Spinners are small, metal fishing lures with blades that spin around a body to attract fish. The spinning motion reflects light and sends out subtle vibrations in the water as would a small fish. This fools your target fish to bite your bait or hook.
For the supplies you’ll need and instructions on how to fish with a spinner, please continue reading below!
While spinners can be very helpful, they don’t have too much of a benefit when used incorrectly. Several tools or techniques should be applied.
Materials
For a quicker, easier fishing trip and the proper execution of spinner fishing techniques, you’ll need the following:
Fishing Vest
A good vest is very handy and will give you plenty of compartments and space for equipment, tools, and tackles.
Rod and Reel
In order to catch any fish with spinners, you will need a nice combination of a rod and a reel. Spin fishermen often prefer shorter and more sensitive gears, such as a 5- or 6-foot light or ultralight rod and reel model.
Fishing Line
Some reels come pre-spooled with 4 to 6-pound monofilament lines, which work just fine. However, some anglers recommend the following specific types of fishing lines for different conditions:
* A 16- to 20- pound monofilament line when fish are sagacious or hesitant to eat or bite your bait.
* A fluorocarbon line such as Sunline reaction FC or FC Sniper if your fish are eating properly but you need more line sensitivity and also if you are slow-rolling a spinnerbait. This lets you detect when the blades are turning or not
Leaders
Leaders are materials used to connect the lure or bait to the fishing line. They come in many sizes and lengths. Common materials used as leaders are:
- Fluorocarbon
- Hard monofilament
- Titanium
- Seven strand wire (coated or uncoated)
- Single strand wire
- Stainless steel wire
Bait
Although spinners qualify as baits, minnows, spoons, small crawfish, insects, salmon eggs, and other types of bait can be used. When fishing for game fish like trout, carp, and catfish, popular baits include power baits and dough baits as well.
Simple tools
When fishing, you also need small, simple tools. These include forceps to unhook your fish, pliers to cut the line, and spare hooks, lures, baits, floaters, rigs, nets, spears, and the like.
Spinners
These are the different types and designs of spinners that you can use:
- Standard Inline which are weighted spinners with rotating blades around a straight wire using a clevis and a bead stop. These have a molded lead head on the lower arm.
- Spinner baits which are shaped like unclosed safety pins with a single hook and a weighted head. It is used to catch game fish through and inside vegetation or cover.
- Buzzbaits which are similar to spinnerbaits or inline spinners with a specially designed propeller designed for surface fishing.
- Live Bait spinners use minnows or nightcrawlers on one hook or a series of hooks. A spinner blade is attached in front of the live bait.
Techniques on How to Fish With a Spinner
The following are a bunch of useful spinner fishing techniques and how they can be performed:
1. Bottom Bouncing
Bottom Bouncing is used for casting from upstream of a river, usually from an inflatable dingy or a boat during trolling or in current fishing in wide freshwater bodies. It is effective for catching brook trout, cutthroat trout, bull trout, and rainbow trout. Remember to use fishing spinners for trout.
Steps
● Cast the spinner behind the boat or upstream until it touches the bottom.
● Allow the spinner to bounce on the bottom while moving downstream. The motion will bring up the mud, and the commotion should attract your target.
● Quickly retrieve your line with the current so that the lure works fully.
● Repeat casting and bottom bouncing several times.
2. Live Lining
This technique uses traditional live baits and gears. It is often used in naturally flowing freshwater bodies like rivers of streams from an anchored boat. Live lining allows the bait to go under and through cover, rocks, holes, and other places where gamefish could be hiding.
Steps
● Cast your line and allow the bait to reach the bottom.
● Retrieve so that the baitfish rises but not too far from the bottom. The current and the movement of the baitfish should help you here.
● Keep your bait close to the bottom.
3. Chumming
This method is often used by seasoned anglers where chum is thrown overboard. Chum is the term used for chopped or ground vegetables, meat, or fish used to attract fish, especially sharks. Chumming is used to have the fish return at least temporarily to spots where they have not been for some time.
Steps
●Prepare some chum from a tackle shop. Some offer special mixes intended for specific fish species. If you don’t want to spend too much, you can use some bread, bread crumbs, canned corn, or pet food.
●Throw some chum overboard into the water. Approximate the amount of chum you should use to attract the fish nearer but not get them full.
● Wait for a while before casting in the chummed spot.
● Make a habit of regularly throwing chum on the same spot to make it a good fishing spot.
4. Walking the Dog
Walking the Dog is successful because it does not allow the lure ever to stop moving in the same small area, making it hard to be identified by target fish. It gives the illusion of slow progress and coverage while constantly moving back and forth as well.
Steps
● Cast and allow your line and lure to settle a little.
● Hold your rod at a medium height of 1 to 1.5 feet above the water’s surface, slightly angling it down with the tip close to the water.
● Move your rod from left to right using your wrist, making a wider movement than you want your lure to move.
● Maintain a slight slack on the line before and right after each jerking motion by slowly and steadily reeling out. This resists drag, allows the lure to keep moving, and allows it to move naturally.
● Keep your eyes on the lure and slowly allow it to move down until the rod tip almost touches the water. Then, without pausing, snap the rod back to the original position while preserving some slack on your line.
● Deliver a non-stop alternating series of strokes and jerks so that the lure zigzags about six inches from side to side. Remember that the rod tip should move wider to overcome the slack on the line.
● Try to maintain a steady rhythm until you retrieve.
5. Jigging
Jigging is a popular method performed to catch different fish species by modifying or changing the rigs’ shape, play, color, and movement. This is often used for catching saltwater fish from deep waters.
Steps
● Cast and wait until your jig or lure touches the bottom.
● Use the rod tip to make the lure hop and then lower it back down.
● Avoid bringing the rod too high because this will prevent you from hooking properly when a fish bites.
● Continue reeling down to lower the bait and reeling up to pull it from the bottom until you feel a bite.
To give you a better idea of how spinner fishing works, here’s a very helpful and informative video.
Conclusion
There you have it! Those are the materials you need and the techniques on how to fish with a spinner. These can be used for catching a wide variety of fish species like trout, bass, salmon, walleye, bream, perch, pike, and blue kurper.
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