[12]
SPINNERS
There is little doubt that the first
lure most pike anglers will have used
was a spinner, or bar-spoon as they
are sometimes known. Spinners are
used in their thousands, not least
because they are widely available
- and cheap. They are also very good
fish catchers. The vibrations that
spinners give out are very strong,
there is plenty of flash, and the
lure doesn't mask the hook. All in
all spinners have a lot going for
them. Unfortunately they are probably
responsible for the reputation that
lure fishing has for catching predominantly
small pike. Because small spinners
are the ones most widely available
they get used most often. Small spinners
give off higher frequency vibrations
than larger spinners, making them
attractive to small pike, and their
small size ensures that even tiny
jacks will get hooked on them.
The
most common type of spinner is the
Mepps and its hosts of imitators.
These lures have what is referred
to as a French blade (no doubt in
recognition of the Mepps country
of origin). French blades spin easily,
biting the water well, and give
out a good strong vibration. Mepps,
along with other manufacturers also
produce spinners with willow leaf
blades. Slimline willow leaf blades
spin closer to the shaft of the
lure, and they spin faster, than
French blades. As a result of the
reduced angle between blade and
shaft, and the shape of the blade,
willow leaf spinners have less lift
than more traditional baits. This
is a factor that can be used to
your advantage when determining
fishing depth. For example, French
bladed spinners will fish higher
in the water than willow leafed
baits, given similar sized lures
retrieved at the same speed.
Of
course, larger blades give more
lift than smaller ones. But as you
might expect large blades to be
accompanied by larger bodies, these
factors tend to balance each other
out. This is why many spinner manufacturers
offer different ranges of lures
with light, medium and heavy bodies
married to blades of a similar size.
Body weight is the way to determine
running depth of spinners while
maintaining a constant blade size.
This ensures that the vibration
and flash of the lure remains the
same. So you can see straight away
that there are many permutations
available to the thinking angler
when it comes to depth control for
fishing spinners. It may seem absurd
to fit a spinner with a buoyant
body, but there are one or two such
lures available. The Worden's Rooster
Tail Lite being one I have tried.
In its largest size the lure is
sufficiently heavy to be cast on
light baitcasting gear, but not
into much of a wind! Most of the
weight of the Rooster Tail Lite
comes from the blade, which is large
in comparison to the overall length
of the spinner, and free turning.
As you might expect this lure can
be fished very shallow, at quite
a slow speed, while still giving
out a low frequency throb. Fished
faster it can easily be bulged in
the surface film. Not a lure I have
had much time to try out, I admit,
but an interesting one.
Colorado, Fluted, In-Line, Magnum
Willow and Willow Leaf blades.
There
are other blade types used on
spinners. Colorado blades often
seen on spinnerbaits are rare
on in-line spinners, but not unknown.
These blades give a tremendous
amount of lift and are good for
'bulging' the lure just below
the surface. A more frequently
seen blade type is the Sonic blade.
This one doesn't spin around the
shaft on a clevis, as do all the
other blades mentioned, but directly
on the shaft. In-line blades give
a strong vibration, and are a
much neglected blade style. Fluted
and Indiana blades fall somewhere
between the French and willow
leaf types in terms of both lift
and speed. Some people feel that
fluted blades bite the water better
than plain blades, and give out
stronger vibrations. In practice
this is difficult to notice, but
there is possibly something in
this theory, there certainly looks
to be more flash from the fluted
surface than from a plain blade.
The same goes for blades with
a hammered finish.
As
already implied, most spinners are
too small to be consistently good
at catching reasonable sized pike.
Spinners the size of a number four
and five Mepps Aglia are as small
as I like to go for pike. Notwithstanding
one or two big fish over thirty
pounds (and the reported capture
of one British record pike) on such
lures, I don't honestly think that
anyone would recommend spinners
as a good bet for regularly catching
big pike. Spinners are good at catching
numbers of fish, though. So should
you ever enter a pike-only lure
match, don't forget your spinners!
I could be wrong about the value
of spinners. Let's face it, U.S.
musky fishermen rate their bucktails
very highly indeed. And a bucktail
is only a jumped up spinner with
a bigger blade and the addition
of a hair dressing to the hook.
Maybe it is because muskies are
more surface orientated, and more
willing to chase or follow quickly
moving lures than pike, that bucktails
are almost the standard lure for
them. Certainly the dressed treble
hook gives these spinners more lift
than the baits we are used to over
here, and all spinners have to be
retrieved fairly quickly to keep
the blade spinning. The hair also
adds to the bulk and silhouette
of the lures, making them more attractive
mouthfuls for the fish. One or two
musky bucktails are as much as fifteen
inches long! Some years ago I experimented
with home made lures working on
these lines. I added large sea fishing
muppets to a big Mepps, wiring in
a second treble hook to compensate
for the increased length of the
lure. Total length was somewhere
around seven inches and it worked
- in attracting pike. Fish would
follow it, but nothing ever hit
it and I gave up. Maybe I should
have persevered. But then again
there have been a few spinners around
for many years that have a rubber
fish behind the blade, mounted on
a couple of trebles, and these have
never been of any use for me either.
I know for a fact that they do catch
pike for other anglers, but not
for me.
If
you do give bucktails and their
like a trial, remember that they
will fish shallower than standard
spinners, and that the same rules
still apply when it comes to blades.
This is why many bucktails have
willow leaf blades, to counteract
the buoyancy of the bucktail or
other hook dressing. Larger bucktails
even have a second treble wired
in behind the first, and maybe a
lead weight at the back of the lure
too. This weight is sometimes in
the form of a keel to try and reduce
the tendency of spinners to rotate
in sympathy with the blade. The
added lead aids casting and helps
keep the lure down in the water.
Don't forget that bucktails are
heavier when wet, so dunk your bait
in the water before making the first
cast with it. This will help to
prevent quite a few overruns.
Right to left, top to bottom.
Mepps Aglia Longue. Mepps Musky
Killer. Worden's Rooster Tail
Lite. Wordens Rooster Tail. Abu
Morrum Spin with treble replaced
with worm hook and curltail grub.
Mepps Lusox with replacement treble
from a Musky Killer. Standard
Lusox. Blue Fox Musky Buck. Renosky
Lunker Minnow.
Bucktails
are designed to be fished fast.
This is partly to do with the American
approach to musky fishing, and indeed
to much of their fishing. From what
I can gather their predominant style
is a hit-and-run, searching one.
If one spot doesn't produce the
goods within a fairly short time
they move on to the next spot. As
the vast majority of U.S. fishing
is done from a boat this is no problem.
The British way is more contemplative
and considered. On the whole I prefer
our way of doing things, but can
see the logic of the American 'percentage
fishing' for fishing large waters
from a boat. The more time your
lures spend in the water, and the
more water you cover, then the more
fish you should catch. Sounds great.
However, I always reckon that one
cast in the right place at the right
time will catch just as many fish.
I guess this could be called thinking
fish into the net". Any fool can
catch pike by percentage fishing,
it takes brains to catch them the
other way!
I
have already hinted at the biggest
drawback to fishing with standard
spinners. Line twist. No matter
how free turning the blades are,
the whole lure always revolves in
sympathy, in turn passing this motion
on to the line itself. There are
ways around this, like using ball
bearing swivels and anti-kink devices,
preferably in conjunction with each
other. As already mentioned, some
bucktail spinners actually have
anti-kink weights built in which
rarely solves the problem completely.
Other spinners have shafts that
are bent upwards slightly ahead
of the blade. Some even claim to
have ingenious body designs that
eliminate line twist. My solution
to the line twist problem is foolproof
- don't use standard spinners! Seriously,
there are other, similar, lures
that can be used, but which avoid
the line twist altogether. One such
is the spinnerbait, more of which
later, and another is the weight-forward
spinner. This type of lure has the
weight fitted in front of the blade,
and it forms a keel rather like
an anti-kink vane. Weight-forwards
are much scarcer than spinnerbaits
and spinners, only three spring
to mind as being available in the
U.K. The best two are the Abu Morrum
and the Mepps Lusox. Both these
baits are available in a limited
array of patterns but share a useful
feature for the experimenting angler
- interchangeable components. The
Lusox has interchangeable heads,
which means that blade sizes can
be swapped or the head can be added
to a standard spinner, creating
an even heavier lure. The Morrum
allows for dressed trebles to be
interchanged, or even single hooks
rigged with soft plastic twister
tail grubs making for a weedbeating
spinner, and increasing the bulk
of the lure considerably.
Weight-forward
spinners are designed, not only
to reduce line twist, but also to
spin as they fall through the water.
Standard spinners have little going
for them on the drop, but weight-forwards
are just as attractive to the fish
in free-fall as they are when retrieved.
Fairly obviously this is because
the weight is ahead of the blade.
With weights up to an ounce these
spinners cast well and fish deep.
Larger baits are made, but are difficult
to get hold of. Weight-forward spinners
are superb if you need to fish deep
water, or reach far out, with a
spinning bait. They can tangle on
the cast sometimes, but not as often
as bucktails and other standard
spinners. The rigid wire shaft in
front of the lead-head acts as an
anti-tangle device.
In my opinion, weight-forward spinners
are the most underrated type of
spinner available to pike anglers.
An excellent search lure for casting
and retrieving in open water, as
well as for deeper fishing applications.
If a greater selection of weight-forwards
were available I am sure that they
would become more popular. The Morrum
is listed in Abu's Tight Lines catalogue
up to 28gm (around an ounce), and
the Lusox is currently available
up to 21gm. Mepps actually manufacture
a Lusox that weighs 45gm - what
a deep water spinner that would
make.
Unlike
in-line spinners which have to be
kept moving all through the retrieve
so that the blade keeps on spinning,
weight-forwards can be worked in
a sink-and-draw style. This makes
them quite versatile. With all spinners
it pays off to strike if the blade
goes dead. This could be a pike
coming towards you, or it might
just be that the blade has picked
up a bit of weed or other underwater
debris. Weight-forwards are a little
more weed-resistant than standard
spinners as the head tends to push
it away from the blade, but they
are better at wedging between rocks
in my experience!
Tackle
for fishing standard spinners and
weight-forwards need not be over
heavy. Monofilament from ten to
fifteen pounds test will be sufficient
in most instances, or a braid of
twenty pound test, with traces of
no more than forty pounds. Lighter
baits are best cast on fixed-spool
outfits, while those of ½oz
upwards can be fished with ease
on baitcasting gear. A small baitcaster
like the Abu Black Max 1 holds plenty
of the light line used for fishing
spinners. Rods can range from the
traditional ten footer to short
trigger grip rods, the choice is
yours. I cannot find any real advantage
that one might have over the other.
The longer rods offer a little better
casting potential with light spinners
though. Provided that the outfit
you select will cast your lures
the distance you require there is
nothing to worry about. Keep the
rod pointing down the line throughout
the retrieve and hooking pike will
not be much of a problem. Spinners
suffer few of the hooking problems
associated with other lure types
as the hooks are not masked by any
part of the bait, and their lack
of bulk ensures that the hooks slip
easily into the corner of a pike's
mouth.
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