I fish a lake in Michigan with about 6 or 7 feet of visibility and weeds. The main forage is small minnows and bluegills with no shad in the lake. I throw a 1/8 oz. white spinnerbait and they have been slamming it. Could I upgrade to a white 1/4 or 3/8 oz. for bigger fish or would that not work because there are not shad in the lake.

Try a War Eagle 3/8 ounce in mouse or sexy mouse color.Smallie killers

 

7 minutes ago, bowhunter63 said:

Try a War Eagle 3/8 ounce in mouse or sexy mouse color.Smallie killers

 

Blade combinations/ model?

Willow leaf  blades one gold one silver.

 

1 hour ago, KyleB428 said:

Blade combinations/ model?

I would post a picture but I'm on phone and I can't.

I've done OK with these two up here in northern MI ~ 

A-Jay

6 hours ago, KyleB428 said:

I fish a lake in Michigan with about 6 or 7 feet of visibility and weeds. The main forage is small minnows and bluegills with no shad in the lake. I throw a 1/8 oz. white spinnerbait and they have been slamming it. Could I upgrade to a white 1/4 or 3/8 oz. for bigger fish or would that not work because there are not shad in the lake.

1/8 ounce spinnerbait is way light I’ve never gone that light on a spinnerbait 3/16 is the lightest. I would go 3/16 or 1/4 you don’t want to go to big you might spook the fish I mainly throw 3/8 but I’ll throw the 3/16 booyah pond magic in smaller lakes ponds.

8 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I've done OK with these two up here in northern MI ~ 

A-Jay

 

Seriously dude ya gotta stop that! ?

 

 

If the 1/8 ounce is running at the depth of the fish upsizing it to a 3/8 ounce won't increase the size!  

Bass don't care weather there's shad in your lake or not tho, they couldn't care (or know) less.  Big trout swiimbaits work where not trout exist.

2 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Seriously dude ya gotta stop that! ?

 

 

Now what fun would that be ?

A-Jay

This is my favorite.  Its a Cosmic spinnerbait.  My favorite colors are the Chartreuse white, Sexy shad, or bluegill flash.

Several of the lakes I fish here in Maryland have no shad and a white spinnerbait all the way up to 3/4 of an ounce is a producer. Don't be surprised if smaller bass still slam the larger spinnerbait.

I use the manns classic spinnerbaits with the double Indiana gold blades in white or chartreuse. The white comes with a blue glimmer skirt which is the hot color for white here. The chartruece skirt I change to a hot chartreuse shirt. On both I use the mister twister 4" split double tail grub as trailers. I use the 3/16 oz, 1/4oz, 3/8oz. But a 1/8oz an occasion too.

 

funny, I switched my very first 1/4oz spinnerbait to larger gold blades for more thump. I put on the blue glimmer skirt and trailer. After a great morning of catching bass on it a big pickerel came parallel to the drop off out of the water on the rocks as I picked up the spinnerbait and ripped it off my line. He wanted it more than I did, my jaw dropped in shock. My very first working spinnerbait.

On 10/11/2017 at 7:48 PM, A-Jay said:

I've done OK with these two up here in northern MI ~ 

A-Jay

You catch a MONSTER smallie on the 2nd spinnerbait in the pic and you say "I've done OK" lol that's an understatement!  

On 10/11/2017 at 9:48 PM, A-Jay said:

I've done OK with these two up here in northern MI ~ 

A-Jay

What trailers are those? Never seen them before 

5 hours ago, Ksam1234 said:

What trailers are those? Never seen them before 

It's a Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Blade Minnow ~

 

Also works well hanging off the back of a vibrating jig / chatterbait style bait.

 

A-Jay

I'm north of Detroit, and usually don't throw a spinner bait less than 1/2 ounce. The War Eagle Screamin Eagle is 1/2 ounce but compact like a smaller spinner bait. Real light wire, small willow blades and you can burn them as fast as you can reel. My best producer is burning them right under the top and have my blades come out of the water a smidge to make some commotion, then kill it for a second. 

 

I usually don't opt for a trailer with these. For me, a trailer will go on when I slow down and work deeper water columns.

I generally use chartreuse and white early in the year , black at night and some sort of natural looking baitfish imitator the rest of the time . 

Three colors for a spinner bait... They are Chartreuse, White and  Chartreuse/White.

Changing spinnerbait weights has more to do with running depth and speed than it does with actual size of the bait (if that makes sense).  If you want to fish deeper or faster, upping the size is the way to go.  If you just want a bigger profile, a small swimbait (see @A-Jay) or twister tail grub is the way to go.  

59 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

Three colors for a spinner bait... They are Chartreuse, White and  Chartreuse/White.

 

thousands of bass caught on those are testament of truth..... btw, it don't matter what is the forage base and if it's from ultra clear all the way to downright plowable muddy water. 

 

Tandem is a good combination of blades.

The clearer the water and the brighter the day the lighter the color.  The murkier the water and the duller the day the darker the color.  This how I start the day.

 

+ chartreuse on any day, always worth a try.

 

But you can never be sure, so if the habitat is suitable for spinnerbaits and you think bass are there, change every 5 casts or so until you find what they want.  If they are bumping it  and not eating it, you are close, but something is wrong, either blade color or skirt/trailer color, most likely. 

On 10/12/2017 at 8:27 AM, Siebert Outdoors said:

This is my favorite.  Its a Cosmic spinnerbait.  My favorite colors are the Chartreuse white, Sexy shad, or bluegill flash.

This is just a spectacular idea right here.  In central Illinois our lakes and reservoirs stay muddy from runoff from all the farm fields and typical silt bottoms.  The white/light spinners just don't cut it year round.  I've caught more fish on  black spinners than white.  And dark spinners are hard to find...until now.  I've already put seven of these on my Xmas list ranging from the bluegill flash to pb&j!  

4 hours ago, MickD said:

 If they are bumping it  and not eating it, you are close, but something is wrong, either blade color or skirt/trailer color, most likely. 

I down size blades and go with a duller color , both right off the bat .  

I almost solely use Terminator Titanium series now because the frame is made of titanium instead of steel and it doesn't kink or bend out of shape when a pike slams it (and we have a lot of pike around here).

 

Lately, I've been having success using a 3/8 ounce with a white skirt and a gold blade.