Spinners are the basic models in the assortment of the spin
fisher. They are a staple food so to say. You can't go wrong with spinners. The
smaller models are excellent for perch and trout, while the larger ones are
better for pike and zander. Pike also love to take
a double spinner. The most important characteristic of a spinner is an easy
turning blade. Proven makes are: Mepps, Abu, Dam, Blue Fox, Rublex, etc. The
special thing about spinners are the strong vibrations they emit. That's what
makes them such successful lures. Under certain circumstances it is possible,
that you loose more fish on one model than on another. Without further indulging
into the reasons for this, I just want to say, that using a different model can
reduce the amount of lost fish dramatically. But don't let it become a prejudice
against that make of spinner, und different circumstances the "bad" spinner
might become your killer lure. Sometimes even two fisherman fishing the same
venue at the same time will come up with two totally different successful models.
Important Factors
Weight
The weight of a spinner defines, how deep it will run or how
fast it can be used at a given depth. The force opposing the weight is the water
resistance: everything raising the resistance will make the spinner run
shallower: hook dressings (hair, wool, feathers, rubber), a broader blade, a
bigger blade. Even though the bigger variants of a model have bigger blades,
they will always run deeper, because the extra weight more than makes up for the
blade. Reaching the depth, where the fish bite can be the biggest problem with
spinners in deep and/or fast flowing water. Luckily it is quite easy to add
extra weight (lead head, split shot on the line, lead-olive with a leader)
because this doesn't impair the action of the spinner in any way.
Size
The standard for describing the size of a spinner is given by
Mepps. Worldwide everybody knows what you mean, when you talk about a "size 2"
spinner blade. Even though, if you compare an Aglia or Comet blade with an Aglia
Long its not so clear what the size 2 is really referring to. I normally only
use the sizes from 2 (Aglia Long=1) on upwards. The smallest blades (00,0,1) are
supposed to be good for grayling in some places, I have had some success with
them in the summer for rainbows. On the other hand, you can already expect pike
to go for a size 2, especially in summer, when fry is on the menu. 2 and 3 are
good for trout, the larger sizes for pike and zander but you can expect a lot of
by catch in form of perch, chub and asp. a perch of 25cm has absolutely no
problem attacking a size 5 spinner and even smaller ones will do so occasionally.
Shape
The shape of the spinner blade determines, how close it runs to
the body, how fast it turns and also influences the water resistance. The
broader the blade, the farther it will run from the body, the slower it will
turn and the larger the water resistance will be. The frequency could well be a
factor deciding over your catch, but i can't really prove it. Higher frequencies
would probably rather imitate insects, lower ones might resemble small panicking
fish. The shape of a longish willow leaf blade will more closely resemble a small
fish. The broader blades are not good to fish in heavy current: the high water
resistance will make them ride to high and they tend to produce a lot of missed
bites. Only for fishing downstream (= casting upstream) they can be useful .
Hook Dressing
The dressing often found in spinners is not just to make them
look a bit nicer but can be a very important detail for success. Having a fly, a
bushel of hair or a grub at the end of your spinner instead of a plain hook
increases its catch rate. It's not like you couldn't do without and if you have
trouble reaching the desired depth it's better to use a plain hook. But in clear
water for trout i like to have a fly on my hook. For pike I prefer a chunky grub
or a shad to give the lure more volume. The soft rubber stuff also fools the
pike into striking a second time more easily after a missed attack.
Colour
The colour of the blade is not so important in a spinner,
because it all turns into a blur, once the blade is rotating
( Although it's not so sure, that the fish see the same blur as we do. In a
scientific show on TV they said, the warmer it is, the better the eyesight of
cold blooded animals will be). Body and dressing are seen much better, but are
usually not designed very sophisticated. Shining gold or silver colours
(also reflective foils) with red accents are usually quite good. Most other
designs are really just toy stuff, usually work worse, sometimes just as good
and rarely any better with the exception of black, with or without lighter
stripes or dots, which can be the only good colour at times. Also sometimes a
uni coloured blade in white green or pink can be quite good.
Lure Presentation
Usually the spinner will be presented in a straight retrieve and
is quite successful that way. That makes it an easy to use lure. But you should
learn a few tricks for presenting it even better: in deeper water, especially
when your pulling the lure from shallower to deep water a stop of the retrieve,
letting the lure flutter to the ground, every once in a while is a must.
Turns from left to right might trigger strikes from following fish. Acceleration
is also often mentioned as trick to make followers strike, but changes of
direction seem to be more successful, if you do accelerate the spinner, you
should also raise your rod to simulate a flight to the surface.
