Thread: Trolling spinners

Originally Posted by slabbacks

Thx no1, you have the wheels turning and I have time to make up the rigs you have described. Like hotrod1 said about after the fish come off bed and the heat kicks in this could be a "killer rig" down here as well. We can fish multiple rods and I'm now looking to Jann's Netcraft for blades and other items needed for this project.

I understand your description and I'm thinking of adding to this with multiple blades per rig for a larger profile, vibration and flash. These rigs could be made up and attached to a swivel as you spoke of. This way they could be stored to have them on hand when a replacement is needed. Thanks again for the information. I'll post some px of the rig if you could tell me what you think or something you see that may need to be changed with a simpler way of doing it.

Years ago all we did was troll spinners. I tried multiple spinner blades and it didn't work very well. When I troll spinners I do not look for maximum flash, rather more of a flop at as slow as possible. I want a well polished blade, but not much of one.

As for making them up ahead, check out how the walleye trollers carry theirs. They use the same sort of rig, but only in a larger size with the spinner clevis threaded onto the actual mono leaders that are often 3-6 feet long or more. (Check out walleye spinner rigs and nightcrawler harnesses on Google images) One way to carry them is to use a chunk of swimming pool styrofoam noodle. Hook the hook into the styrofoam, then wrap the leader and pin the swivel down with a thumb tack. There are commercially made spools for that sort of thing, but the price is a whole lot bigger for them, too.

Just a small snap at the end of the running line and you can switch out very quickly. There are also plastic clevises that allow one to switch out just the blades, but they do not spin as easily as does a clean metal clevis on a smooth, unrusted metal shaft.

When I fish these for crappies I want the slowest possible speed that will get any kind of spin; so I am not talking about maximum flash, rather minimum clean flash. I think too much may scare crappies off. They can be exasperatingly timid even when feeding heavily. Personally

I would go with size 0 and/or size 1 blades. And I would go with Indianas rather than Colorados. Make sure the clevis matches the blade size. Smooth or hammered it makes me no real difference, but I would have both gold (or polished brass) and nickel.

I want something to wave at the crappies not startle them.