| Spinnerbaits are not just a tool for the spring and fall. | | | | large bass are waiting in ambush for prey to come |
| Spinnerbaits can be deadly, if the right ones are | | | | along, and are primes areas to slow-roll spinnerbaits. |
| fished in a variety of situations weather it be the | | | | The spinnerbaits should be slow rolled over the rocks |
| East Coast or the West. The trick is to be able to | | | | and such, and extra action imparted to the bait is not |
| distinguish which is the right one for the right | | | | really necessary. It should crawl over the bottom, |
| situation? Spinnerbaits can fished in so many different | | | | and sometimes I give it a little twitch. All you have to |
| ways, all of which, produce BIG BASS from north to | | | | do is raise the rod a slightly, lightly shake it, and then |
| south, east to west. They can be fished through the | | | | continue slowrolling it back to the boat."DEEP |
| water column top to bottom. They are really a | | | | METHODS"When the bass are really deep I employ a |
| versatile bait if you know the little tricks it takes to | | | | technique I call deep pulling; its like a yo-yo method |
| fish them effectively. They can be fished many ways | | | | but a little different. I let the bait flutter all the way |
| by varying the retrieve, weight of the bait, blade | | | | down, and then let it sit, then I pull it hard and way |
| size, the trailer and colors. You have a bait here that | | | | up near the surface and do it again. I use real heavy |
| can work a water column and catch fish from one to | | | | baits with Colorado blades for this, usually in a |
| twenty-five feet, and because it is so versatile, you | | | | chartreuse, or a chartreuse and white skirt when I |
| can fish it fast, slow, and in all seasons of the | | | | fish in places that have dying shad in the winter, but |
| year.The first time I discovered this, I was amazed | | | | anywhere else, I use black, or black/purple |
| at how many fish I had must have missed in my | | | | combinations. I always add a little Megastrike to the |
| youth, by not knowing how to fish a spinnerbait here | | | | baits."TACKLE"I like to use a 6 to 6 1/2 foot rod for |
| in the Northeast.When it was October here in | | | | this but sometimes I like to use a 7 foot rod, on |
| Delaware, I went hunting until the end of Quail | | | | different occasions. Many times situations come up |
| season. Soon after 1976, I read my first issue of | | | | when a 7 foot rod suits the situation better that a 6 |
| Basssmaster magazine, and saw that people were | | | | or 6 1/2 foot rod for distance and control. Most of |
| using this bait year round and catching bass. Soon | | | | my rods I use for this technique are in a medium |
| after, in late December in Delaware, I caught my first | | | | heavy action. I really like a Fiberglass rod for these |
| bass on a "Stan Sloan" single nickel colorado | | | | baits, but there are many new rods that are very |
| blade,(with a purple skirt, with rattles on the arm,) by | | | | good for spinnerbaits and crankbaits, made by |
| letting it flutter into a sunken tree, in ten foot deep, | | | | G.Loomis, St.Croix, Kistler,and Shimano. Sometimes on |
| thirty-six degree water. I soon felt that sluggish pull | | | | the smaller baits I use a spinning rod with Stren |
| on the line, "like a pile of leaves or grass", not until | | | | Super Braid,or Power Pro, but the rest of the time I |
| then, did I realize that I could catch bass year round | | | | use a baitcasting rod with a Shimano Chronarch, with |
| on the right lures, with the right presentation, sound | | | | fourteen to twenty pound P-Line.WHAT COLORS |
| and color. It was well over six pounds, and was a | | | | FOR WHAT BAITWhen I choose a color for a |
| different fight when she got close to the boat and | | | | spinnerbait, a lot of factors come in to play. The first |
| saw the trolling motor. Since that time I have fished | | | | thing I do is pick a shad pattern, or whatever is the |
| all over the United States, from New York to | | | | dominate species in the lake. I usually double up the |
| California, and found the right spinnerbait and the | | | | skirts, to give them more bulk. I use blue and white, |
| right technique produces big bass from all sorts of | | | | black and white, and chartreuse and white. |
| waters all year long. They key is to keep it in the | | | | Sometimes I use red, depending on the location. All |
| strike zone, and most lures are made so that you | | | | of these colors give a good range of visibility under |
| can work them as slowly as you want to, while still | | | | water.In muddy water, I have always used the same |
| keeping them in the zone."DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES"I | | | | colors, black and blue and red. The same goes for |
| like to use the spinnerbait as a search tool, and kind | | | | the nighttime. I like to use the forage in the lake if I |
| of a depth finder, and bottom contour device also. | | | | can,such as rainbow trout or shad, and to make it |
| What I do is check out the structure of the lake by | | | | appear injured to trigger that genetic response.I like |
| bumping objects, and increasing my chance for a | | | | to use big spinnerbaits in the spring, when I'm in big |
| reaction strike right then. The spinnerbait will make a | | | | fish waters, some right here in Delaware or Maryland, |
| different sound bumping off different objects such | | | | or others such as Florida, Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. |
| as stumps, rocks, sand, and pea gravel.I also vary | | | | When fishing strictly for big bass with spinnerbaits I |
| the speed often, and even shake the rod if | | | | add on a double or triple skirt for bulk and lift, and |
| necessary, trying to give the bass a different look, | | | | use really big blades. Terminator makes some big |
| which is important in highly pressured waters. I work | | | | blades that I really like on our spinnerbaits. This year |
| buzzbaits in a different manner also, which I believe is | | | | here in Delaware, we landed three bass in one day |
| what accounts for some real lunkers that I might | | | | on big spinnerbaits, that went seven and eight |
| have otherwise missed. There are times when a | | | | pounds. Sometimes we even break off the tails of |
| spinnerbait is the most effective tool to use. When | | | | worms for trailers, and many times in the spring, I |
| fishing the bait in heavy cover such as pads, I | | | | have caught some huge bass from ten inches of |
| employ a technique that I now know is called | | | | muddy water with a big spinnerbait with a trailer.We |
| fluttering by some anglers.Basically what you do is to | | | | have had a great response from bass in the |
| cast the spinnerbait out into the pads, and by moving | | | | Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and |
| your rod tip, and other parts of your body | | | | Pennsylvania areas, using a double golden shiner skirt. |
| positioning, you maneuver the bait through the pads, | | | | The bluegill and shad patterns top the list overall |
| and when it comes to an opening, stop it, and let it | | | | though. Sometimes reversing the skirts on the baits |
| flutter down. Many strikes comes as a lure sinks.You | | | | presents a different profile, and will also trigger hard |
| should make a lot of casts to the areas where you | | | | to get strikes. The spinnerbait isn't just a bait for |
| really believe the bass are, or have seen them, as | | | | beginners, although it is a great bait to break in a |
| they can be irritated into striking if the bait is | | | | novice or child to the sport of bass fishing. But in the |
| presented in enough variations and positions. Slow | | | | hands of an expert, it is a versatile year round bait, |
| rolling can be extremely effective in deep water as it | | | | that can catch "HUGE" bass.Steve vonBrandt |
| designed to imitate a crawfish on the bottom, or | | | | Sponsored by: GYCB (Yamamoto),Okuma, Delaware |
| another type of bass forage. The trick to it is rolling | | | | Tackle, TTI-Blakemore, and Ambush Lures. is the |
| it down the side of a sloping bank, a rock bar, a | | | | owner of Reeltime Anglers Guide Service in |
| hump, or any underwater structure, and then slowly | | | | Wilmington, Delaware, Anglers Radio in Delaware and |
| pumping it back to the boat. We employ the almost | | | | New Jersey, Reeltimeanglers, Bass Lure Review, and |
| identical technique with a lipless crankbait with great | | | | Delaware Tackle in Delaware. He also is a tournament |
| success. There are also better types of spinnerbaits | | | | angler and freelance outdoor writer. He has over 40 |
| for different types of cover. C shaped baits tend to | | | | years of fishing experience in the Northeast, 5 years |
| work better through heavy pads and grass, while a | | | | exp. in California. He has fished freshwater and |
| V shaped bait gets hung up more easily.Riprap is | | | | saltwater since 1962, and has devoted to freshwater |
| another good area to slow roll spinnnerbaits. There is | | | | only since 1989. |
| often debris mixed in with the rocks, and many times | | | | |