Anything about spinners

[DirectDrive]

the important issue of how to fish the spinner or how to read and cover water.
RB

Yeah that.

Those certainly are the big three.
Each one is its own discipline that must be mastered.

 

[bigdog]

Well it is nice to see Mr. Brown take the time away from Ifish to grace us with his presence. Thank you for pointing out the fact that you have been payed for your writing in the past. I am also equally impressed with your fish catching statistics you have boasted.

Rob, you are not the only person that has stumbled upon Jed Davis' book. The info you regurgitate is nothing new. how dare anyone think outside the box?

I find it rather irritating that you decide to critique someone else's perspective on spinner fishing. As you stated prior, some of your best days were had on Bud's, so were mine. If I am not mistaken, Bud's spinner blades are .025 in thickness? not the "holy grail" of spinner blades, .032. they seem to get the job done.

I don't think or feel that Rob was trying to talk down about anything that anyone was saying. I took it as he was just stating how he feels about the whole thing about the tuning of a spinner. I myself don't fully understand the tuning theory and not sure I ever will. There are many factors involved in getting in to fish and the more info that is put out there the better the chance people have to get in to some fish.

As far as the statement about gracing us with his presence and to take the time out from ifish, I'm not to sure where I see the reasoning for that statement besides to try to talk down to a person. I for one have seen a large number of postings from Rob lately but what does it matter if someone post in a different forum. I don't remember reading anywhere when signing up on this forum that you weren't allowed to post in other forums.

I see so many threads now days on here that always seem to start turning in to bickering match between people or belittle shots. This wasn't the way it was when I joined this site and don't understand why it is getting that way and where it gets us. We should be here to help eachother and learn from one another. I know people are going to disagree and not always going to see eye to eye but there is no reason to for talking crap about someone or trying to say things to get under someones skin.

I don't know maybe it's just me but I just don't see the point in it that's all.

CJ

 

[Jacks Tackle]

Well it is nice to see Mr. Brown take the time away from Ifish to grace us with his presence. Thank you for pointing out the fact that you have been payed for your writing in the past. I am also equally impressed with your fish catching statistics you have boasted.

Rob, you are not the only person that has stumbled upon Jed Davis' book. The info you regergitate is nothing new. how dare anyone think outside the box?

I find it rather irritating that you decide to critique someone elses perspective on spinner fishing. As you stated prior, some of your best days were had on Bud's, so were mine. If I am not mistaken, Bud's spinner blades are .025 in thickness? not the "holy grail" of spinner blades, .032. they seem to get the job done.

I do believe you were the first one to say anything about .032. Sounds like you have a deeper issue, not sure what that is but I hope it can be looked past as many OFF'ers have said they are happy to see me here.

and yes buds are .025. Which in my opinion is fine. Caught a lot of nice fish on buds plus they are only like $1.25 a spinner.

 

[FishFinger]

I don't think or feel that Rob was trying to talk down about anything that anyone was saying. I took it as he was just stating how he feels about the whole thing about the tuning of a spinner.

Perhaps your right BD, Tones and intents can get "misread" and or "misinterpreted". However because he asked I felt obligated to retort.

Regarding the weight specs I passed on from Bill and Allen. I didn't just jump on the bandwagon w/o taking time to double and triple check the worthiness of their notions.

Case in point: Last year I bough a grip of Paulson blades for dirt cheap at last years sportsman show. The bags were marked #4, yet they were the size of #3s. Believing they were just mis marked I twisted up a dozen the night before an outing. Much to my disappointment; they failed to function. Not until I upped the over all weight for #4s did the blades spin correctly.

By sharing the weight considerations I didn't intent to add confusion to the process, much the opposite actually. It hastens the learning curve to the have tid bit, pointing you in the right direction.

When your working with single piece bullet bodies, it's a no brainier, often the body size dictated the size of the blade. Oddly enough, when weighed; they fall into the listed weight zones. (including the old standard Blue Foxes)

For the most part, when building single bodied spinners, if your loops and wire are true, the balance aspect is mitigated by the design.

If your using segmented components the size and weight are definably, a issue.

Even more so should you attempt to build a casting spinner w/ metal beads. Granted this is deemed a "expert" lvl spinner fabrication endeavor; an area I lay no claim to.

And YES, to the question, 'Do I retire bent spinners". The cost advantage of building the allow me to gear up w/ double the amount I could if they were store bought. In the event I happen to run my stash out.. It's only wire and those in early retirement get a new spine and back to hunting they go.


Being said, I have had friends who refuse to retire them, instead claiming they are now "lucky" spinners, and often continue to catch fish. My buddy Andy is the (best) / worse at it. The only spinner I let him use now have a full 1 1/2" tag wire above the clevis. It gives him full access to the wire. I can't have him poking holes in my 'tuning matters" campaign; instead I can compliment him on his ability to......... Re tune them...

Thus......... The earth remains the center of the universe!

 

[DirectDrive]

Even more so should you attempt to build a casting spinner w/ metal beads. Granted this is deemed a "expert" lvl spinner fabrication endeavor; an area I lay no claim to.

The solid brass, weight-forward bead body was the precursor to the high performance, single piece bodies available today.
The 1st edition of Jed's book features some of these bead body recipes.

And for those new to building weighted spinners.......it is not this complicated ! :doh:

 

[Jacks Tackle]

I agree, spinner building is so extremely simple!

I think the presentation and mobility is mainly the key to ones success over the course of a year.

RB

 

[Fishtopher]

Tuning? Maybe some importance on tough fisheries but its hard to put stock into it when 79 fish in 9 hours hammered spinners so bent up they limped on the way down.

I still think many people put too much into things like balance and such when there are far more important factors involved.

If you you can make it spin and you have aggressive fish below you? Whats a more important factor? The tuning of a spinner or the presence of an aggressive fish?

All the spinner advice you've been kind enough to share kinda leaves out the fish that are not aggressive. Because lets face it, not everyone is gifted enough to hammer 80 fish in days worth of work, let alone have the chance to even fish those areas. You wouldnt toss a spinner at those passive fish that just spins would you?
Seems like every spinner builder should at least be aware of the option to fabricate their spinner with precision. Whether or not they chose to do so is on them. But Ill take the option that provides me the highest confidence level knowing that I have built a spinner that swims true doesn't wobble like a bobble head on a Cadillac dash down a bumpy road.

Its just for me, its easy to put stock into tuning, when every hammered spinner ive tossed again didn't catch fish without a rebuild.

Probably cause I havent been in the salt on top of 10k plus aggressive fish though.

 

[Jacks Tackle]

Remember my numbers said steelhead. Not silvers or nooks. My B10 numbers didn't make that tally.

To answer your question I dont spend time on passive fish. If I fish a spot and get no grab I move. I am only looking for aggressive fish. Cover lots of water and they will make themselves known.

Tune to your hearts content. But I bet if you cut down your time per spot and moved, your numbers would go up. Just my opinion, take or leave it.

Besides you can always tune and then cover lots of water. How about that idea

RB

 

[DirectDrive]

Here's a few more :

Keep moving.....we brass tossers know that.
Don't sit and flog one spot for hours. Step cast.

This is money....spinner blade RPM
Every spinner has its optimum fish-attracting RPM and maintaining that is key.
Unweighted salmon trolling spinners can actually help you control boat speed.
Springer Speed.

More money....
Stay in his face at optimum RPM. If you're fishing "locked up" you're getting sucked out at the the most critical part of your swing. If you don't know what I mean by "locked up" you're prolly fishing "locked up"
This also means doing that deadly dance of clipping rock tops.
When you can do this correctly, you will be consistently hooking up.
IMHO, this particular element is a 95% - 5% separator when it comes to fishing weighted spinners in fast water.

Swing.
That's what it's about. Like Jed says, you're swinging a metal fly.
You're not fishing "holes", you're fishing "runs".....learn the difference.
Oh, and keep moving.

 

[Fishtopher]

Remember my numbers said steelhead. Not silvers or nooks. My B10 numbers didn't make that tally.

Besides you can always tune and then cover lots of water. How about that idea
RB

Sounds like a winner there!:lol:

There is great advice in the above posts when it comes to fishing in general. Great advice! But its all in the "Anything about Fishing" thread.

Some of the stuff said in the above posts just dont make sense to me. Mebbe I just dont get it.

isn't there an optimal weight to build a spinner around a particular blade? Could a guy build a spinner that had a body that was too heavy/light to the point it affects the performance of a spinner???

 

[Jacks Tackle]

I have a guy that builds all of his #3 spinners on #1 bodies so he can slow roll them in long riffles. I also have a guy that builds #5 spinners with 1oz lead torpedos.

The beauty to spinners is the wide range of different lures you can build as well as the wide range of water you can build them to fish. That is why you can have a 15 page thread called anything about spinners.

RB

 

[Fishtopher]

I have a guy that builds all of his #3 spinners on #1 bodies so he can slow roll them in long riffles. I also have a guy that builds #5 spinners with 1oz lead torpedos.

The beauty to spinners is the wide range of different lures you can build as well as the wide range of water you can build them to fish.

RB

So they have modified, or if you will, tuned their spinners to fish how they would like them to fish?

Side note, do you get a lot of guys comin' in and pickin' up bullet bodied spinners in a bigger size than 4 to fish winters on our local tribs? Ive just heard of a lot of guys lately using stuff I would fish Fall 'nooks with for Winter Steel on the Clack or Sandy.

 

[Fishtopher]

The beauty to spinners is the wide range of different lures you can build as well as the wide range of water you can build them to fish. That is why you can have a 15 page thread called anything about spinners.

RB

Haha! No doubt there!:lol:

 

[Jacks Tackle]

So they have modified, or if you will, tuned their spinners to fish how they would like them to fish?

Side note, do you get a lot of guys comin' in and pickin' up bullet bodied spinners in a bigger size than 4 to fish winters on our local tribs? Ive just heard of a lot of guys lately using stuff I would fish Fall 'nooks with for Winter Steel on the Clack or Sandy.

Lots of #5 stuff. #5 is a relative term. A Worth #5 would be different than a Lake land #5 as well as different than a Vibrax #5 or a Pen Tac #5 or an R&B #5. They are all alittle different. But ya, I sell probably 60% #4, 30% #5 and 10% #3 this time of year. Great lakes guys are about 50/50 between #4 and #5 parts.

Also I am back to a order only basis right now as my walls have been cleaned again. So there is not always a lot here. I make it as it is ordered and try to make alittle extra for the wall. It just doesn't stay long.

RB

 

[fishcreekspinners]

Fresh meat from Colorado! I sell a lot of spinners, more each year. What I'll tell everyone that I'm lucky enough to put one in their hand, is simple. If you want to catch fish with this, you got to get it wet.

On the subject of tuning and the weight to size ratios; consistency is very important, no argument, but there are still too many other un-stated assumptions behind the table and too many variables can surface during a thread to influence an outcome.

We saw those themes argued but the variables win. Component manufacturers like Worth's and Lakeland are adding choices like steel blades vs brass and a #3 Colorado vs #3 Swing are totally different behaviors. Fish attack wounded things. Precise rotation and perfect balance reduce noise and vibration. Vibration is noticed.

Its worth considering that a 3-4 inch piece of stainless wire costs about 3 cents. Invest in a good wireformer, your loops will be round, your twists tight and wire ends finished. No point in stringing $2 worth of expensive hooks, bullets and blades on the wire, only to have them sail across the river into the brush or out to the middle of the lake, because a poorly twisted loops' ragged end nicked and cut the mono.

Baiting spinners. In warm water, I cut some fluorescent zonker strip in a variety of colors into 1.5 inch lengths, like pork rind and skewer one onto a hook barb. You'll be surprised how well the added color and fluid action of the zonker following the reflection of the spinner enhance the catch ratio. Probably work well in stained runoff too.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

 

[yakker2]

I like taking treble hooks off spinners and put swivels on so I can trail worms behind them.I have a lot of big salmon spinners doing nothing so I figured maybe they can work as trolling flashers for trout. hagg lake will be my testing ground.

 

[fishcreekspinners]

Sounds like a good plan. You have a worm harness? or have you ever used a worm threader? They're pretty inexpensive and make the worm/crawler last longer by threading it up over the hook's eye onto the line above the hook. That keeps the worm extended and it makes it harder to be stripped off without a catch. I like mine.

 

[yakker2]

yes, I have a worm threader that for some odd reason I never have used. I have a few walleye worm harnesses with changeable blades.I have some smile blades that I want to make into worm rigs.not sure what to use - single or double hooks? double hooks rigs I would have to tie myself. the herring hooks are too big.are single hooks effective enough?

 

[SalmonStalker]

My personal favorite color Of Spinners is Brass, Or blue with a red blade. (some mariboo on the Spinner isn't bad eaither)
My Favorite Spinner for trout is a size 3 With a blue body, red blade with silver at the bottom, and black and red mariboo to cover the hook.

 

[yakker2]

salmonstalker is that spinner the hot weapon for shalish pond? and how did you come up with it?