Basic Spinner Bait Questions

[Bucho]

Hi everybody!

I have never fished spinner baits myself, but now that I am the proud owner of both a baitcasting combo and a brand new wire bender, in a country where these things sell at an impressive price of 10-20 € a piece (thats more than 20$), I think I might learn to like them. Plus, they are said to catch big perch. :icon14:

I have some basic questions - first of all, is there a reason why the hook is moldet into a fixed connection to the rest of the lure? I was thinking of a snap to connect any jig to the wire. Does the firm link follow a purpose, such as preventing snags, is it just a way to save time and small parts, or is it just there because it always has been?

Secondly, how come one sees so few spinner hair baits? I can imagine it is troublesome to tie on a spinnerbait jig with the wire in the way, which brings me back to question no. 1.... Then again, a decent baitfisch pattern under a few spinner blades would look pretty slick, much better than a horsehead.

Please excuse such dumb questions, but I am totally new to the matter and yet want to come up with something innovative that is worth its money.

 

[hookup]

Hooks is fixed because its easy to mass produce & 'tune' - meaning the spinnerbait runs true with the hook & lead & skirt on the bottom & blades on top running through the water.

There is a company that makes a spinnerbait with a thick braided wire between the hook & shaft, but I'm not a fan because they cost more money & I believe the hookset isn't firm. But that's just mho.

Now that I just typed that I realize you mean fixed connection at the tie on. There are two types of type on places (not sure if I'm saying it right) but when you bend, there's the standard R shape

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/171213988877?lpid=82

and the closed loop

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/171192340103?lpid=82

The closed loop makes sense for a snap connection, the r bend, again imho doesn't because the snap can slide around on the spinnerbait - especially when a big fish is rigged.

Hair baits are not hard to tie, but hard to manufacture. Think about it, you get some silicon hair, snap a thick rubber band around it then slide it onto a hook is allot easier than tying clumps of hair onto the hook. I've done both and they both work. Even use to tie silicon hair on but the rubber band method's way to easy.

I've built allot copying patterns that work on my local waters.

 

[Bucko]

I prefer the R bend forms. easier to retune after a big fish and they give better bend increasing vibrations. you can put hair on them but you must make sure that it is evenly distributed. if one side has more hair out can cause the bait to run sideways or spin. rubber is my first choice by far. I have tied some with long marabou then rubber over it for slow rolling. only time I use hair on them now is sometimes for big musky spinner baits. as far as fixed hook I only use that. I've tried ones that the hook wobbles freely but find I miss fish on them. with a fixed hook, the hook is always in the right position. only benefit of a wobbly hook is you don't have to retune the wire add much and it's harder for the fish to throw the hook if they start jumping. although those two benefits are good, the number of fish I miss outweighs it. if I am having fish short strike my spinner, I'll add a secondary stinger hook. hope this helps. one more thing, don't go cheap on the blade swivels. if the blade don't doin free and smooth it's useless.

 

[toadfrog]

Some older spinner baits use a double hook . AKA tuna hook Kinda like a treble missing a point except the eye is open . They Weren't fixed hooks . Every now and then I get nostalgic and make one . They nearly always have a closed tie instead of an R . As far as hard core rules for them , My philosophy is " Do what thou wilt ."
I did a lot with buck tail as a skirt . I like it with a hackle feather down the side for a blood line . With practice not hard to do . Epoxy the thread heavy though . Biggest spinner bait I ever made was 4.oz Had a ss wire .090 10/0 hook . Bending that wire was a chore . It was actually a bike spoke .

 

[Bucho]

Thanks very much for your answers so far! What I am mostly interested in is why these baits are not set up in this way, with an interchangeable jig:
http://www.barlowstackle.com/Jig-Spinner-Wire-Forms--P900C124.aspx

Hookup`s first sentence seems to pretty much answer it, simplicity of manufacturing and snag -reducing "true" run. Rubber might be more practical indeed, but I want to distinguish my products as hair baits and at the same time create a new kind of really big bait that uses either chatter bait blades or spinner bait wire as both an extra attractor and a lure speed " brake", allowing higher casting wights.

 

[JSC]

The "Jig Spinner" Harness (as per Link) is used a lot but mostly on the smaller Jigs .. they will nearly allways run true due to the hook and harness connections compensates .. I have used a lot of them up to 1/4 oz in both Bass and Panfish models. Really like the 1/8 jig rigged in this manner .. have had real good sucess with using a curl tail grub ... Hair tail jigs will work good with this (a lot of old time spinner baits such as the Shannon spinner were hair tail) ... with a standard spinner bait with either "R". Twisted or coil bend I prefer rubber/silicone skirts .. everyone has their own preferance ..

Side Note .. most prefer a ball bearing swivele .. they do run smoother unless you get a bad one ... I prefer the "Crane" swivele it does not run as "Smooth" is why I like it as it seems to cause a blade to send out better vibrations IMHO ... have yet to have one not spin when rigged properly (blade, swivele & butt ring match -- I prefer the butt ring over the split ring).

Good Luck

 

[Bucko]

if you are looking for more weight with a smaller profile, check out hidden weight spinner baits. I haven't found a mold for one yet but I'm sure you could have a custom mold made. I buy those when they clearance them from lurepartsonline.com. they are the ticket on windy days. especially for smallies.

 

[toadfrog]

Bucho you're talking about my first love in spinners . You can't go wrong with those . Efficient and trust worthy . Like JSC said almost foul proof because they find their own center of travel and balance themselves well . About the only way they mess up is if the weight of the jig/lure is lighter than the wire and blade . I've even run an inline spinner with the assembly . That gave me two types of vibration coming of the set up . If the wire rig is large enough it can be turned into a buzz blade letting you have a quick change for your lures doing a top water retrieve . Now the clothes pin on the wires where the lures are attached can be directional to wire for turned up eyes like on a flipping jig or Flat beneath the wire for lures like 90 degree bend jig hooks . Kinda have to watch for that when buying or making the assembly .

 

[AtticaFish]

Spinners in general can be very effective on yellow perch..... but do not think i have ever caught one on a traditional R bend spinnerbait. However, the traditional style bent arm spinners here are more geared towards black bass or pike and just a little too big for perch. RonDon has a spincast mold in the swapmeet section right now that is smaller and meant to be crappie sized........ which may work well for perch in my opinion. (may want to watch who's hands it ends up in) With the size your perch get, guessing the lighter weight styles could work very well.

I have always used hooks that are attached straight through the lead to the wire, so can not comment about the ring attached style. Have read a few articles about them though.

As for which bend to use for the wire, there are many options out there. Google image search for: Spinnerbait arm bends

Very little 'artifical lure' fishing for yellow perch around here. I mentioned spinners in general being productive on yellow perch in my first sentence, all of them tipped with some kind of bait. Here is what i and others in my area use frequently targeting walleye, but often catch JUMBO perch on.......

Snelled Spinner Hooks

Weight forward spinners

 

[Bucho]

In the absence of bass, a big ol`perch is a demanding sports fish over here. They grow up to 20", and that makes for a very old, very experienced fish that sometimes commits suicide on northern pike or zander lures but for the most part is very hard to catch.

Personly, a big perch impresses me far more than a big trout or most other freshwater species. I´m totally with you on the effectiveness of bait, but most tackle-junkies, don´t want to get their hands dirty so I rather go with large hair baits.

This hidden weight sounds interesting, smaller size and maybe a burner-topwater application for asp. Just found a supplier, but since I never used anything but either quality Do-it or trashy knock-offs, I´m insecure. What´s your opinion on these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HILTS-SPINN...SB-12-14-18-34-38-1-SELECT-SIZE-/290784480023

Edit: Looked at it the wrong way round, appears to be a regular spinner bait. I´ll go make some first tries with spinner bait harnesses that I can bend myself.

 

[hookup]

I have a couple hilts molds. They work. Like doit better.

But for a true hidden weight, you want

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Freshwater-...aultDomain_0&hash=item1c3e37925d#ht_477wt_867

 

[JSC]

I have the Hilts Bullet Head Spinner Bait molds starting at 1/8 oz up to 1 oz.

The 1/8 should be great for Perch.

The big thing I like about the Hilts is that the Spru Comes in near the stem ..
A little neater and pours well with a bottom Pour pot .. With the Do It (which are good)
you need to Ladel or Hot pot pour as the wires are in the way for a bottom pour.
(Do It states "Not for use with bottom pour")

 

[Bucko]

I have a couple hilts molds. They work. Like doit better.

But for a true hidden weight, you want

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Freshwater-...aultDomain_0&hash=item1c3e37925d#ht_477wt_867

oh no.... now you went and done it.... so if my wife murders me, my blood is on your hands!