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Old 10-21-10, 07:58 AM   #1
walkeraviator
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Default Spnnerbait Basics

So I have always used the spinnerbaits my Dad made years ago, so never realized the advantages of heavier or lighter spinnerbaits. Long arm, short arm. None of this means anything to me. So school me on the advantages, uses, and purpose of arm length, weight, etc.

I do know when and why to use different blades, and different numbers of blades, but that's about it.
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Old 10-21-10, 09:06 AM   #2
keithdog
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When it comes to weight, the choice is made by what exactly you want the spinnerbait to do. If you want the bait to swim slowly in shallow water, a lighter bait is needed. If you want to buzz the tops of the weeds in shallow water, commonly refered to as "burning a spinnerbait", a heavier bait will be better so as to keep it down at a higher retrieve speed. And of course, if you want to work deeper depths, heavier is going to be the choice. As for arm length, I can only think of two reasons to have short and long. For most of my uses, a regular longer length arm will work best for most retrieves. I've found that shorter arms often cause a spinnerbait to roll to the side a bit. At least, thats been my experience. However, a short armed spinnerbait has it good point when your wanting to work a spinnerbait like a jig. The shorter arm willl help the bait to perform better with a lift and drop retrieve. This is most commonly done with a single bladed spinnerbait. Hope this helps. It's not much but I'm sure your going to get plenty of other advice.
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Old 10-21-10, 10:31 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by keithdog View Post
When it comes to weight, the choice is made by what exactly you want the spinnerbait to do. If you want the bait to swim slowly in shallow water, a lighter bait is needed. If you want to buzz the tops of the weeds in shallow water, commonly refered to as "burning a spinnerbait", a heavier bait will be better so as to keep it down at a higher retrieve speed. And of course, if you want to work deeper depths, heavier is going to be the choice. As for arm length, I can only think of two reasons to have short and long. For most of my uses, a regular longer length arm will work best for most retrieves. I've found that shorter arms often cause a spinnerbait to roll to the side a bit. At least, thats been my experience. However, a short armed spinnerbait has it good point when your wanting to work a spinnerbait like a jig. The shorter arm willl help the bait to perform better with a lift and drop retrieve. This is most commonly done with a single bladed spinnerbait. Hope this helps. It's not much but I'm sure your going to get plenty of other advice.
Well said Keith,

I bend alot of my arms..If I feel there too long and too top heavy I snip them down and reshape them..I typically run most of mine lower and further back..Where the top blade eyelet lines up with the hook point...It seems to keep them running straighter,and deflects debrie smoother... And I can fish them in more various ways and keys into how I fish them....Which is more of a medium retreive,pause,raise,cuss method.
If I feel the set up in causing fish to miss,Like the blades being to low..Ill readjust.

My favortie spinnerbaits right now are the Wareagles with the hidden weight behind the head...You get the small to medium profile with the 3/8oz weight....Plus I dont have to mess with the arm....Tasty.

My favorite set up is a larger willow leaf on top,and a medium colorado on the stem...A little vibration helps with these darker waters.
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Old 10-21-10, 10:31 PM   #4
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A spinnerbait has a bit of a stigma of being a dummy bait. Meaning that any dummy can chunk and wind it and catch fish. However that is very untrue, I mean there are days where just casting and winding will get you bites but there are so many more things you can get the bait to do for you and so many applications where you can use it and get it infront of fish that aren't seeing spinnerbaits all the time. One of my favorite ways to fish a spinnerbait is to flip and pitch it to shallow cover like laydowns and bushes. The fish in these areas are seeing jigs and softplastics around the clock but not a lot of guys will flip and pitch a spinnerbait tight to cover like this. Let the blades flutter when it comes over limbers and don't be afraid to pitch it into the heart of cover, you will be amazed at what you can get them through with a little practice.

Long arm vs. short arm is just a matter of technique. I like a long arm 90% of the time. A regular retrieve, burning or flipping and pitching a spinnerbait are all times when I like a long arm. Slow rolling a spinnerbait can be done with a long arm or short arm and sometimes one will work better than the other, just experiment and see what is working on a given day. Also if you are fishing muddy water and missing a lot of fish then try a short arm because the fish might be biting the blades and not the hook, and a short arm will have them biting closer to the business end of the bait.

Blade style and color is way too broad of a subject to cover completley but if you are fishing clear water or are wanting to move the bait faster a willow leaf is proabably your answer and if you are in muddy water and want more vibration and are fishing the bait slow I would go with a Colorado blade. I like gold blades in muddier water with cloud cover and silver blades when mother nature is providing a lot of flash with clear water and sunshine (silver will tone it down a bit).

In clear water I like a more translucent skirt color and if the water is stained or muddy I go with solid white or maybe white/chartruese.
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Old 10-21-10, 10:32 PM   #5
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Forgot to add:

Spreading the arm of the spinnerbait will alow you to keep it closer to the surface with a slower retrieve because it causes more lift. And closing it will alow you to reel it faster and keep it deeper because it has the opposite effect.
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Old 10-22-10, 11:20 AM   #6
Tavery5
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My understanding of spinnerbaits and arm length comes from a good friend
of mine in North Carolina, he builds custom baits, and passed this info on
to me. * * *He told me that arm length is about balance. *When he first
told me this, I could not figure out what he meant, I mean how are you
going to use enough blade to balance out 3/8 oz head. *Well it turns out
he was not talking about weight at all, but about geometric balance. * He
went on to explain that there are several geometric patterns that are used
to build balanced spinnerbaits. * *One of the most common designs is
called the pyramid.
The pyramid design is this. * Measure your spinnerbait body from the tip
of the hook to the nose of the bait, the point *were the wire exits the
head, this is dim A, for ease we will say our dim A is 1 inch. *The next
measurement is from the nose(where the wire exits the head) to the outside
edge of the R-bend, this should be equal to dim A, so 1 inch also. * The
next measurement is from the same spot on the outside edge of the R-bend
to the end of the arm. *This length should be 1.5 X Dim A., so in our case
1.5 inches. * *The next step is to figure the bend angle on the wire
coming out of the head of the spinnerbait. *To do this you again use dim a
X 2, so 2 inches for us. * Bend the wire so that the tip of the arm is
vertically aligned above the nose of the head, and is 2 inches above it.
Try to avoid spreading the R bend to achieve this, bend the angle of the
wire exiting the head to get as close as possible and then make only minor
adjustment in the R-bend. * Once you have these angles and dimensions
complete you can add your blades, this design is meant to support two
blades 1 inch in length *separated by 1 inch.

I hope this is helpful, the point of this was to show that the arm length
of a balanced spinnerbait is not a matter of what looks good, but instead
a part of a fairly complex geometric pattern that tries to create balance.
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Old 10-22-10, 07:18 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tavery5 View Post
My understanding of spinnerbaits and arm length comes from a good friend
of mine in North Carolina, he builds custom baits, and passed this info on
to me. * * *He told me that arm length is about balance. *When he first
told me this, I could not figure out what he meant, I mean how are you
going to use enough blade to balance out 3/8 oz head. *Well it turns out
he was not talking about weight at all, but about geometric balance. * He
went on to explain that there are several geometric patterns that are used
to build balanced spinnerbaits. * *One of the most common designs is
called the pyramid.
The pyramid design is this. * Measure your spinnerbait body from the tip
of the hook to the nose of the bait, the point *were the wire exits the
head, this is dim A, for ease we will say our dim A is 1 inch. *The next
measurement is from the nose(where the wire exits the head) to the outside
edge of the R-bend, this should be equal to dim A, so 1 inch also. * The
next measurement is from the same spot on the outside edge of the R-bend
to the end of the arm. *This length should be 1.5 X Dim A., so in our case
1.5 inches. * *The next step is to figure the bend angle on the wire
coming out of the head of the spinnerbait. *To do this you again use dim a
X 2, so 2 inches for us. * Bend the wire so that the tip of the arm is
vertically aligned above the nose of the head, and is 2 inches above it.
Try to avoid spreading the R bend to achieve this, bend the angle of the
wire exiting the head to get as close as possible and then make only minor
adjustment in the R-bend. * Once you have these angles and dimensions
complete you can add your blades, this design is meant to support two
blades 1 inch in length *separated by 1 inch.

I hope this is helpful, the point of this was to show that the arm length
of a balanced spinnerbait is not a matter of what looks good, but instead
a part of a fairly complex geometric pattern that tries to create balance.
Boy I'm going to have to re-read this a few times for it to all sink in. But sounds like very good info for us who make our own.
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Old 10-22-10, 08:02 PM   #8
Tavery5
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This link explains it allot better than I probably did

http://www.tacklemaking.com/default.php?pageID=65
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Old 10-25-10, 08:01 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01 View Post
Forgot to add:

Spreading the arm of the spinnerbait will alow you to keep it closer to the surface with a slower retrieve because it causes more lift. And closing it will alow you to reel it faster and keep it deeper because it has the opposite effect.
Don't be afraid to experiment with the bend of the blade wire. It's not set to the best angle out of the package for it to work. A machine sets the bend to best fit the package. I don't own a single bait that is still set to the original angle.
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