Ok well, I am having troubles catching fish on spinnerbaits. I have only had a few fish on spinner baits. Nothing big. But I want to know how should I use them? I just do a steady retrieve started when the bait hits the water. I throw have been switching between either a Strike King or Terminator white skirted , with a colorado/willow leaf.

you're already off to a great start with the spinnerbaits you've chosen. terminator makes some great ones and I've had good success with the strike kings, as well. luckily, for all of us, it's one of the easier baits to learn to use.

if you're not producing fish it's most likely not anything you're doing wrong, but simply location or mood. the exception I would say is that you mentioned you start your retrieve as soon as I hits the water. while this is sometimes great - more often than not you want it deeper. the other possible exception is that you're crashing the water with the spinnerbait and spooking the fish. that's hard to say, though, without seeing where you're fishing, how far you're casting from, etc. one remedy to that, though, is pitching, skipping, roll-casting or flipping the spinnerbait instead of a normal cast. these methods provide a softer and more subtle presentation for things like jigs, spinnerbaits and other lures. there is plenty of info available on the net about these techniques...start with youtube and do a search for pitching, flipping or skipping technique. several videos should come up about them and you'll want to practice in the yard or pool before trying on the lakes to save frustration. they can look easier than they are or be easier than they look depending on the gear you're using.

having said that, there are 4 presentations I make with a spinnerbait. a very fast "burning" retrieve where I crank as fast as possible until it reaches the surface and then let if fall a little, rinse repeat. a slow roll, which would be crawling it, in a nutshell. a normal retrieve - think of it like the standard retrieve for an inline spinner. (just make sure you can feel the pulsing of the lure. (if you can't then the blades may not be turning due to either speed or they've gotten hung up on other parts of the bait or twisted. in that case, just snap the bait and it should get the blades turning) the last retrieve I'll usually try before giving up is a standard retrieve with a small downward sweeping or soft popping motion - think of it like a super spook retrieve, or any topwater bait that you "walk the dog" with. the only difference would be that there's a quicker retrieve involved. that retrieve adds a nice pulsating action to the skirt - where it flares and closes in a fluid and quick motion while it's moving through the water. it will do some of that naturally depending on your retrieve speed, but this just amplifies it. I occasionally throw in a twitch or pop to one of the retrieves if I can see fish following but not committing or if it just seems like the fish are lethargic even though I know they're there.

as much as retrieve can help - choosing blade color or blade type can help also. do some quick google searches on the difference in colorado, indiana and willowleaf blades. that will get you started on understanding the difference in flash versus vibration and such, as well as silver versus gold for water clarity. sometimes painted blades are even better. I do that a lot with my perch imitating spinnerbaits - paint the blades.

oh, and one more thing that I do around the right structure that has caught me plenty of nice bass...around submerged trees I often cast my spinnerbait quite a ways past a low hanging branch on the tree - just make sure that a) the branch is hanging 6 inches or less above the water, and your line goes over the tree branch for the remainder of the retrieve. once your bait is near the branch slow it down and start giving it soft and small twitches. it will appear to be trying to hop up on the branch and escape...I've gotten some explosive strikes this way that resulted in some nice fish I couldn't catch otherwise. just goes to show you that bass don't always think your spinnerbait is a small school of fish or whatever, which a lot of people think. bass seem to be just as much in favor of the "fight" as we are when you see them jump a foot out of the water just to catch the spinnerbait you're hopping out of the water!

hope this helps - g'luck!

What Fret told you is outstanding.  Please copy and past his post to a Word Document and keep it for future reference.

All I can add is that you may want to purchase one of these videos or DVDs.

I will list them in order of preference:

Kevin VanDam's Proven Spinnerbait Techniques (Outstanding)

Gerald Swindle Teaching SUccess with Spinnerbaits (Excellent)

Hank Parker's Ultimate Guide to Spinnerbaits (OK, but too much filler)

If you can find the KVD DVD at BPS please purchase it. The phone number on the back of the package is 800.227.7776 if there is no BPS near you.

This is a fantastic instructional DVD on how to use a spinnerbait.

If you can find the  KVD "3 DVD Set" it is a better buy as it includes three excellent productions.  I got it for only $9.95 at BPS so check it out and find out if you can still purchase it for $9.95.

Good luck.  

Vary the depth of your spinner according to where you're fishing. If you have the time to stay on a spot that you believe should produce then fish it from top to bottom. Varying the speed will vary the depth. I normally don't let mine hit the bottom but once......on a countdown to judge depth. I always thought there was only one retrieve for a spinner bait when I first started throwing them several years ago. I've since learned that there are quite a few. My two favorites are:

BIG #1 is the stop-n-go. Just throw it out and let it sink to whatever depth you want it to come back in. Begin a steady retrieve, not fast, and then 4-6 cranks - stop 1 second - reel 4-6 cranks - stop 1/2 second - reel. This does what the last poster was talking about when he mentioned the undulating of the skirt, but it also allows the bait to fall a little on each stop which imitates a wounded bait fish too. It's also good to slooooowly drop your rod tip downward as you retrieve back to you to keep the bait at the same depth for a longer time, you probably already know this.

#2 is similar to slow rolling, but I call it "pumping" the bait back. Got this one from the "Dance" man. It's best in deeper water situations, say 8-15 feet. I cast out and let the bait fall to about what I beleive to be about two feet from the bottom. Then I "pump" it back to me in the same way you would a t-rigged worm or a jig-n-pig. The retrieve speed is just a bit faster than those techniques though. Again this accomplishes the same purpose as the first retrieve does only it seems to add a bit different action to the bait than the first does. Sometimes I'll sweep and drop while in this mode too.

Give these two a try and practice them a bit to hone them in and I'm sure you'll have some success.

There's been some great advise given so far! I'll back up Sam's suggestion on the KVD videos! They're well worth the money!

What weight spinnerbaits are you using? Are they all the same weight and blade combination? While I typically start off with a 3/8oz double williowleaf combination (for this time of year under clear to slightly stained water conditions), I have had to switch to a heavier (or lighter) spinnerbait to hit the zone the bass are holding in. I carry spinnerbaits ranging in weight from 1/8oz up to 1oz. Another way to "adjust" the weight of your spinnerbait would be to add a split shot or two or as I prefer a small rubber core sinker. If I'm convinced I have the right bait but it's just not running at the depth I need it to, I will add the extra weight to the main hook to reach the depth I need that bait to run. Also, are you adding a trailer hook to your spinnerbaits? For me, I use them 99.99999% of the time. It helps catch the ones that will short strike the bait. If they continue to short strike the bait, try changing things up (color, weight, blade combination,etc) until you find exactly what they want. Hope this helps! Good luck and let us know how you do!

good call on the videos and the trailer hook. the pros show us a lot and it's inspiring to watch them work. if you don't feel like spending money on videos you could also try youtube.com since it's a great resource nowadays. I like the hands-on instruction you can get there for free and sometimes it can be better than reading about it.

as for the trailer hook - thanks for the reminder! I rarely use one on a spinnerbait, but I've seen enough short strikes to wish I had one on. I'll have to ditch the trailer on a couple of my spinnerbaits and go to a stinger. I'll do that now while you've reminded me.

oh, and one more thing I've found that works well - if they're following the bait but not committing don't be afraid to throw on a medium to large sized beetle spin or roadrunner. I know they're kind of a boring lure since they've been around for like 50 years and haven't changed a whole lot, but they produce fish that may not bite otherwise!

Thanks for the info guys! I got alot of good info from it. I will try those retrieves, and go buy different colors and weights and blade styles. I do use a trailer hook though.

as said, KVD's video's. You can get them as a 3pack from BPS for the same price as buying on idividually. $9.95 i think last time i checked.

On the topic of trailer hooks: I switched over to the g-stinger hook that gamakatsu makes. I'll never go back. I think it will make the traditional shanked trailer hook go the way of the dodo.

This is just what I do, but I replace all the 'double' spinnerbaits (with two different blades on them) with a single willow.

x2 on the KVD videos from BPS. "Pitching to Heavy Hitters" in that collection gives a pretty good tutorial on pitching which can be used for spinnerbaits as well like was mentioned earlier.

I've also found ripping the spinnerbait over and through the tops of submerged weed beds to work well. Also, the spinnerbait is surprisingly weedless (which I'm sure you've found out) and can work well in lillypad situations.