Spinnerbait Bassing
From A to Z

Few lures fire up early-season bass better that a well-presented spinnerbait. But not all spinnerbaits are created equal, and different situations call for different baits and retrieves.

It's hard to say whether bass or bass fishermen get more excited about spinnerbaits at this time of year. The bass pounce on these flashy lures with the precision and power of a cat catching a mouse, and many fishermen almost drool when they turn into a cove that has weedy pockets, riprap, flooded timber or docks to cast under.
To fishermen who have boxes filled with skirts and blades, spinnerbait waters are simply beautiful. Early in the season, when the bass have moved shallow and are stacked up on visible cover, few things will draw them out of their hiding places better than a flashy bait that can be bumped right against the cover.
Whether you prefer to pitch or cast, spinnerbaits are ideal for beating the banks during June. They can be worked fast, which is good for covering water and finding the bass, or slow-rolled along to entice fish into striking. Spinnerbaits perform in just inches of water or in fairly substantial depths, and they can be pulled through some pretty dense cover.
Spinnerbaits come in a lot of different forms, so picking the best tool for the task can turn confusing. While any spinnerbait may yield a bass or two on any given day, understanding several variables/and learning how each affects a lure's appearance to the bass can make a big difference on some days. Colors, weight, design and blade shape are among the things to consider.
White spinnerbaits with silver blades suggest schools of minnows, and brown and black spinnerbaits resemble crayfish when they are kept close to the bottom. When one type of forage dominates a lake, a good approach can be to simply "match the hatch." Most fishermen agree, however, that spinnerbaits serve more as attractors than as imitators of any particular type of forage. The best colors, therefore, may be those that the bass can see the best.
On sunny days and in clear water, bright colors show up best, and chartreuse, red and white are favorites among spinnerbait specialists. For dark days and discolored waters, dark blue, purple, brown and black offer better contrast in the water. Silver blades send out more flash than copper or gold, but the less flashy blades can be quite effective when the fish seem a little bit spooky.
Ideal weights vary with tackle and circumstances. Pitching spinnerbaits into dense cover with stout baitcasting tackle and heavy line requires a bait with some weight — sometimes up to an ounce. In contrast, medium-action spinning gear with a 1/4-ounce spinnerbait is plenty big enough to cast against a shallow riprap bank, and the spinnerbait creates much less commotion when it lands.
There's no simple formula for picking the ideal weight, but you should take into consideration the depth you want to work, the amount of weight necessary for proficient casting and the type of cover your bait will be bouncing through. Also, since heavier baits generally must be made larger to stay balanced, consider the size of the bass you are targeting and how big a meal you think they will try for. Various design elements also affect a lure's profile and action in the water: Do you want single or tandem blades, a bushy or sparse skirt, trailer or no trailer? Single blades send out more vibrations than tandem blades do, while the twin versions produce more flash. Bushy skirts and trailers, meanwhile, create an enlarged profile and tend to add action to a bait. Those "extras" can be good, but only for big or aggressive bass.
Modern spinnerbait designs further confuse the question with rattling devices, double arms and odd-shaped heads that are designed to slip through cover, plus other special features. Most of these features have specific functions, so you must look at them individually to determine whether they will enhance a spinnerbait's appeal in the waters you are fishing or detract from its original design.
Some differences between spinnerbaits are more technical in nature, but they can affect catch rates. Various skirt materials move differently in the water, and some swivel designs allow blades to spin more freely than others. Paint types and patterns, hook styles and sizes, and shaft design likewise affect a bait's performance, but every angler must determine his own preferences in these areas.
Most spinnerbait designs use Colorado blades, which are round, or willow-leaf blades, which are elongated and pointed (like a leaf), and the traditional tandem lure has one of each. Of course, there are several hybrid shapes and uniquely cut patterns on spinnerbaits made by various companies.
Colorado blades spin quickly and require only minimal movement of the bait to spin. Willow-leaf blades send a strong pulse through the water, create a lot of flash, offer the appearance of a larger meal and allow even a large bait to sink more slowly. Again, individual circumstances dictate which qualities will offer the most benefit.
For many bass fishing situations, the classic tandem-blade combination offers the best of both worlds. Trophy bass hunters tend to like a standard Colorado blade in front and a giant willow-leaf blade in the back. This design offers a lot of flash and a big bite for the bass, and some anglers contend that it suggests a medium-sized fish chasing a tiny baitfish. Just as varied as their designs are the ways that spinnerbaits can be retrieved. For early in the season, when the bass tend to hold in the shallows, any shoreline cover provides a good starting point. Look for riprap, root wads, fallen trees, boat docks, stumprows or flooded brush along the banks. Spinnerbaits make great prospecting lures because they can be used to probe cover quickly and efficiently. By staying quite close to the banks and pitching to individual targets, you can land a bait just past any productive-looking target and then work that piece of cover without wasting a lot of time working the lure through unproductive waters.
Pitching allows for targeted casts and quiet landings. Try a few pitches at the best-looking spots, pulling one cast back quickly, allowing another to drop just a bit, and getting slow and meticulous on still another. Sometimes even shallow-water bass will only take a spinnerbait when it is dropped right into their feeding zone and moved just enough to spin the blades. Tandem baits work well with willow-leaf blades when pitching to dense cover. Along with kicking out a lot of flash, they sink slowly, which allows you to work very shallow-water cover without getting snagged. Bass will defend their favorite hiding places, so large-profile spinnerbaits often trigger strikes even from smaller bass when worked tight against the cover.
Moving quickly, fish as many different types of cover as you can find and take note of the 
details anytime a bass strikes. The fact that a hit came on a pause, in the shade, off a rocky 
bank or close to the bottom may become significant if the same thing happens again. The idea 
behind pitching and moving fast is to develop a pattern.
If pitching the shallow cover doesn't produce, an easy adjustment is to simply move back a bit. 
Work the same types of cover, but from a casting distance instead of a pitching distance. Often 
the bass will hold on drops near shoreline cover, or they will be in the cover but will only strike when they can follow the bait and watch it for a bit. Begin each retrieve by probing the shoreline cover, but work all the water between that cover and the boat. Experiment with straight retrieves, stop-and-go motions and a bottom-bumping approach. For working a spinnerbait into deeper water, sweep the rod slowly upward to move the lure, just as you would with a plastic worm, and then reel in to keep the line tight as the rod and spinnerbait drop.
Anytime the blades stop spinning or the bait seems to stop during the drop, set the hook 
immediately. It's better to snag a bunch of sticks and weeds than to miss the biggest bass of the 
day because its soft strike didn't feel like a fish. While bass sometimes annihilate spinnerbaits 
at this time of the year, often they just suck them in and keep on swimming. Beyond the banks, excellent structure to cover with spinnerbaits include long points, the tops of humps and creek or river channel ledges. Big single-blade spinners that get down fast work well for probing deeper structure. Bumping the bottom and slowly retrieving the bait so that the blades barely turn are two of the best techniques for pulling bass off points, humps and ledges.
Because spinnerbaits are so versatile and effective, a great June approach is to leave every other 
lure in the tackle box and use a mix of spinnerbait styles and retrieves to find what the bass are 
doing on any given day. Once you find that pattern, nothing rivals the fun of early-season spinnerbait 
bassing.