Using Spinnerbaits

The Best Versatile Bait Ever Created

      Using spinnerbaits in your arsenal will put more fish in your boat and a fantastic all-season lure. The first patented spinnerbait was in 1950 and one year later fishermen started using spinnerbaits that had a weed guard added to make it weedless, little did they know at that time that they had the best versatile bait ever created. Shad are the primary source of readily available food for crappie, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, catfish, stripper and walleye. This is why using spinnerbaits are a primary go to bait. A survey was conducted on tournament fishermen and pro’s to what type of bait did they use as their primary bait, the number one answer was that 80% were using spinnerbaits, 12% said they favored the jig and pig, and 8% went for swim baits like rattletraps or billed type crank baits.

When shad’s seasonal pattern’s change you will know that crappie and bass are not far behind. In the fall to winter transition, baitfish will migrate to deeper waters to stay for the winter and the fish will follow and gorge themselves on the way to their wintertime haunts as the waters get colder, all fishes metabolism slows down to conserve energy. Spring time comes you will find that shad will start migrating from deeper water to making their way back to shallow creeks as the water warms up to feed on small crustaceans and plankton. You will know that your primary goal is to find the baitfish because crappie and bass are not far behind and that’s why using spinnerbaits are the ultimate weapon. Click Here!

Now that you know that crappie, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass feed on shad comes the task of what types of spinnerbaits do you need to have in your arsenal. When you are fishing for crappie, try using spinnerbaits with a small single blade. Add a small grub as a trailer on 8 to 10lb line, or find crappie spinners that look like baitfish with several different color choices, don’t be surprised when you are in the shallows in springtime and you are bass fishing off a moss bed and a large crappie slams your spinnerbait. Crappie spawn at the same time bass do, they literally share the same shallow waters so you always want to match the colors of baitfish, always remember that fishing deeper waters in most cases baitfish are darker in color so a good choice would be to use more silver/black, or gold /silver type spinnerbaits. When you are following baitfish to warmer clearer water using spinnerbaits the ticket is white shad colors. Early morning or murky water or even cloudy days one of the most productive spinnerbaits to use is the chartreuse/white or fire tiger colored spinnerbaits.

When you start using spinnerbaits more often you will see how incredible these baits are to use in the right situation, you can burn them, slow roll, bounce them off the bottom, crash them into trees, rip them out of moss or rock structures, also let’s not forget humps, points and creeks. Now, with literally thousands of colors, sizes, skirt sizes, blade choices such as Colorado (more vibration in murky water) or willow leaf blades (speed and flash in clearer water) and there are hundreds of choices that can be changed out right there on the lake. In most cases stick to the basic shad colors and keep it simple, you will catch more fish using spinnerbaits.