By Walt Young

sports@altoonamirror.com

Largemouth and smallmouth bass are undoubtedly the most popular freshwater gamefish in North America.

It’s also probably safe to say that more lures have been designed to catch them than all other freshwater fish species combined. Like many bass anglers, I have a deep fascination for all types of bass lures.

I own many more lures than I could ever hope to fish with, but each season I continue to add to that lifetime accumulation. There’s always some new model or new color that is a “must have” and somehow gets crammed into an already bulging tackle bag.

When talking about bass fishing, I’m often asked what my favorite lure is. I usually deflect such inquiries by saying whatever one I can get the fish to eat in a given situation. And what is likely to be the hot bait on any given day can depend on the time of year or even the time of day.

That is when that bulging tackle bag can earn its keep. But from the pre-spawn period of early spring through the long days of summer and into the late fall, there is one lure that I will be casting to lake-dwelling largemouths or river smallmouths on most days will be a spinnerbait.

Spinnerbaits are wire-frame lures with a lead head molded to the hook on the lower arm and a spinner blade or two on the upper arm. Like most bass lures, spinnerbaits come in an endless array of sizes and color combinations. Most spinnerbaits for targeting bass come in sizes from one-fourth ounce to half-ounce. Regardless of the size of spinnerbait, make sure it has high-quality, razor-sharp hooks.

The spinner blades are a key component to any spinnerbait. Most spinnerbaits are fitted with either long, slender willowleaf blades or the wider, egg-shaped Colorado blades, in either a single or double configuration. Willowleaf blades spin faster and give off more flash, which sometimes makes them more effective in clear water.

I also prefer silver willowleaf blades for fishing in river currents. Colorado blades produce greater vibration, which can help attract bass in deeper or off-colored water or at night. Gold and silver are the most popular on most brands of factory spinnerbaits, but spinner blades come in every color imaginable. Black or chartreuse blades can be productive in dirty water or after dark.

Spinnerbaits are usually finished with a skirt, usually made from strands of silicone rubber that move attractively in the water. White, chartreuse, black and firetiger are among the most popular colors offered by many manufacturers. I have been making many of my own spinnerbaits for the past couple of seasons, which has allowed me to experiment with all sorts of different combinations of blades and skirts.

I have recently had good success with many of the more subtle, multi-colored skirts designed to mimic bluegills, shad, perch and other baitfish. It is simple to change skirts on most factory spinnerbaits as well.

While somewhat optional, many anglers will attach some kind of trailer as an extra bit of attraction on a spinnerbait. For years, I found a simple, soft-plastic twister tail to be an effective trailer. Recently, however, I’ve become partial to the 3-inch boot-tail swimbaits that have become popular as my spinnerbait trailers. They come in all sorts of wonderful colors to complement any spinnerbait color scheme.

In fact, I have eliminated the traditional skirt on and just rigging a spinnerbait with a 3- or 3.8-inch swimbait with a size 3 or 3.5 hammered silver willowleaf blade. This combination has proven deadly on river smallmouths.

Fishing a spinnerbait is uncomplicated and effective for covering lots of water. In lakes, target the edges of weed beds or other structure in water two to eight feet deep. About the only variable to consider most days will be the speed of your retrieve. Most times, the biggest mistake will be fishing it too fast.

Although when the bass are in an aggressive mood, a relatively fast retrieve will draw some crushing strikes. Because of their design, spinnerbaits rarely hang up so don’t be afraid to fish them over or around heavy cover like fallen trees and other nasty stuff that often holds some of the biggest bass.

For river smallmouths, I’ve found it most effective to retrieve the spinnerbait near the surface. Keep the rod tip high and reel fast enough to keep the spinnerbait just below the surface. Even in deeper pools, this tactic draws violent strikes from larger-than-average smallmouths on many days. Just be ready to start cranking the reel as soon as the bait hits the water.

On occasion, a fish will hammer the lure almost the instant it hits the water or with the first turn or two of the reel handle, so it pays to be ready. And for my money, the most ferocious strike in freshwater fishing is a smallmouth crushing a spinnerbait.