Thats the question.A spinnerbait is my go to lure

it works for me everywhere i go except for one

place and I cannot figure out why.There are

plenty of bait fish and crawfish on this small lake.

The fish are eay to catch on plastics and crankbaits

but i've never caught one on a spinnerbait here.

and the spinnerbait is my strength everywhere else.Whats up with this?

I am assuming that you have varied the retrieve speed, size of the bait/profile, style of the bait and color of the bait.

Maybe you are fishing to high in the water column.

I too have a lake where i catch few fish on a spinner bait. The main reason is forage and water clarity.

The main forage in this lake are panfish and crawdads. water clarity is generally 4 foot visibility. The baits I have are mainly river spinner baits. Big bulky and bright.

It might not work because the bait is not putting out enough vibrations, try a double colorado blade spinnerbait with natural colors.

Some waters have seasonal windows for certain lure types. If you used them during fall, a prime time for spinnerbaits, you should have caught a few. Did you try trailers (soft plastic or pork)? Have you tried short arm and long arm? Tandem willow leaf or tandem willow and colorado; tandem colorado? Have you tried black or just white?

There are a lot of choices when it comes to spinnerbaits( ie. presentation is affected by lure size, trailers and blades.) I look for prime spinnerbait areas to work as well as different times of day or cloud cover.

Try a Beetle spin just to see if the combo works and good luck.

Sam

If your catching them on crankbaits and plastic worms I am guessing that the lake is clear? Change to a smaller profile bait. Cut down the skirt and change the blades to about a 3 1/2 willow blade. I would use a 1/4 or 1/8 oz bait. I would use a skirt that looks natural or one thats clear with metal flake in it. Something else I do is take a 3/8 oz and change to a smaller blade and trim the skirt back and burn the bait or fish it with a fast jerk reel action. If you find that you need more thump slightly bend the blade.

I'm with what Nick said, vibration maybe the key. Even mixing your blades may work.

It might be too big for that lake too.  All kinds of varibles for this subject, just keep trying different ways and you will find one that will work on that particular lake.

some times bass also get use to a certin kind of lure being thrown and they will shy away from it fishing preassure if the lake is fished heavy with blades that might be your answer

tight line

Jack

I've tried every color,size,and blade combination.

I have a spinnerbait pouch that I take with me

I have differnt color skirts diferent color blades

and different sizes.I've tried an 1/8 oz and still

didnt catch anything.On a beetle spin you only

catch perch.Its a privately owned lake and everyone else catches them on wacky worms.

Everyone else has given up on spinnerbaits. I keep

trying them because the fish are there but will not

eat one.And I dont know why.The water is stained

you can see down about 2 feet.I'ver even tried

flipping and pitching a spinnerbait to have a really

quite presentation.

AHHH everyone used to catch them on spinnerbaits.

So the fish got wise to your offering. Change to a short arm spinnerbait and add chunk of pork on it as a trailer. Slow roll it use either a white or black bait.

then again. . . don't use a spinnerbait.  

What about an H & H?  I caught loads of'em on them years ago.  Just talked to a buddy who has success using them on Lake Bridgeport, here in North Texas.  I'm thinking about going back to basics with them myself.

. . . or maybe an inline Mepps?  

Im in southeast Texas and when I first started H&H spinnerbaits produced for me also.I've gotten away from them also.I have tryed a rooster tail with no luck.Thank you Fisher of Men I will try a h&h and let you know what happens

Fisher of Men, what's an H&H? ??? thanks

I own a lot, no...a whole lot of spinnerbaits but rarely (never?) throw them simply because EVERYONE fishes them, everywhere. So here's a suggestion for a couple of lures that you can substitute when you are fishing exactly where you normally throw the spinners: Bomber Square A for a shallow presentation (0-2 ft) and Bagely BII (2-4 ft).

One other thought for Tie1on, you can't make fish bite just because you want to throw some particular lure. If it's not working, TRY SOMETHING ELSE!

Another thing you can try is to change your retrieve. I next to never use a steady retrieve while throwing a spinnerbait. I add rod twitches, pauses, jerks and will sometimes kill it during the retrieve. I have found that I can draw more reluctant bass into biting this erratic retrieve than a steady one.

Abelfisher,

It's a smaller spinnerbait, kind of a two piece jointed spinner that is sold on cards for about $1.19 a piece.  I think they also make some full size versions though.  When I was a kid they were about 50 cents a piece and caught great #'s of fish.

I looked for a website (over the last ten minutes) and couldn't find one, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  I think Wal-mart still sells them (or at least in Texas).

I agree with LD, why don't you just try something else?

I have caught them on wacky worms,crankbaits,

and plastic crawfish.The only reason I keep trying to catch them on spinnerbaits is because when I go to other places that I fish a spinnerbait is something that I catch them on when I cant catch  them on anything else.It is the type of lure that I enjoy using the most.And that I am the best st fihing with.I was just wondering If anyone else has

ever come across this.I need to put the spinnerbait

away and improve on jig fishing that is the lure that I have not matered yet.

tie1on

Dont put that spinnerbait away forever. There are days and times when that spinner bait will be the most productive lure in your box on that body of water. Other days it might just catch that one big fish.

Spinnerbaits are the most under utilized yet over fished baits there is.

What im guessing will happen is the spinnerbait bite will come back on this body of water because alot of people will give up on it.

Try fishing it earlier in the year. One lake in my area is not a spinnerbait lake clear deep water. They load the boat on spinnerbaits in the early spring.

I never fish a tournament with out a spinnerbait rigged up anywhere I go.

Good point D. Taylor!

I know of a similar lake around here, Rice Lake. It is a very large, shallow and weedy lake that resembles my home water of Long Point Bay, Lake Erie. Around here - everybody's favourite bait is the spinnerbait. It catches fish like mad, not just bass.

When I headed up to Rice Lake with my grandfather (who is a guide there) and he told me to leave the spinnerbaits at home, I was like.. yeah.. right.. that's gonna happen. So I tossed my spinnerbait for the entire first day and got NOTHING while my grandfather had an incredible day with grubs and plastic worms, and even buzzbaits.

Day 2, I started with the spinnerbait, this time earlier in the morning, still couldn't get a fish while my grandfather was nailing them on buzzbaits. I gave up and switched to a buzzbait.

I dunno if it's pressure on the lake from a certain lure or if it just doesnt resemble the food they're used to, but the spinnerbait by all means just doesn't work there! It's weird, I've never seen a place that I couldn't get a fish on a spinnerbait. Oh well, that's fishin'.