slinkymalinky Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 After my weekend on Borumba Dam recently I decided to play around with 'tuning' a bunch of my spinnerbaits. Why?... well not all spinnerbaits are created equal and changing blades or skirts can make an amazing difference to how they swim. Not to mention that with a lot of popular spinnerbaits pushing $15ea it means that for little cost you can pretty much have 'more spinnerbaits per spinnerbait'. 'Tuning' makes it sound complicated but its as simple as swapping the main blade (attached to your spinnerbait by a split ring) and/or changing skirts. Both blades and skirts are easy to get hold of. So what did I change? 1. I had a bunch of TT Vortex spinnerbaits that have quite small blades out of the packet. That means less flash and they sink fast or you fish them faster than I like. So I swapped the small main willow blade for bigger ones. Don't get me wrong... there's nothing wrong with them out of the packet but after doing it for a while, every Bass fisherman will tell you how particular they get with the action or colour of a lure, the characteristics of a reel or rod, etc. This way I can make them do exactly what I want and change them, even on the water if I feel I need to. 2. I changed blade colours on a couple of spinnerbaits... personal preference but I like to fish silver blades in clear water, gold in dirty and I've also set up a couple of black-skirted baits with copper coloured blades for tannin stained water (black & copper Celtas used to be my 'go to' lure colour for stream trout in tannin stained water so thought I'd give it a go on natives). 3. I switched a couple from Willow blades to Colorado (the more round ones) blades. Willows are flashier but make less 'noise'... Colorados are very noise but less flashy. Colorados also make spinnerbaits sink more slowly so you can fish them higher in the water (like over weedbeds) or more slowly. Bigger blades of any kind also make the same spinnerbait sink more slowly and make more flash and noise. 4. I changed a bunch of skirts. I had a lot of spinnerbaits that I've bought thinking 'I'll give this colour a try' but on the water I always seem to stick to 2 or 3 colour combinations for 90% of my fishing. So with a bunch of good quality purple skirts and natural skirts I've made a lot of them look more to my (and hopefully the fishes) liking. The skirts I use are also thicker than a lot you see on spinnerbaits out of the box so to my eye they pulse and move better in the water, make more disturbance and again, make the lures swim a bit higher in the water. 2 identical TT Vortex spinnerbaits. Bottom one out of the packet, top one after a bigger blade and new skirt. I now have a bunch of different spare blades and skirts in my spinnerbait bag that I carry on the water. In only about 2 minutes and for about $1-$2 I can have a 'new' spinnerbait on the end of my line whenever I want and I don't even need to tie a knot. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have heaps you can modify[emoji7] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Bad Stewy! Don't make me smack you on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefish Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 How do those things cast for distance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 How do those things cast for distance? They come in many sizes and up to 1 oz and they cast a mile on 10lb braid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Its funny Tony but I prefer less skirts and I like a gold willow as the large one on some lures and silver on others and I like a mix of gold and silver together in both configs and stinger hooks are mandatory. The pre-rigged SMAKS are a favourite of mine as well as the TTs...I use SEAWASH saltwater fly hooks in 1 or 2/0 as the stingers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Its funny Tony but I prefer less skirts and I like a gold willow as the large one on some lures and silver on others and I like a mix of gold and silver together in both configs and stinger hooks are mandatory. The pre-rigged SMAKS are a favourite of mine as well as the TTs...I use SEAWASH saltwater fly hooks in 1 or 2/0 as the stingers The saltwater fly hooks are good... stronger than the usual stinger hooks. I use the same sizes with smaller ones sometimes on my little 1/8oz 'sneaky creek' spinnerbaits. I have the same thing with blade colour... I usually have silver blades on light natural coloured sb's. Which TT's do you use? The Vortex or the Striker (The strikers are the ones with the stronger hooks and 'triangular' head... they have bigger blades too)? Smaks are my absolute fave... swim great and skirts, hooks and hardware are all really good out of the box. Not nice when they keep flying off when your line breaks for no reason (I worked out what I think was happening... I sometimes swim new lures in my pool to try them out and see how they swim/sink etc... usually I rinse my line but I did it a couple of months ago and then just put the reel away. I reckon the chlorine stuffed my braid) Cheers, T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 My fav TT is the vortex in olive green gold willows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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