Hi everyone! I am going bass fishing this weekend and am using a spinner. I usually don't fish for bass, I fish mostly for trout using power bait so this is all new to me. Anyway, I have a question about using the spinner. It seems very light and so I was wondering if I need to attach a sinker to be able to cast it far enough (I am shore fishing) and how do I set that up?  Thanks in advance for any help!

With a spinning setup, I find I can cast a spinner a pretty fair distance. ML to M rods with 6 or 8 pound line

works for me.  I cast 1/2 oz on M or MH rods with 12 or 14# on baitcasters.

Is that a conventional spinnerbait or an in-line spinner?  Also what is the weight of the spinner?

May I suggest you consider the following suggestions?

1.  If the water is clear use a 3/4 ounce with silver willow leaf blades; stained water use gold blades; cloudy or breezy consider painted blades such as a glimmer shad skirt with white blades.

2.  If the bass are on the "smaller" size, downsize your spinner to a 1/4 ounce and give it a try.

3.  You can use lead split-shot sinkers weighing between 1/8 and 1/2 ounce to reduce lift.  Use a total of 3/8 ounces as a maximum weight if necessary to get deeper.  Attach the sinkers close to the knot.

4.  You can solder around the lenght of the hook.  You do this for deeper water or for slow rolling or to fish it fast near the surface.

5.  Always use a trailer hook. A 2/0 about half the length of the standard trailer hook works very well.  A shorter trailer hook does better in vegetation.

6.  You can close the gap between the blade wire and the shaft by squeezing down on the blade arm and up on the body for fast fishing in clear or deep water.  Or, make the gap wider to slow down your presentation or for muddy water.

7.  If the water is muddy you can use a bukly trailer with an active tail such as a grub.

Also, the weight of your line will have an impact on the depth of the spinnerbait.  Are you using 17 pound or 10 pound test?  Mono does extremely well with a spinnerbait as it is abraision resistant and has low stretch.  Use green in clear water.

Good luck and let us know how you do.