# Spinnerbaits and Rooster Tails



## FL-boy

Someone make the case for me. I've only been fishing in Ohio for about a year, and so far when bass fishing have stuck to Flukes, crank baits, and senkos. I hear of a lot of people doing well on spinners and rooster tails/inline spinners, but I just haven't fished them much. I have them, but I guess I just don't have confidence in them. I wade the river a lot for smallie a, and I hit ponds and smaller lakes for LM. So tell me, what type of conditions/ situations will spinners be better for? When do you see more action off of those baits vs. the baits I normally use that I mentioned? 


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## tadluvadd

1/4oz joes fly is hard to beat for a inline spinner.and works well in all the rivers i have been in.although not my overall fav,smallie bait,its hard to go wrong with it as a go to bait.plus i have caught many of trout,saugeye rockbass and everything else that swims on it.just remember to stick with the larger ones cause the smaller baits are harder to throw due to their light weight.


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## Bassbme

It seems like in-line spinners (Roosters Tails, Mepps, and Blue Fox Vibrax) are better suited for creeks and smaller rivers. Their size more closely matches the size of bait in those environments. Depending on the type of blade they have, they can be really tough to work with the current. They work much better if you are bringing them across current, or down and across current. Above or below riffles, or over gravel and rock flats are good places for in-line spinners. The open treble hook makes them very prone to snag, so they're much better in more open water conditions. I'm sure you already know...... but make sure you use a high quality ball bearing swivel in front of them, or you'll get massive line twist. 

Safety pin style spinner baits may be the most versatile of all baits. Their shape makes them pretty weedless, so you can fish them practically anywhere. They come in a lot of different sizes and colors, and can be worked anywhere in the water column. You can burn them close to the surface or slow down and slow roll them along the bottom. You can cast them in to weeds and wood, or work them through open water.


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## KDOG1976

You fish too small of jigs. You are catching fish but nothing big at all. Here's an idea - fish bigger bait for bigger fish and catch less but more impressive fish.


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## ezbite

I use a roostertail a lot and really don't get many largemouth, but white bass love em.


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## lunker4141

I've put little twister tails on my spinnerbaits in some local lakes and have had decent success. Especially fot small mouth....they seem to love that look durimg the spring bite. 

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## rustyfish

I used Wordens as my only artificial bait (other than crappie tubes & jigs) for more than ten years. I have used every size and every color. I love wordens. You will not be bored while fishing with a rooster tail because you can catch a 4 inch fish or a 4# fish. I have caught a lot of LM and spotted bass on them and a few smallmouth. Very few fish that I have not caught on them. I would guess that at least 75% of the species I have caught have been caught at least once on a Wordens. 

LMB, SMB, Spotted bass, Channel, Flathead, carp, drum, gar, whitebass, sauger/saugeye, sunfish, crappie, rainbow, Skipjack, yellow perch, rockbass.

The biggest challenge of inline spinners is fishing the right speed, depth, and cover you need to find big fish. But if you want to make a quick job of covering a lot of mostly open water and catching anything there, its right for the job.

That being said these last two years I have started using a lot of other lures and really enjoy Spinner-baits (yeah big leap huh, lol). The ability to have options of speed, depth, and snag resistance seems to pay off in average size even though you loose numbers. I still never go fishing without atleast 10 Wordens on me.


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## FL-boy

Thanks for all the feedback! I was getting skunked at the river on my go-to's tonight so I threw on a rooster tail. Kept getting snagged up...I think it was just too heavy for the water I was in. It did get a couple of hits though. Three on a small Rapala original and finally had one on, and a nice one...he came off about 3 ft in front of me, so I ended up skunked. Haven't gotten skunked down at the river in forever! I know a couple deeper holes that I'm gonna try roosters and spinners on. Just gotta try em out more I guess. 


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## partlyable

I love using senkos in the ponds. I don't use inline spinners all that often but I have had success with them I would rather use a swimbait in the river I realize its the same general presentation but I think they snag less. Also love tubes in the river. 


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## rustyfish

Good chance you may already know this but. Position of the spinner in the water is controlled by the rod tip hight, reeling speed, current, and lure wt. Higher rod tip and high speed= top of water. Lower rod tip and lower speed= deeper in water. So mixing those put you in the somewhere in middle of the water column. High/low or low/high. 

Likewise reeling up current brings it to the top so reel slower and down current takes it deeper so reel faster. 

Also on a far cast I lift the tip up high when I start to retrieve, as it gets closer I lower the rod tip. The more line you have out the more it sinks.

So for large roostertails like 3/8 ounce, you are going to need to keep your tip up a little more because they want to sink. This will let you slow it down a little bit and give the fish a chance.

For small ones you need to lower your tip closer to the water or it will want to come right up to the top. This will allow you to reel it fast enough to get your spin but still keep it down in the water.

I know this applies to many other lures too so you my already understand it but if not I hope that helps.


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## 10fish

I'll weigh in as I use all of the lures you mentioned.

As to your question of When??

As a rule for me when it's hot out side I like senkos and flukes as the bass seem to lay tight to cover of on the bottom in the weeds. And I also fish them really SLOW.

When the weather is cool spring and fall I like spinners , maybe it's me but the bass seem willing to "play chase" more when it's cooler.


For river spinners I prefer Rooster Tails and Blue fox spinners but depending on the river depth ( shallow) I will use road runners or beetle spins and avoid hang up problems. 
Spinners work pretty much all the time on rivers.

Might not be a by the book approach but we catch and until that changes neither am I.


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## FL-boy

Gonna head to a pond now to try some stuff. I always catch fish at it so today I'm gonna make a conscious effort to fish other baits than what I normally throw. Good place to try it I guess...It's a pond so I have a "captivated" audience!


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## Bubbagon

Inline spinners are probably the most used river small mouth bait on the planet. They WILL catch fish. Lots of little fish, and occasionally a big fish.

BUT....I hate them. Line twist issues....arggg. And they snag, and they snag, and they snag.....I friggin HATE treble hooks.

So many, many years back I switched to a full sized, 3/8 ounce spinnerbait. And I've never looked back. I catch MUCH larger fish than i used to. And I catch more. Mostly because I almost never get snagged, I can reel it and toss it back out quickly....so my bait is in front of fish a LOT. 
Bigger spinnerbaits WILL pees off the big fish and they will bite out of aggression. 

I throw them May through November. 80+% of my trophy fish come on a full sized spinnerbait.


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## FL-boy

Hit the pond for an hour or so today. Not great at all, but it was hot and sunny. Tried a spinner bait for a good while and had a few hits but I think it was gills. Caught one LM around 13" on a Gulp minnow...I know, basically a fluke...


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