on to the lure’s single hook and was able to catch a number of those fish. That technique is similar to when I use a stinger hook on a jig for finicky walleyes. In-Fisherman’s Ron Lindner developed a technique many years ago that I still use today for deep-water spinner bait angling. He developed two deadly baits called the Lindy Spin and the Squirrel Spin. They were smaller versions of southern spinner baits, but designed for both spinning and bait casting set-ups. He believed that fish would chase his spinner bait if it was pumped up and down in deep water, like a helicopter taking of and landing. He called his technique "flutter fishing". Northern magazines picked up on it and before long, Ron was selling Lindy Spins as fast as he could make them. When I’m on a deep reservoir or natural lake and know there are suspended fish under the boat, I’ll use that same technique to entice stubborn fish to strike. And like anything else in fishing, there are exceptions to what has become standard operating procedures. I know quite a few fresh water fishermen who will get on a lake and use nothing but spinner baits all day-long. They’ll often come off the water complaining the lake doesn’t have any fish in it. They made up their minds that they’ll stick with the spinner bait, even though it’s not working. These same people are generally stuck in a mind set that tells them not to change lures and technique, but rather tough it out with the "old reliable"spinner bait. I still maintain that when the tried and true methods don’t work, it;’s time to be more daring and try something like a plastic bait or top-water lure.
©copyright 1997, Mike Jackson Outdoors
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