Spinnerbait Tips
One of the best all around baits is without a doubt the spinnerbait. You can fish it shallow, deep, fast, slow, and throughout all of the seasons. While most opt to throw it during the spring and fall, there are times you may need to tweak or adjust your bait. Here are a couple of things that you can do on the fly to help you adapt to the situation.
1) Add a trailer hook. For most successful spinnerbait fisherman, a trailer hook is a must. By doing this, you can greatly improve your hook-up ratio. Many times a bass bites at a spinnerbait out of reaction. Because of this, allot of strikes are more like swipes. With the use of a trailer hook, you will get a better hook-set deeper in the mouth. In many cases you will set both hooks.
2) Shorten your skirt. As I just stated, allot of strikes tend to be swipes; however, there are times when the bass will do nothing but swipe at the bait. In situations like this I will usually change baits and slow down. Unfortunately there can sometimes be too much water to cover and not enough time. In this situation I will simply shorten my skirt. I will trim the skirt back so that the skirt hangs down even with the bend of the hook. This help so that when the fish swipes at the back of the skirt, it ensure that it’s mouth will come in contact with the hook as well. I will again use a trailer hook in this situation for added insurance.
By making a couple of quick and easy adjustments on the fly, you can keep your spinnerbait tied on and in water with better success.
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POSTED IN: Miscellaneous, Tips/Tactics
3 opinions for Spinnerbait Tips
Jake
Oct 29, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Okay this might sound dumb, but I’m still trying to get into the whole fishing thing - well on a more “serious” level, anyway. But, what exactly do you mean by “shorten your skirt”?
Don
Oct 29, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Good Question,
If you notice the length of the rubber skirt in the picture above. It extends far beyond the bend of the hook. If a fish swipes at the bait, they will tend to grab the lure by the end of the skirt and turn with it. More times than not you will instantly jerk back and they won’t have the hook in their mouth. To help this, trim your skirt back (with scissors) just past or even with the bend of the hook. This will help when the fish swipes he is more likley to eat your hook.
Good Luck.
Jake
Nov 1, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Cool. I’ll try to remember that the next time I head out to the lake.
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