Spinnerbait breakage, normal range of wear and tear?

[Aaron_H]

Went out yesterday, hucking a spinnerbait as I made a promise last year to @LrgmouthShad , hooked into a decent fish (3lb or so, nothing big) and it jumped and shook the bait. Or so I thought. Reeled up to make another cast and was left with the top half of the arm

 

 

Now, I know spinnerbaits get bent up, and you can only bend that wire back so many times before it becomes too weak, but I have only caught 19 fish on that lure before it broke. And it wasn't some 99 cent Walmart special, it's a Strike King "Tour Grade" compact (more like Poor Grade am I right), certainly not the Cadillac of spinnerbaits but I would've expected it to stand up to more fish. Throwing it on a pretty soft MH rod with 15lb mono, really not a harsh setup for this IMO.

 

My spinnerbait experience is pretty low still, so is this a normal range of wear and tear, or did I get hosed?

[A-Jay]

13 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

Went out yesterday, hucking a spinnerbait as I made a promise last year to @LrgmouthShad , hooked into a decent fish (3lb or so, nothing big) and it jumped and shook the bait. Or so I thought. Reeled up to make another cast and was left with the top half of the arm

 

 

Now, I know spinnerbaits get bent up, and you can only bend that wire back so many times before it becomes too weak, but I have only caught 19 fish on that lure before it broke. And it wasn't some 99 cent Walmart special, it's a Strike King "Tour Grade" compact (more like Poor Grade am I right), certainly not the Cadillac of spinnerbaits but I would've expected it to stand up to more fish. Throwing it on a pretty soft MH rod with 15lb mono, really not a harsh setup for this IMO.

 

My spinnerbait experience is pretty low still, so is this a normal range of wear and tear, or did I get hosed?

IMO, you got you're money's worth.

The dirty little secret about spinnerbaits is

They last quite a while when you don't catch fish on them.

However the baits that do get bites - well, not so much.

Realistically, the best baits are only a step or two above soft plastics when it comes to 'durability'.

The game is, do I replace it or keep fishing it knowing darn well the next big bass that strikes, will snap it in half like the skinny fatigued little metal twig that it is.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

 

[fin]

40 cents per fish is not terrible. I've done a lot worse.

 

I've only had one break on me, and it was a Strike King too, but it was also my most successful spinnerbait.

 

They could probably use a more durable wire for pennies per spinnerbait, but then you wouldn't be buying another one.

[MediumMouthBass]

Wait you caught 19 fish on it and then it broke? Id be going out an buying 10 more in that color, and weight.... Im glad if a spinnerbait lasts me between 5-10 decent fish, i always buy spinnerbaits from Strike King, Terminator, or Booyah when they are on sale for a great amount off. I realize that by fishing pike and pickerel infested waters, and in places with lots of submerged trees that the spinnerbait might only last one trip even if i dont catch any bass. Think about this, it costs 8 dollars and gets 15 fish thats paying .53 cents per bass. But a $5 bag of soft plastics get ruined just putting them over the hook keeper a few times, id say normal wear and tear on it.

[Aaron_H]

20 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

IMO, you got you're money's worth.

The dirty little secret about spinnerbaits is

They last quite a while when you don't catch fish on them.

However the baits that do get bites - well not so much.

Realistically, the best baits are only a step or two above soft plastics when it comes to 'durability'.

The game is, do I replace it or keep fishing it knowing darn well the next big bass the strikes,

will snap it in half like the skinny fatigued little metal twig that it is.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

 

 

Makes sense. I don't know if I'm good with that gamble on "will I lose a PB because the wire failed", maybe spinnerbaits aren't for me. I've lost PBs due to many things, but lure failure was never one.

 

10 minutes ago, MediumMouthBass said:

Wait you caught 19 fish on it and then it broke? Id be going out an buying 10 more in that color, and weight.... Im glad if a spinnerbait lasts me between 5-10 decent fish, i always buy spinnerbaits from Strike King, Terminator, or Booyah when they are on sale for a great amount off. I realize that by fishing pike and pickerel infested waters, and in places with lots of submerged trees that the spinnerbait might only last one trip even if i dont catch any bass. Think about this, it costs 8 dollars and gets 15 fish thats paying .53 cents per bass. But a $5 bag of soft plastics get ruined just putting them over the hook keeper a few times, id say normal wear and tear on it.

 

18 small fish (sub 2 lbs) and one good fish (5lb), but point taken.

[gimruis]

I agree with the above posts.  You got what you should have out of it.  Go buy more now lol

[Aaron_H]

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I agree with the above posts.  You got what you should have out of it.  Go buy more now lol

 

I've got around a dozen or so of them, we'll see how they go.

[BlakeMolone]

I’ve never broken one on a fish but they usually get retired after about that many fish or sooner because they start getting hard to tune. The kvd compact spinnerbaits are great as are the war eagle baits. I hate that they get torn up and hard to tune relatively quickly but as a bank angler spinnerbaits are a must have search bait for me especially in the spring and fall.

[Catt]

You can have lures in your tackle box or bass in the livewell, you can't have both.

 

When I buy any lure its with the exception its gonna break or I'm gonna lose it. I it catches 1 bass it has done its job.

[islandbass]

19 bass caught before it broke? Pray that they don’t double or triple the price of that spinnerbait, lol. 
 

If you haven’t thrown away the blades, I’d keep them and make a new spinnerbait with them. Something about those blades made fish hit it. You might have an identical spinner bait and it might produce as well. 😎

[Munkin]

You can try putting a small o-ring over the R-bend before tying the line on. I have never broken a spinnerbait at the R-bend for some reason. Mine always break within a 1/2" of the head. There is always a trade off with wire diameter versus durability. Had a guy that always boat flipped every fish so he broke a lot of spinnerbaits. He asked me to make him some that wouldn't break so I just used Musky spinnerbait frames and cut them down. Bass spinnerbaits are .032 to .040 wire and the frames I used for his were like .075. Those baits needed channel lock pliers to tune them but they held up.

 

 

Allen

[GRiver]

Never broke one …… i loose the whole thing.

[Aaron_H]

7 hours ago, islandbass said:

19 bass caught before it broke? Pray that that they don’t double or triple the price of that spinnerbait, lol. 
 

If you haven’t thrown away the blades, I’d keep them and make a new spinnerbait with them. Something about those blades made fish hit it. You might have an identical spinner bait and it might produce as well. 😎

 

I've caught more fish than that on a single stick bait, which is why I was surprised that this is the amount of fish I can expect out of a spinnerbait. I do still have the blades, no sense in trashing good parts IMO.

[Jig Man]

I’ve had that happen way too often with R bend spinner baits so now I wrap the R with floral wire or braided line then cover it with shrink tubing.  I haven’t broken any since.

[scaleface]

19 bass s a little surprising. I make my own and usually retire a bait after about 30 bass. Not always though . If  the wire is getting bent up rather easily then I go ahead and retire  it early.

[VTFan]

1 hour ago, Jig Man said:

I’ve had that happen way too often with R bend spinner baits so now I wrap the R with floral wire or braided line then cover it with shrink tubing.  I haven’t broken any since.

I do the exact same thing.

[gimruis]

9 hours ago, Catt said:

When I buy any lure its with the exception its gonna break or I'm gonna lose it. I it catches 1 bass it has done its job

Did you intend to type “expectation” rather than exception here?
 

The thought process behind buying a hard bait and ONLY expecting it to last for one fish is not something I can fathom. I am not spending 25 bucks on a jerk bait with the expectation that it’s done after one 2 pound bass.

 

Certain soft plastics, maybe. Definitely not hardbaits.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Did you intend to type “expectation” rather than exception here?

 

 "expectation",  refers to the act of expecting or anticipating something.

 

I fish waters with extremely heavy cover, losing lures is a normal expectation.

 

[Bankbeater]

A few of my older spinnerbait lasted to around 30-35 bass.  I feel I'm lucky if I can get 15-20 bass out of a new Strike King or Booyah spinnerbait.

[ChrisD46]

Under Spins and Chatter Baits last longer than do spinnerbaits when catching bass as you eliminate the breaking point (which is the spinnerbait wire frame) . 

[RB 77]

I once "retired" what had to be a 100+ fish Spinner Bait. If I had a bait last 10 or so fish before it broke I wouldn't be upset though. Sounds like you got your money's worth. I mean, if you fish long enough you're gonna lose lures on the first cast. Lures are to use and sometimes lose. 

[Aaron_H]

46 minutes ago, RB 77 said:

I once "retired" what had to be a 100+ fish Spinner Bait. If I had a bait last 10 or so fish before it broke I wouldn't be upset though. Sounds like you got your money's worth. I mean, if you fish long enough you're gonna lose lures on the first cast. Lures are to use and sometimes lose. 

 

Yeah, I lose plenty of lures, but never had one break on me. Still newish to spinnerbaits so I wasn't aware they lasted for so few fish as the norm.

[Bird]

12 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Yeah, I lose plenty of lures, but never had one break on me. Still newish to spinnerbaits so I wasn't aware they lasted for so few fish as the norm.

It's not the norm. Imo

I've thrown the exact same spinnerbait for the last 3 years.

Probably the least lost bait I throw and an all-time favorite.

[Aaron_H]

3 minutes ago, MediumMouthBass said:

@Aaron_H i was looking at spinnerbaits on BPS website tonight and i saw the one you had break, seems the reviews arent too good. So it mightve been a bad one you got but still lasted quite longer than most.

I use tons of Strike King spinnerbaits (and some Terminato/Zman ones too) and it seems from research done quickly the more budget friendly ones have better reviews than the more expensive ones. What an odd thing.

 

Main negatives I saw were people having issues with the blade not rotating. I have a handful of these spinnerbaits in a couple of colors, all of them run true and the blades spin freely. My experience, outside of this incident, has been positive.