THE VERSATILE SPINNERBAIT

If you ask just about any accomplished bass fishermen what his top three baits are, you can bet that a spinnerbait will be one of them. A spinnerbait can be effective virtually any time of the year, under a variety of circumstances. On the shelf the spinnerbait doesn’t look like anything that would appeal to a hungry fish, but in the water its wobbling blades give an appearance of a wounded baitfish. Even if the water is dirty and the fish can’t see it from a distance, the spinnerbaits vibration can bring them in. And the best thing about this bait is its versatility.

Tournament anglers often use this bait to cover a lot of water in search of active fish feeding in the shallows. Your basic cast and retrieve can work, though bouncing a spinnerbait off of cover on the retrieve will increase your chances.

Another popular method, especially in the winter, is slow-rolling the bait. This is just like it sounds. Basically you want to reel the bait just fast enough to get the blades turning. You can cast and count down to work a particular depth or let it hit the bottom and star from there. The more you deflect off structure or bounce off the bottom the better.

Spinnerbaits can also be used to pitch or flip into cover. The fluttering motion on the fall will often attract vicious strikes. Experimenting with blade size, shape and colors, along with the addition of a trailer can help you dial in the right presentation. By adding a pork frog or twin tail grub to the hook it will slow the fall, and sometimes that is all it will take.

Another technique worth trying is to cast out and slowly drag the bottom similarly to that of a Carolina rig or add some hop as in a Texas rig.

When rigging up a spinnerbait you’ll want a heavier action rod with tough line since you should be using it in and around cover. The bait is surprisingly weedless but you will occasionally get snagged. Though there are really no set rules while spinnerbaiting, the pros use some basic guidelines, such as, larger blades in dirty water for more vibration, and narrower, smaller blades for clear water. 

Good luck, KIP POLLAY (AZOD)