Fishing Spinnerbaits For Bass
Spinnerbaits are easy to fish, versatile and very effective at catching largemouth and smallmouth bass. If you haven’t tied on one of these lures lately, you owe it to yourself to pick up some new spinnerbaits and start using them more. Here are some pointers to boost your success when using spinnerbaits.
WHEN TO FISH SPINNERBAITS FOR BASS
Anglers can catch bass using spinnerbaits from season opener to autumn. A spinnerbait is great when bass are aggressive. Flashing, thumping blades combined with a spinnerbait’s pulsating skirt portray a frightened, fleeing baitfish and, in turn, make active bass see red.
Even better, these same visual and sonic stimuli can also evoke reaction strikes from inactive bass, which makes these lures applicable for a broad range of scenarios.
Spinnerbaits are well suited excellent for covering water. They can be cast far, retrieved fast, and have plenty of drawing power to attract bass from far away.
WHERE TO FISH SPINNERBAITS FOR BASS
A spinnerbait’s design makes it well suited for fishing cover. An up-facing hook and safety-pin style wire construction makes these lures very snag resistant and suitable for wood-strewn shorelines, docks, stump fields, weed flats, and inside and outside weedlines.
A convincing portrayal of a baitfish also makes a spinnerbait effective at triggering strikes from smallmouth and largemouth relating to structure or open-water areas away from cover. Points, rocky reefs, boulder fields, sand bars, river wing dams, riprap shorelines and flats are just a few other locations where you can easily catch a limit of bass using spinnerbaits.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN PICKING A SPINNERBAIT FOR BASS FISHING
Blades, lure weight, skirt colour and components are a few things to consider when deciding what is the best spinnerbait to tie on. Here’s a quick overview of these different spinnerbait features.
SPINNERBAIT BLADE SHAPES
- Willow/Willow blades deliver high rotation and plenty of flash. Excellent for fast retrieves and clear water.
- Colorado/Colorado combinations create deep vibrations and the most water resistance. They’re favoured for murky water, slower speeds and helicopter retrieves (i.e., lifting a spinnerbait then letting it fall)
- Colorado/Oklahoma blades are similar to the above, but the Oklahoma blade has a bit more length with less width and, thus, spins a bit faster than a Colorado.
- Colorado/Willow spinnerbaits produce varied vibration and flash signatures, and offer excellent overall versatility. For many anglers, this is their do-it-all blade combination.
BLADE AND SKIRT COLOURS
General rules for picking blade finish are as follows. Use gold or brightly painted blades (e.g., pink, chartreuse) for stained to muddy water and when overcast. Chartreuse, white and other bright blades also work in dirty water and on dreary days, but can also trigger clear-water smallmouth at times. Nickel blades are hard to beat in sunny conditions and clear water. Nothing wrong with hedging your bets either and using a spinnerbait with two different blade colours.
Along with water clarity, a waterbody’s forage base should be considered when choosing spinnerbait skirt colour. Terminator spinnerbaits make it easy for you to mimic a variety of different types of bass food, including shad, golden shiner, bluegill, sunfish. Plus, get-noticed patterns, like D-Pink and Dirty Chartreuse Shad.
SPINNERBAIT WEIGHT SELECTION
Having a collection of 3/8 and 1/2 ounce spinnerbaits is going to let you fish many different areas and scenarios for bass. Use a 1/2 ounce for making long casts and covering water for skittish, clear-water bass. It also runs deeper than a comparable 3/8 ounce model. Some anglers prefer a 3/8-ounce spinnerbait for making short, precise casts to dissect shallow cover. These are just a few examples, but you’ll encounter plenty of scenarios for 3/8- and 1/2-ounce spinnerbaits.
SPINNERBAIT COMPONENTS
Hardware impacts spinnerbait performance and longevity. To give an example, Super Stainless Spinnerbaits have a steel wire construction, making them 30% more bend resistant than traditional frames. High-grade, 17-7 stainless steel, ultra fine wire gives Pro Series Spinnerbaits the perfect balance and strength and optimized vibration. The premium ball bearing swivels used on Terminator spinnerbaits are critical for maximizing blade rotation and, subsequently, flash and vibration output.
Pro Tip: Adding a soft-plastic trailer to a spinnerbait adds action, vibration and bulk, all of which help get more bites. Single and twin-tail grubs, swimbaits, split-tail trailers and flukes are a few options to try — and be sure to watch for the new CrushCity Freeloader, which is designed to pair perfectly with Terminator spinnerbaits.
ROD, REEL AND LINE OPTIONS FOR SPINNERBAITS
Given the variety of fishing scenarios where spinnerbaits can be fished, it should come as no surprise several different rods, reels and lines can be used. What’s critical, however, is the setup provide some give.
A moderate to fast casting rod is popular for fishing spinnerbaits. These rods provide adequate flex, which helps a bass get a mouthful when it strikes and lets the angler play the fish without the hook tearing out. Some options to consider include the 6’7” to 7’5” medium and medium-heavy, fast action Omen Black Gen III casting models. It’s worth noting, too, that some anglers prefer using crankbait casting rods for spinnerbaits, so personal preferences play a role in gear selection.
Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon will serve you well for most spinnerbait situations. Consider 14-pound the minimum; use 20-pound around heavy cover.
Fast baitcasting reels with 7.1:1 to 8.1:1 gear ratios are fantastic for burning spinnerbaits for summertime smallmouth. The Inception G2, Modus SZ2 or Modus C2 are a few options to consider. Reels with a gear ratio around 6.6:1, like an Origin F1 or Inception, excel for moderate retrieves, which have merit when fishing these lures in stained to muddy water conditions or when using a double Colorado bladed spinnerbait in cold water.
Versatile, easy to fish and very effective at triggering strikes, there’s a reason a spinnerbait is often heralded as one of the best bass lures of all time. Tie one on and see for yourself how potent these lures really are at catching bass.