Homemade Spinner Questions

[KilgoreTrout]

Ladies & Gents, I am getting the stuff to start making spinners at home. I have read Jed Davis' book and other STS articles and since there are some disagreements (as always) I thought I would put the questions to the vast knowledge of this board.

1. Siwash or Treble?
2. Can or should you make the body longer than the blade (when it hangs vertically)?
3. Do you add colored beads as attractors and if so are there favorite colors?
4. Do you put more weight towards the blade or balance it in the center?
Any other tips or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

Dave

I make my spinners on a mooching leader in the boat, with octopus salmon hooks. Quick and easy.

[Lipripper]

You don't say what species you are after. For salmon I like the blade to be just above the eye of the hook(treble). I'm very partial to green and red beads for salmon. I also like the lemon lime blades (brass backs), red and white(brass backs) and what I call the light bulb(green with a chartruse dot in the middle,brass back as well). I have just started to experiment with white back blades-- The jury is still out.
I was once told if ya drag anything around long enough you are bound to catch a fish :grin: :grin: .

[Flatfish]

OK here we go,
1-Siwash.On 4-5 sized spinners with heavy line,2/0 gammies.Heavy line is anything over 12#.My rods for winters are rated 8-17 and I use 20# fireline main bright green color and 20 maxima leader tied directly to the main.No swivel.On lighter line,usually a 10' noodle stick that I fish 8# on and 6 would be ok too,I drop the hooks to 1 or 2 siwash.You can pinch part of the barb down to make hooksets go better with lite line and still not worry to much.Just mash it down about halfway.On spinners sized 0-3 I use size 1 or 2 Siwash too.Miss the occasional fish cause I cant bury the barb fast enough,but the siwash still lands more fish than a treble.
2- Blade should be slightly longer than the body hanging vertical.On size 2 and 3 I have been using some brass worm weight from joes in 1/8 oz.Plenty heavy for summer run water.Winters I use the Mor-tac stuff.Will give the Pen-Tac stuff a try this winter.Pray for 50/50s to return.Sometimes I use a 5 body on a 4 blade to get it down deep fast.Not usually though cause deep and fast usually equals drift gear.Fish pocket water and flats for winters.They don't just sit in the tailouts ya know.I have not fisher the Wilson in years but around 1990 in front of the RV park was this HUGE flat.3-4 foot deep and nothing to concentrate the fish.We fished it with spinners when it got about 2-3 feet of vis.Nobody ever hit that water.It was good for a fish often enough to justify the effort.Usually took about 45 minutes to hit most of it.Tell me of any water on that river that is first water.Bet ya it looks like spinner water!
3-No. We do use tape and tubing(see Jeds book-he was right all those years ago.Smart guy)sometimes we use 2 colors of tubing but I don't think it makes a huge difference.Mostly makes me think it looks better.
4- I don't know if I understand the last question.My bodies are either worm weight style(not lead weights though-too heavy)or what Mor-Tac makes.On the bullet weight,the pointy end faces the rear of the spinner blade.
We dont buy the black blades anymore.Bodies only.We BBQ the blades for a few hours(whatever it takes for the charcoal to burn out.Just put them on a piece of tin foil and cook away.Get the steaks done first .Leaves a bad taste on the meat.I think it's the coating burning off.Sometimes one time thru don't dull them enough.Do it again.I promise the fish can see what you can't.They can see it from 20 feet in the summer!
Tried the spinner makers from a few manufacturers.Went back to the leatherman pliars.Just that and a set of dikes to cut off the extra.
Oh yeah,after you cook the blades.carefully wipe off one half of the blade,front and back,with vinegarDo this vertical not horizontal..But don't tell anyone.Kinda a 50/50 thing for summers.Again,can't say I catch more fish because of it,but they sure look good to me.
See you on the zipperlip.
Mark and the dog.