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Brass or Gold spinner blades?

14K views 25 replies 17 participants last post by  crownpoint54 
#1 Ā·
After realizing how quickly brass blades seem to get dull in my tackle boxes, I've basically stopped buying brass in favor of gold plated blades. That means I have to paint some of my own if I want some chartruese or blue on them.

Anyone else have a preference? Seems like the brass blades with a clearcoat get ratty looking after some fish (or rocks) and the ones without clearcoat get dull fast.

Looking at spinners on the rack, most of the brass looks dull right in the factory packaging. Some looks better than others but it's not as shiny as gold.

regards, aw
 
#16 Ā·
I have never been disappointed with the products from Fisherman's Shack. The guy who runs Jacks Snacks and Tackle on the Sandy also has great products and shares his knowledge frequently on this site.
:yeahthat::agree:

From my limited understanding... Deep and dark at depths or turbidities that colors start to fade, gold and silver reflect just that gold and silver while nickel and brass reflect the drab colors brown and black and loose the broght allure.
 
#4 Ā·
Brass blades will tarnish if not laqcuered. Gold plate stays shiny because of the nickel plating under the gold.

Some companies polish their brass with walnut sheel, others use steel shot and others are hand buffed. So in a nutshell you get what you pay for.

If brass is polished for casting spinners we lacquer coat the brass. If blades are hand polished for plunking or anchor fishing they get a very durable urethane coating that is salt water resistant.

It is my opinion that gold plate with nickel plating under it will catch fish but is a very poor reflector of light under water. Brass is much flashier especially if it is hand polished.:twocents:



RB
 
#5 Ā·
No doubt the hand polished brass is shinier than the stuff in the big box stores. A flash meter would easily answer which metal and finish is more reflective. Not sure if it would work with the surface underwater though.

It would be interesting to test two metals to see if one measured a higher reflective value than the other dry, but lower when wet. I don't see how that's possible but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Seems like a higher reflective value, dry, would still be better underwater. I do know that I didn't catch anything last year on cheap brass blades, but caught a few fish on gold. Only thing I caught a lot of fish on was herring :D

regards, aw
 
#6 Ā·
No doubt the hand polished brass is shinier than the stuff in the big box stores. A flash meter would easily answer which metal and finish is more reflective. Not sure if it would work with the surface underwater though.

It would be interesting to test two metals to see if one measured a higher reflective value than the other dry, but lower when wet. I don't see how that's possible but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Seems like a higher reflective value, dry, would still be better underwater. I do know that I didn't catch anything last year on cheap brass blades, but caught a few fish on gold. Only thing I caught a lot of fish on was herring :D

regards, aw
consider these and then take the test for proof.

point 1
In a room or above water environment, light fills area. Water is a filter and only allows light to penetrate from one direction. Light travels from the surface down and unless you have an extreme amount of light, the available amount of light is pretty minimal.

point 2
metal has two qualities. quality one is light absorption, quality two is light reflection. polished metals will first absorb as much light as the finish can. Then it will reflect all other light that is on the finish. Different metals have different capacities for these properties. Nickel will absorb the most light and reflect the least that is why is gets a dark appearance under water. Plating will always have the same qualities as the finish it is plated over unless the plating is unusually thick which is rediculously expensive in gold.

The proof, take several different blades into a room and turn out the bright over head light. turn on a flash light as this will not provide enough light to fill the room, but will give you an understanding of the above.

need more proof on the two metal properties, take a digital picture of the same blades and use the flash. See what happens when the bright flash from the camera comes from one direction instead of the surrounding light coming from every directions.

Hopefully this helps.



RB
 
#8 Ā· (Edited)
Gold plating stays shiny because it does not tarnish, not because it has nickle plating underneath. It may be shiny when it leaves the gold plating bath because the surface it was applied to was shiny.....that's not why it stays shiny....
Really? So if I plate 24K gold over brass, it wont tarnish? Not so. Brass has something called zinc transition. If you plate any precious metal over brass there will be a time line before the transition starts to discolor your finish. Water speeds that process up. This is a tarnish. Nickel plate blocks that transition that is why it is used so much in plating. That and the cosmetic value.

If your blade was solid gold than you are correct, it would not tarnish, however gold plate will tarnish due to zinc transition unless the transition is blocked by nickel plate.
 
#10 Ā·
It stays shiny because of the clear coat put on top, no matter what material the finish is made of, or how shiny or thick it is...it reflects more because of how thick the finish is, and what is underneath.

Thick gold over thick silver, on a brass substrate, will be the most reflective gold finish...and will be the most expensive...like someone said above, you get what you pay for...and if you want this, you will pay for it.

The materials that go into lures is of utmost importance...and just because it looks really shiny on the shelf doesn't mean it will look anything at all like that in the water...for instance, a matte silver finish made of real silver will look kind of cloudy in the package, but will be really reflective in the water...a really shiny finish made of chrome or nickel will look really shiny in the package, but will turn black pretty quickly after five or six feet of water is on top of it.

There's a reason why premium lures cost more than a couple of bucks...brass is expensive enough, but the finishes are where the costs really come into play.

Fish on...

Todd
 
#15 Ā·
Interesting stuff. I thought that I thought about spinner blades too much.....you guys really have issues! :)

The gold blades are brighter/prettier on the shelf........but I mostly started using them because they resisted tarnish when fishing brackish and tidewater areas.

Fishing Rogue Bay, a brass spinner won't make it until the afternoon tide without turning black & green. We initially started using Hildebandt & the newer CV7 Clearwater blades because they were both offered in gold and copper and they had a heavy protective clearcoat.

Talk about a pain. Take a look at a non coated copper spinner after you have put your fingers on it a few times.
 
#17 Ā·
I'm always on the lookout for old spinner blades, or blades that are made from solid stock.
Plated spinner blades don't polish up, they just wear off the platting and become silver.
You pay more for solid blades, but they last far longer than plated ones.
I like gold, but haven't won the lottery yet so I use plated, just need to retwist more often.
 
#18 Ā·
On the topic of blades, does anyone else notice how much better a brass bodied spinner performs than a plated metal body, I find the metal bodies too heavy and compromise the proper technique that is sought.

Wonder what spinner legend "Jim Bedford" thinks of the finish theories in relation to hook ups.

I am a big fan of the matte silver finish for Steelhead and coho, seems to just catch fish, in the water I fish.
 
#20 Ā·
Should not be the case because plating is so thin in retrospect and all plated bodies should be brass mterial. If a body is plated over something other than brass get your money back! It would be a poor attempt at saving money on a manufacturing side. Even the heaviest matte silver plating is still very thin in comparison to the brass body itself.

But ya good matte silver is the stuff for steelies and Coho's! The whiter the better. If the matte silver is good stuff you can roll it in steelshot for 24 hours to polish it and give old blades a new life. If it is plated over nickel dont try it though as the plating will come off.



Brass + Red = Dead!!!!
Amen!




RB
 
#22 Ā·
While anchor fishing for springers on the Rogue, we would polish solid brass blades with a metal polish paste throughout the day and keep interchanging spinners or blades (spinner/anchovy rig) to keep the finish ultra reflective. We would also use some painted brass blades and polish the backside to keep them shinny too.

I believe a lot of the old style solid blades and knowledge that went with them is largely a thing of the past nowadays. Like using steel leaders....something you don't see anymore. I really don't know if some of the modern tackle is really any better then what people used before, the difference could be more related to economics and mass production techniques then actually fish catching abilities.

As for spinner blades, I'll try anything at least once, and even more if it catches fish! :wink:
 
#23 Ā·
Some blades are obviously made out of pot-metal or tin or something very light. You can 'feeeeeel' the difference when handlng a quality blade made from brass. I don't know if they spin any better, but I feel better about using high end blades. Truth might be, however, if it is a painted blade, front & back, it may make no difference. I think 'Brads' blades are a painted tin- metal blade with a thin psuedo gold plating on the back........but they will work.....and they are more affordable.

I have some lots of very old, old school #7 cloverleafs that I repolish and repaint and relaquer every couple of years and they look like new. Somtimes salt tarnish can get into the brass and cause rough spots that are tough to fix....but that's a reason to make another rainbow blade.
 
#25 Ā·
Rob:

Do you carry silver blades?

I've been tieing my hoochies for summer salmon and was wondering at what depth I should switch to brass/gold blades?

Have caught lots of fish with nickle blades down to 35 pulls but the way this discussion is going I need to switch to silver.

Dang! This fishing stuff is way more complicated that it used to be.... Long live the worm....
 
#26 Ā·
Just my opinion, but I like blades made out of solid brass,copper or bronze. It can be a pain to have keep polishing them but they do shine better than lacquered ones, besides anchored up it gives you something to do. I really like Simichrome polish it works will and I think the fish kind of like the smell.
 
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