Never owned or used one, just curious about your application, when and how you fish them, and what weights you use for what depths, setups you use for them, rod/reel/line etc.

define what it is you're calling a tail spinner please.

Had a few really good days with them this past winter. I only tie them on in winter, though I'm sure they work other times. I was targeting lmb on or near the bottom in 26-30 FOW. Fished it like a blade bait, cast it out and hop it back. Probably would work on suspended bass and/or schools chasing threadfin, but I only tried a few times years ago with no luck, so haven't gone back to it.

When I was a kid back in 1977 I read a book by Jerry Mickinnes. In that book he had a whole chapter about the Little George. I was sure it was a magic lure. Then one day I was at a tackle shop, and I couldn't believe it when I saw they had some for sale. I bought 4 or 5 blowing most of my tackle budget, ( that was the year the Bait Monkey and I became lifelong friends) I fished a rocky deep lake. I was sure these baits would get to the bottom where the big bass lived. They got to the bottom like I had hoped. Problem was they stayed there. I lost one on the first cast, and another on the second. I never fished them after that.

20 years later a slayed lake trout in Alaska with them. They also worked well for silver salmon. I'm sure they work well for almost any game fish, but be careful where you cast them.

18 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Had a few really good days with them this past winter. I only tie them on in winter, though I'm sure they work other times. I was targeting lmb on or near the bottom in 26-30 FOW. Fished it like a blade bait, cast it out and hop it back. Probably would work on suspended bass and/or schools chasing threadfin, but I only tried a few times years ago with no luck, so haven't gone back to it.

Suspended bass that are on schools of threadfin in fall / winter is where they really shine in my area. Swing them through the shad school or fish them vertical, much like you would a Hopkins spoon. The only problem is, you run the risk of catching every species that is down there looking at that shad school... it's pretty disheartening when you get absolutely smoked and for about 1.5 seconds, think you have a big spot hooked until you feel the "roll" and know it's just a big trout that is about to cover your front deck in slime and scales while you try and wrestle the hook out and get it out of the boat🤣

Tailspins are great. I use the Molix Trago tail spin, which is just small fish shaped chunk of zinc with 3 clevises on it. Water is very shallow here, so I really on use the 1/4oz. I fish it just about every way and it produces. For such a tiny bait, it will cast a mile and sink very fast on slack line.

They are a staple for me late summer till winter ice when targeting open water shad eaters. They don't always elicit strikes but they are always given an opportunity because when it's what they want, it's incredible how effective they can be. Most of my success is tightlining them to the depth I think they're feeding at and yo-yoing above and through that depth range. Usually, I throw 1/2-3/4oz fishing 20-35' fow, and the Jackall Deracoup is my default. My deepest caught bass followed one all the way down to the bottom in 35' fow and hit it just as I lifted it off the bottom. Various M/F to M/MF rods are my choice, I have personal favorites, but it's really not too important to me as long as I can bomb it and my drag is set properly. I'm blind casting for offshore schooling fish without much electronic help, I need to cover water. Side note, it's got a great hook up ratio on 3lb and up bass, the tiny treble always seems to find a way to lodge behind a bottom of the mouth gill raker.

scott

I have caught a lot of fish in heavy current by taking 1/4 oz twister tail grubs, remove the tail then add a cheap spinner and swivel to the hook, creating my own tail spinner. I'm going to lose baits so this was an inexpensive way to throw a spinner in tail races. It works really well.

I use to fish Little Georges on points back when point fishing was productive. I havent thrown one in a long time.

I still bring them with me. They are part of my panic box.

13 hours ago, Bass Rutten said:

Th Jackal Deracoup is one of my go-to baits. Can easily fish it on a baitcaster too and it can be lasered through the wind which makes it an awesome bait in the spring and fall when it's cold and windy.

Sometimes I will use a willow blade or colorado blade attached to a centering pin and add to a soft plastic worm.

I carry them with me but rarely throw them. I think of applications when it should work, and then forget to try it when I run into those situations. I need to try it in place of the minnow for Livescope fish to show them something different. It makes sense to me because it gets down quick, should have a good return, and resembles a baitfish the fish should be looking for.

I still have little georges. When I was a kid my dad would give me a zebco 33 with a little george tied on it and I would catch gobs of white bass on it. Ahhh fond memories...

19 hours ago, softwateronly said:

They are a staple for me late summer till winter ice when targeting open water shad eaters. They don't always elicit strikes but they are always given an opportunity because when it's what they want, it's incredible how effective they can be. Most of my success is tightlining them to the depth I think they're feeding at and yo-yoing above and through that depth range. Usually, I throw 1/2-3/4oz fishing 20-35' fow, and the Jackall Deracoup is my default. My deepest caught bass followed one all the way down to the bottom in 35' fow and hit it just as I lifted it off the bottom. Various M/F to M/MF rods are my choice, I have personal favorites, but it's really not too important to me as long as I can bomb it and my drag is set properly. I'm blind casting for offshore schooling fish without much electronic help, I need to cover water. Side note, it's got a great hook up ratio on 3lb and up bass, the tiny treble always seems to find a way to lodge behind a bottom of the mouth gill raker.

scott

Am I correct in guessing that its role is somewhere between a underspin and a blade bait?

2 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Am I correct in guessing that its role is somewhere between a underspin and a blade bait?

Yeah that's a good way to think of it. The main difference is I rarely fish a tailspinner all the way to the bottom, I mean I have, but it's most often a mid-column approach to me. A vast majority of my bites come on the tightline sink.

scott