Inline spinners for largemount and smallmouth bass

[smarais]

Hi there,
While growing up as a kid in South Africa we used inline spinners quite a bit. I have now been in the USA for quite some time and do not see a lot talking/discussing of online spinners for bass. I know it is used quite a bit for trout.
Any thoughts about using inline spinners for bass? I live in La Crosse, WI. Lots of large and small mouth bass around here.

regards
Stephan Marais

[lunchbox]

While i am not Mr. Dahlberg I can at least illuminate the in line spinner a bit. I can promise you that if you were to look in the tackle box of a random professional bass fisherman you would find at least one type/brand of in line spinner. They are phenomenal baits, that produce fish. I think it is crazy "Ike" who said that they are a "secret" lure of his. I fish them quite often here in Indiana for large mouth bass, and have caught a few smallies on them too. My only concern would be toothy critters, which are fun to catch but frustrating when fishing mono-filament line. I tend to fish standard buck tail, real buck tail in a natural color, with a gold blade. The only thing I modify on a regular basis is the treble hook. I add some Flashabou as a small streamer to them.
I hope Mr. Dahlberg weighs in on this as well. I would love his opinion.

Brandon

[Questor]

I like inlines for river fishing, but avoid them in lakes because I often fish near weedlines in lakes, and want something more snag resistant, like a spinner bait.

It's easy to make inlines, by the way. I started making them because I was losing too many fishing snaggy spots for stream trout. There's a tool from Net Craft that winds the wire. They sell all the components.

[MikeW87]

An in-line spinner with a #3 French blade is my #1 go to lure for smallies during the spring catch & release season on Lake St. Clair. I used to use a lot of the #3 Mepps Aglia plain spinner but they got to expensive so that's when I started making my own (costs less than $1 each to make). I fish them in 8 FOW or less.

I caught my biggest smallie to date (6 Lbs 2oz) on a Mepps #3 Aglia. My buddy caught his biggest smallie (6.5 Lbs) on a spinner that I made him.

Here's some of the spinners that I made (pic link below). The V-shaped spinners are Dakota blades that I was just experimenting with & won't be making anymore of those. The double bladed spinner work great but I think I'm going to add a little more weight.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/z ... icture.jpg

[Brian]

I have used inline spinners with great success for smallmouth, especially in backwater creeks and streams during high water in the spring. They seem to work very well in small waters. I have a friend who has a large creek flowing behind his parents house that is full of mostly medium sized smallmouth, the biggest maybe being 2 - 3 lbs. The only thing they will bite on is inline spinners, and I have personally watched him pull out one after the other on some spring afternoons. Not huge, but lots of fun.

Best of luck
Brian

[dahlberg]

Like several posts indicate, they are great for bass, but not very weedless. In the US every serious stream angler who chases smallmouth or trout has them. As do all the steelhead and salmon guys.
The are also very popular for pike in some areas.
best,
L

[Dan Hanon]

Stephan,

I have caught loads of smallmouth bass in Canadian Shield lakes using Mepps #3 and 4 inline spinners with the hairless (bare) hooks. In my experience, spinners can work in rough, windy conditions when the water clarity decreases. They can also work in calm, sunny days! For instance, I was fishing Rainy Lake, Ontario in late June and a cold front moved through. The water became choppy and it was very windy. More subtle baits such as grubs, tubes, and even jerkbaits were not productive. The minute I switched to an inline spinner, I started catching fish. When I lost all of my Mepps, I switched to larger hairpin spinnerbaits normally used for largemouth bass. I tore them up and caught many fish and some in the 4lb class. We were casting towards rocky cover near the shore in very windy, choppy water. I have subsequently used this technique under these conditions with good success. Not to say other baits don't work, but I think you have to abandon subtle lures under those conditions and use larger, more vibratory ones.

Regards,

Dan

[Dan Hanon]

I forgot to mention, the hairpin spinnerbaits are nearly weedless, much more so than the inlines! You can cast them into rocks and bullrush and get them out fairly easy.

Dan

[TonyS]

I use alot of inline spinners to fish for smallies in the potomac river and creeks. I normally make my own but mepps has some great kits you can buy.
Here is the link http://www.mepps.com/product/mepps-kits/661
I hope this helps