Deep Spinner Baits
by Ken Sturdivant
Southern Fishing Schools Inc.
The spinner bait makes big
fish bite and yet many anglers miss the best tactic with the bait. When
the spinner bait came on the scene it was used almost exclusively as
a top water bait. But secrets are hard to keep in fishing and the spinner
baits found their way all the way to the bottom of the lakes and streams
all over the country.
Lots of big bass live in deep water that many anglers
never fish. And with the fishing pressure that the fish have had to endure,
it's no longer a secret that deep fishing all year produces big fish.
Although
the deep tactics may have been found by accident spinner baits will catch
big fish out of deep water.
Glen Lau in Silver Springs Florida filmed
the life cycle of the largemouth bass. His video called "Bigmouth";
is world famous. If there is an avid bass angler that has never seen
this video,
that is a favor to the bass.
In this video, Lau followed schools as well
as single bass to see what they did, where they lived and what they
ate. Schools of all sizes of bass roamed the banks at 5 to 20 feet deep
all
year. Single bass stuck their noses into deep heavy cover and almost
never came out except to feed. That is when many anglers finally realized
there
are lots of bass in deep water that may never see a lure. Bass anglers
take a long time to learn that casting to the banks all day all year,
miss tons of fish. That is where the spinner bait excels.
No one knows
what
a bass thinks a spinner bait really is. Many anglers could care less
what they think it is because it works. Fishing deep spinner baits
is really
very easy. Just cast a single of double blade spinner bait to any
structure and let it sink to the bottom. Now pull the bait making the
blades
spin and drag it across the bottom. Because of the safety pin design,
the spinner
bait is virtually weedless and is very difficult to hang up. Pull
this bait over, under and around all the structure on the bottom of the
lake. Fish the bait just like it were a jig. Rig up a spinner bait
with
some
chartreuse in the skirts and pick your favorite set of blades. Casting
a spinner bait from a 3/16 ounce head to a full one ounce head requires
a bait casting outfit and heavy line. Strikes are either very hard
or the lures just goes soft. Set the hook and make sure the rod is
heavy enough
to bury the hook in the bigmouth bass.
