Left handed or right handed lures?

Trout,myster · 02-10-2001, 05:58 AM

Interesting discussion at work the other day. Which do salmon prefer? Left or right handed spinners? I do remember an old gentleman on the Willamette (can't remember his name) that used to hammer out his own spinners and made both left and right hand rotation versions. His claim was that if one didn't work, the other usually did.

How about herring? Plug cut on a cutter always spins the same way (well, sort of). If you don't use a cutter, you can cut them the opposite way and they'll spin the other direction.

Thinking about this, with salmon swimming around seeing all the herring going in counterclockwise loops (swimming up behind it view), one would think a clockwise spin would offer something different. Put a new spin on things, so to speak.

Anybody else ever pondered about this??

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Troutmyster

Jellyhead · 02-12-2001, 12:14 PM

No Way Grits!!! I think subtle things like that do matter. Alot of people don't think of things as subltle as the harmonics of thier props on trolling motors, or the different frequencies emmitted by a squeaky spinner, etc. I belive all those things matter.

I would bet every plug puller could tell you he has a plug that out fishes any others 5 to 1. The difference between that plug and another may not be noticable to you or I, but to a fish it may sound different or have a subtle, differnt wiggle to it.

Although fish may not be intelectual creatures they have senses none of us have. Their lateral lines and olfactory senses can pick up such minute vibrations and smells that we never could. Something as simple as spinner direction may appeal to a sense that we don't have. The fishes eyes, and thier rods and cones in them, may see something different with a spinner that is spinning a different direction. Also in order to get a spinner to consistently spin one way or the other it must have some area on it that is modified so that it will always deflect water in the same direction. This probably emits a vibration that a fish can pick up w/thier lateral lines. It may not be so much the direction of travel, as it is the vibration caused by lip, or cup in the blade.

Good topic TroutMyster!

Aaron

Bait O' Eggs · 02-12-2001, 12:41 PM

Maybe I have been under my rock to long, but I have never heard of a left rotating spinner blade???????? Isnt a spinner blade like water in a sink draining, It only swirls one way north of the equator, and the other south of the equator.

Now making a cut plug spin the opposite direction makes sense to me.

Is there such a thing as a counter clockwise spinner blade???

Tanner · 02-12-2001, 01:36 PM

BOE,
Good response. I thought spinnerblades only spin one way. Can anyone explain to me what makes the difference in the direction a spinner blade spins. I'M SO CONFUSED!!!!

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Work is for people who have an expensive fishing habit to support.

Trout,myster · 02-12-2001, 05:21 PM

Interesting replies to this one. I really wish I could remember the old fellow's name that used to make them on the Willamette. He used to nail up the tails of all the springers he caught and he definitely had a belief in right and left handed spinners, which was pretty much all he used.

As to which way it's going to spin, that's a good question. I'd say whichever way it starts when it hits the water is the way it will go if it's not "doctored". A subtile tweak in the edge of the blade will cause the spinner to pull water pressure more on one edge than the other and, theoretically, it will go the opposite direction. That is, if you've tweaked the right edge.

Herring is easy, just flop them over on the other side and whack away, or use your handy dandy herring cutter guide if you believe in them and turn the bait over.

Jelly's right and I've been there. Used a #35 salmon colored hot shot on the Deshcutes one day and limited. I had two other identical plugs, so I tossed one still in the package to my buddy who fished the paint off of it without a hit. Since I was limited and sitting under the trees, I gave him the one off my rod and within 10 minutes, he had a steelie on. About a 1/2 hour later, he pulled in his second one. That plug got two little "++" marks under the bill. The other plug? It went in the garbage. Couldn't tell a difference, but it didn't produce. I've had the same experience with some lures fishing for bass so I'm sure it matters. Some work...some don't.

Still wish I could remember that guy's name on the Willamette...

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Troutmyster

02-12-2001, 11:38 PM

Dudley Nelson Sr. - A true legendary fixture for so many years on the Willamette springer fishery. He made lots of home made lures that worked well on these fish. You could judge how the springer season was going by trolling past his floating shack in the oak Grove area by the number of tails nailed to the wall there. His wooden shack and his wooden boat he used for so many years were painted the same green color. ...

I think cutting herring the opposite way for fishers in your boat is a good idea. - RT

Grits · 02-12-2001, 11:51 PM

I think that you are putting way to much thought into a non issue. Presentation is important but I think sometimes we forget that fish are not as smart as us.

M.G · 02-13-2001, 01:46 AM

Yeah the good old dudsplug I still have one.And the good old Buse wobblure.

Tanner · 02-13-2001, 03:34 PM

That old guy was amazing, he caught almost all of his fish right along the rocks in fron of George Rogers Park right across from his dock. We used to call him "The Old Man and The River".

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Work is for people who have an expensive fishing habit to support.

HOGTIDE · 02-13-2001, 03:46 PM

I believe he had two patented spinners called the 'Half- Nelson' and the 'Full-Nelson'. One had two blades on a wire shaft and the other had 3 blades.They were nickel with red spacer tubing between the clevis' if I recall.

Dud cared alot about which direction the blade spun.Right handers or left handers mattered. He was a pal of my father-in-law,'THE FISHERMAN'. Hence, I had to use his blades frequently. Although I usually looked at them more as a novelty item, they did catch fish.

[This message has been edited by HOGTIDE (edited 02-13-2001).]

Trout,myster · 02-13-2001, 05:30 PM

RT and others- thanks for the reminder. Used to be able to buy Dud's lures at Larry's. STS had a really good article on him and his left and right hand spinners. The "old man and the river" seemed to have spinner making down to a science which is now gone. Too bad, as he had so much to share.

Anyway, maybe the tricks work, maybe they don't. When nothing else is working on a day on the river, probably worth recutting the herring or grabbing the needle nose and giving the spinner blade a tweak on the trailing edge to make it go the other way. How much of a tweak? Who knows. I just "operate" on them until they do what I like.

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Troutmyster