So everyone knows I fish Mantua for Bass.....ALOT. Well I do have my favorite lures but till now spinner baits is one I haven't tried. So, thought I might![cool]
Anyone have a fav color or size? blade type? Water deep or shallow? Wake it on the top or deeper? Fast , Slow?
Could use some help before I buy a few.
Could also make for some good discussion!
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I've had moderate success with a tandem colorado blade spinnerbait. Pull the blade over the thick stuff and kill it over the openings in the moss. You gotta keep it moving or you'll catch alot of salad. Blade colors don't seem to matter alot so I throw combo spinnerbaits with one gold & 1 silver. Hope this helps. Don't forget to throw up against the bank in that clean water next to shore.
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Much like a fly fisherman I like to "match the hatch" with spinner baits....if there are a ton of bluegill in the water, it seems a spinner bait that matches that is best...my favorite bluegill imitation spinner bait is the booyah in the wasp color or hornet..if there are trout I use the firebug. In clear water I use the willow blades and in cloudy water I use colorado blades....I also have my secrets on the trailer...but it goes along with matching the bait fish a bass is feeding on. I have caught more LMB on a spinner bait than all other methods combined. My 9 y/o son has been slaying them lately with a spinner bait so just about anyone can do it
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LOL at Mantua there is a ton of bluegill in the water every hour of every day 365 days a year. That place is LOADED with bluegill.
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The problem is, most of those bluegill are 'stunted'.
I'd break it down the percentages something like this:
Bluegill/Green Sunfish 60%
All others (perch, bass, trout) 40%
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Hmmm, i would say bass might even be 30 or 40 percent themselves. Trout maybe 3%, perch maybe 8%, the rest bluegill. And no, after the last 8 years straight fishing there as much as 3 times a week or more, I don't think the bluegills are stunted at all. Have caught none under 7 inches for the last 3 weeks for example LOL. Many many gills at 8 inches and plenty at 9 with some over ten. And it's not like I landed just 5 bluegill either lol. Every cast the instant it hits the water, the line straightens. This will continue into Sept. I know exactly where they will go, of course I'm not going to post that though hahaha. Most people will just have to catch the swarms of tiny 2 -4 inch gills all summer after the major spawn is over though. And in winter, mostly the tiny ones bite, even I can't find or guarantee all big ones, just a mixed sized showing on the ice. I have one pic on the phone will have to transfer it onto the computer before I can send it to ya haha.
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I cleaned up today at a small reservoir in Idaho using a River2sea Crystal Spin, 3/8oz in chartreuse shad. I would slow roll it so that it would just barely tick the grass, killing it for a second periodically to let it flutter. Most strikes would come when it would bump the grass or when I would kill it. This spinnerbait also does a pretty good job of keeping clean in the weeds. I'm sure it would work well at Mantua as well.
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You are right, Fin S Fish, there are still many of the good sized 'Gills in there...just many many, more of the stunted variety than there ever has been. Many who fish Mantua will agree with me, and I've been fishing that pond for over a decade.
Sounds like you know that pond well also, and props to you for getting into the nice sized 'Gills. You've prob got some great spots you're hitting. All I'm saying is there aren't as many of the 9-10"'ers as there used to be. That place gets fished a ton.
It's weird, I actually catch bigger fish during ice season. Love it.
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Yeah, I'm fishing spots that are tough to access hahaha, even with a boat! But boy are those 9-10 inchers everywhere! They even tear up 4 inch bass cutterbugs LOL. I don't think those small bluegill are stunted, they are just young. Give them a few years and they will be all 8 inches too. But then of course there will be tons of new babies again too. Excellent productivity. There's plenty of zooplankton in that pond and even scuds too. One particular area is full of scuds and the gills in this section are double the girth than on the rest of the lake. Also before the rotenone treatment it seemed the gills were of a different genetic type. These ones from red fleet are not the more robust genetic type. Down the road at hyrum, there are some HUGE ten inch or better THICK gills that are like 3 inches in girth. Same genetics at Utah Lake. I do agree it's getting more pressure than ever before, some of those gills will spit out the bait within two seconds of inhale. I set the hook the second it gets completely inside the mouth before it spits the thing out.
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[quote Fin-S-Fish]They even tear up 4 inch bass cutterbugs...[/quote]
Pardon my ignorance, but what are cutterbugs?
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They look like a reaper. A narrow body and a leech like tail. Made by Maniac lures. It's a soft plastic.
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Went out this morning and lost 3 spinnerbaits to 3 different bass. They definitely work. My Cajun Red Line, however, did not. That sheisty line cost me over $35 today (if you count 'losing it' as bass #2 popped my line and snapping my pole in half).
I ran white with a silver colorado (mid sized), a midsized green/orange with a gold colorado (looks just like a green sunfish), and a white with red accents, midsize. All 3 were walmart purchases (Strike King models, I believe).
I was just hitting the north shoreline. I'd pull it over downed trees, up against timber, etc.
Even discerned one of my near-victim's hiding spots back in the trees when I heard him flopping around like crazy trying to shake off my spinnerbait...
One additional note: also had a pretty big largemouth shortstrike a buzzbait, but couldn't coax him to try anything else...
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I have to disagree about the Cajun. What kind of knot are you using to tie your swivels/lures? I recommend the palomar knot.
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[quote MichiganAngler]I have to disagree about the Cajun. What kind of knot are you using to tie your swivels/lures? I recommend the palomar knot.[/quote]
Clinch knot. Works fine with all my other strings. Perhaps the line that was on my reel from the factory was older...
But it's not the knot. I had one of the bass break my line off a few feet above the reel.
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Mantua has fairly clear, shallow water and lots of weeds. As you would expect, smaller spinnerbaits (1/4 or 3/16 oz) in natural colors (brown, olive, blue, etc...) with willow leaf blades are well suited to these conditions and have perfromed well for me.
Spinner baits can be used as search lures to cover lots of area quickly or they can be used to methodically work structure. Generally the standard search technique is slow rolling, it basicly involved throwing it out a good distance, letting the bait sink and slowly retrieveing it back just like a crank bait. You can mix it up and fish it more like a jerk bait as well. Buzzing a spinner bait is going to catch very active fish if the water is warm (70F). Generally buzzbaits are more porductive as top water lures.
When working cover with a spinnerbait, you want to mix in more jigging techniques, slow down, and keep the bait in contact with structure as much as possible.
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ALL line will go bad no matter the brand. Too much heat and age make line brittle and weak. Braid elevates some of that but even braid gets weak.
That's why Tourny fishermen spend so much money on re-spooling.
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