I have been rolling my own SBs lately as I have had quite a bit of success with them in my fishing adventures.  For you river rats that use SBs, what size willows have you found to be good in the rivers?  I like the the 4.5 willow with a 3.5 willow in front and that combo has caught a ton of bass and pike for me. But in the current, this can really raise the SB in the water column.  I was thinking about going down to a 4 and a 3.

1 hour ago, Swift One said:

I have been rolling my own SBs lately as I have had quite a bit of success with them in my fishing adventures.  For you river rats that use SBs, what size willows have you found to be good in the rivers?  I like the the 4.5 willow with a 3.5 willow in front and that combo has caught a ton of bass and pike for me. But in the current, this can really raise the SB in the water column.  I was thinking about going down to a 4 and a 3.

I go with a 4 and 3.5. Going heavier in wieght can help. Also, i like head shapes where the weight is focused below the center of gravity.

3 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

I go with a 4 and 3.5. Going heavier in wieght can help. Also, i like head shapes where the weight is focused below the center of gravity.

 

Same thing I do. 

 

Allen 

Thanks of the replies.  I am going to try the 4 and 3.5 combo.  I am using 1/2oz SBs.

51 minutes ago, Swift One said:

Thanks of the replies.  I am going to try the 4 and 3.5 combo.  I am using 1/2oz SBs.

Try the War Eagle Screaming Eagle. 

 

Allen 

Yep, same as Bdnoble84 and Munkin, a #4 on the swivel and a #3.5 on the clevis. A #3 is a little too small and to make it rotate around the clevis you really have to burn it.  The other thing with a #3 willow is you need a light wire spinnerbait in order to get better spin out of it.  One thing that hampers the blade from fully rotating is it doesn't catch enough water to take a larger clevis completely around the wire. A size 1 clevis allows a #3 willow to spin much better but you need to use like .029" diameter wire or smaller to accommodate the small size 1 clevis. Because of that the smallest willow you want to use on the clevis is a #3.5.  

Smalljaw had an awesome spinnerbait post a few years ago discussing building spinnerbaits for current. Unfortunately i wasnt able to find it. Its the best most influential post ive seen on here, thank you Smalljaw!

Yes,  have noticed that I need to put some speed on the SB to get the 3s going.  I started making spinnerbaits based on the success I was having with the Booyah Pikee spinnerbaits. We will launch our kayaks into the ditches that connect with main river systems. The current is slower in these ditches and the 4.5s that Booyah uses didn’t seem to be a problem. However we have now been venturing into the actual rivers themselves and that’s when I noticed the current was really catching the larger 4.5 and lifting it. 

Lift isnt a bad thing in current. Smallies will come up and slam it. But if you want to add speed, you will need smaller blades

I use the same spinnerbaits for fast current that I do in deep water . A heavy , compact lure with a small blade . The Strike King Rocket Shad has the dimensions I try to copy with a single willowleaf blade . I cant tell you what size that is at the moment but it seems like a number four .