# What in the hell is a spinner bait?



## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

I think a large part of what distinguishes whether a fish is a viable spinnerbait target it the type of mouth. They are quite bulky lures and in order to be hooked, a fish needs to suck a large portion of the lure in and compress the skirt to expose the hookpoint. Thus implosion feeders like bass and cod are tailor made but fish with smaller, harder mouths will inevitably have a harder time finding the hookpoint.
If however, your target fish satisfies the above criteria (and flathead and barra spring immediately to mind) then they are a fantastic lure, especially when fishing heavy cover. They are amazingly snag-resistant, and a slow steady wind will see them grind through some absolute tiger country.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

They do work but maintaining the buggers after flicking them around in salt water is just painfull. There are plenty of trolling rigs for mackeral that incorporate spinner bait blades and they are incredibly successful.

Kev


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## 4weightfanatic (May 19, 2011)

You can improve the hookup rate on smaller mouthed fish by fitting a stinger hook. This is often used for bass that are notorious tail biters (or skirts in this case). The most popular stinger hook to use is the Gamakatsu Siwash hook often referred to as a spinnerbait hook. The Siwash hook has a large eye so it can be passed over the barb of the fixed hook without need to crush it down. To reduce the hook fouling,sliding up the shank or falling off for that matter a small diameter bit of PVC tubing is pushed over the eye of the stinger hook before forcing the fixed hook's point through the eye and then positioned at the bend. You will get a better hookup rate if the stinger hook point is orientated outwards but this will vastly reduce the snag proofness of the rig. PAT.


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## 4weightfanatic (May 19, 2011)

Here's a few pics of the stinger rig (the Siwash hook is also known as a Salt Water fly hook) and a couple of different spinnerbaits ---Pat. PS The pvc tube I have used as an example is actually heat shrink tube so it could be heated up to further reduce it's movement.


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## bombora (Mar 8, 2006)

If you wanna try for smaller mouthed fish you can also swap the stingered spinnerbait with one of the TT Revheads. The 1/8th comes in a no4 hook model. Have painted a few up and tied hair and flash tails on them (would also be simple to use a spinner bait plastic strands tail rather than hair) .
Took one down (a gold willow blade one, black head, orange artic fox tail) to the goon a few weeks ago and, mid arvo, with cold filthy brown flood water and maybe 6 inch visibility, it attracted a nice little 32cm EP as the dog walkers and joggers went by.


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## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

They work Occy, without a doubt.

The big fella always has one on the end of the line when I go fishing with him. He loves purple ones,Browns, white ones, in fact all colours really, ones with gold bits, silver bits, long skirts, short skirts, different weights for different sink rates, they can be cast, trolled, jigged or what ever.They can be fished deep, mid water or skimmed across the top. And they all must have stinger hooks just in case you get a short bite. I just can't believe the big fella has not replied to this one, he has a tackle box full of them. He must be keeping his secrets close...Just don't get him talking about the different blades, oh he likes the blades too...

Steven where are you..........

Cheers


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## 4weightfanatic (May 19, 2011)

Nativeman said:


> They work Occy, without a doubt.
> 
> The big fella always has one on the end of the line when I go fishing with him. He loves purple ones,Browns, white ones, in fact all colours really, ones with gold bits, silver bits, long skirts, short skirts, different weights for different sink rates, they can be cast, trolled, jigged or what ever.They can be fished deep, mid water or skimmed across the top. And they all must have stinger hooks just in case you get a short bite. I just can't believe the big fella has not replied to this one, he has a tackle box full of them. He must be keeping his secrets close...Just don't get him talking about the different blades, oh he likes the blades too...
> 
> ...


My money's on the ones with the short skirts and the pink bits


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## scoman (Oct 4, 2010)

ok am loving all this talk of spinnerbaits and the like.

Am trying to make up an order from a u.s store and wouldnt mind a bit of advice on a couple of things.

1. What size stingerhook? I notice Pat has used a size 4 in the pics. Would a 1/0 or a 2/0 be suitable for a 1/4 to 1/2 weight spinnerbait?

2. Is replacing a skirt difficult? Is it worth the effort?

3. Favourite colours for south east qld creeks and rivers? I have heard anything with purple, any others?

Thanks guys and sorry for steering this thread towards my own needs occy!!!!


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

scoman said:


> 1. What size stingerhook? I notice Pat has used a size 4 in the pics. Would a 1/0 or a 2/0 be suitable for a 1/4 to 1/2 weight spinnerbait?


Mark the eye size is the main guide, and a 1/0 should go over most SB hooks .... my local tackle shop sells Gamakatsu Spinnerbait Trailer Hooks and they have a larger than normal flat eye on them and a bit of plastic tube for use as a stopper on the front hook in each packet of hooks.


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## scoman (Oct 4, 2010)

Dodge said:


> scoman said:
> 
> 
> > 1. What size stingerhook? I notice Pat has used a size 4 in the pics. Would a 1/0 or a 2/0 be suitable for a 1/4 to 1/2 weight spinnerbait?
> ...


Thanks Dodge

As luck would have it I picked some of these up last night from BCF. Grabbed the 1/0 at first but felt it was a bit big so returned for the size 1. 
While I was there I grabbed another tt vortex spinnerbait in purple and a new pair of pliers.
Have abandened the U.S order, as I feel I am all stoked up, as much as my budget allows anyway.

However I am still interested in getting some spinnerbait skirts, looking on ebay at the moment.


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## hobie1kenobi (Jul 26, 2011)

They work i dont use anything else in the freshwater up here in widebay.

Doent matter what stile or colour and the bigger the better for bass


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