I like to have my spinner "thump" downstream. I cast upstream and follow the spinner as it drift's. This has been very effective for me. :twocents:

 

What about angling tip horizontal or low near water to get spinner deeper ? I heard if u put the tip down the spinner goes deeper. But if the river is flowing harder in fall/winter does that change?

 

For steelhead, cast upstream and reel the spinner back towards you, retrieved just fast enough to keep it from hanging up on the bottom.

 

Yup and sometimes that does mean barely or not reeling at all.

Sent from my LG-H631 using Tapatalk

 

I agree.
This is also deadly for Coho. I call it suprising them especially around structure or large bolders in stream. When they see the spinner they react fast.

For steelhead, cast upstream and reel the spinner back towards you, retrieved just fast enough to keep it from hanging up on the bottom.

 

I agree.
This is also deadly for Coho. I call it suprising them especially around structure or large bolders in stream. When they see the spinner they react fast.

For steelhead, cast upstream and reel the spinner back towards you, retrieved just fast enough to keep it from hanging up on the bottom.

Right on. It's gotta be tempting for them as they face upstream to see that little flashy rattling thing coming straight downstream at them I love the strike you get on spinners and spoons in general, but for me they're particularly violent when fished this way.

 

Ok heres a tip i learned early on. Buy a hook sharpener. Always file hooks out of package. And keep hooks sticky sharp. Dont over sharpen. Just 3to5 strokes will do the trick.

 

For steelhead, cast upstream and reel the spinner back towards you, retrieved just fast enough to keep it from hanging up on the bottom.

The guys with boats refer to that as a downstream troll

 

What about angling tip horizontal or low near water to get spinner deeper ? I heard if u put the tip down the spinner goes deeper. But if the river is flowing harder in fall/winter does that change?

That will help a little. If I'm struggling to stay near bottom, I'll do one of the following:
1) Switch to a heavier (torpedo style) spinner (or a heavy spoon). Sometimes using a body that's a size bigger than the blade helps keep it down (helps with distance too). An over-weighted spinner like this only works well in ~ fast water. Pen-tac has various weights for each size spinner body to help here too, though the more weight, the less responsive it is in slower water. I know some people use lead weights for bodies to achieve the same effect.
2) Sometimes I'll slow roll it. That is reel it or swing it for 5 seconds or more and if I think I'm out of the zone, let it drop back to bottom and do it again. Works great for coho!
3) Backreel or freespool. Letting a controlled amount of line out, as it swings, will reduce the drag on the spinner, slowing the lift off the bottom. Of coarse, the hook set can be a little adventurous with this technique when a steelhead plows into your spinner at full speed!
4) If the water's too fast to keep a spinner down, I'll switch to drift gear.

 

What about angling tip horizontal or low near water to get spinner deeper ? I heard if u put the tip down the spinner goes deeper. But if the river is flowing harder in fall/winter does that change?

That will help a little. If I'm struggling to stay near bottom, I'll do one of the following:
1) Switch to a heavier (torpedo style) spinner (or a heavy spoon). Sometimes using a body that's a size bigger than the blade helps keep it down (helps with distance too). An over-weighted spinner like this only works well in ~ fast water. Pen-tac has various weights for each size spinner body to help here too, though the more weight, the less responsive it is in slower water. I know some people use lead weights for bodies to achieve the same effect.
2) Sometimes I'll slow roll it. That is reel it or swing it for 5 seconds or more and if I think I'm out of the zone, let it drop back to bottom and do it again. Works great for coho!
3) Backreel or freespool. Letting a controlled amount of line out, as it swings, will reduce the drag on the spinner, slowing the lift off the bottom. Of coarse, the hook set can be a little adventurous with this technique when a steelhead plows into your spinner at full speed!
4) If the water's too fast to keep a spinner down, I'll switch to drift gear.

So water can be too fast for a spinner?

I've given up on spinners when I feel it's too fast and narrow.

 

I've gotten some aggressive bites casting slightly downstream, and "setting" the spinner by giving it a hookset in a way. This causes the spinner to start spinning the instant it hits the water. I then don't reel until it swings all the way across the run directly below me, using the current to spin the blade. This works best in shallower runs, 5 feet or less. I'm pretty sure the spinner only sinks a foot or two. I usually mix the method in with upstream casts where I am ticking bottom.

 

If you don't have confidence in fishing spinners it is only because you have not put the time in yet to fish them effectively. It is a technique that looks easy but isn't until many things come together at the same time. The fish won't be tricked into striking too often while learning, but if you stick with it, it will become a go to method. Very satisfying to catch fish on spinners you built yourself.

 

A few people have pinged me lately asking for tips for fishing casting spinners. I'm no pro, but I catch a few and use casting spinners pretty much exclusively for salmon & steelhead year round. Here are a few tips that work for me. I'm hoping you other gear chuckers will add a few thoughts of your own.

• Read the bible (Spinner fishing for steelhead, salmon & trout by Jed Davis).
• Preferred rod for me is an 8-6 baitcaster and 8-17lb. Easier to control casts and stick slack line bites. Some guys even go 10-20lb but personally I think the 8-17lb is a happy medium that telegraphs blade thump better.
• For summer steelhead I go 12lb ultragreen-->swivel-->fluoro leader-->lure. For everything else I go 30# braid-->swivel-->fluoro leader-->lure.
• Fish near the bottom. Fish generally hang out near the bottom...your spinner should be there as much as possible. A weighted spinner like the ones we sell do a very good job of getting and staying in the zone.
• Slow as possible retrieve. Can't stress this enough.
• If you read Jed's book (mentioned above) you'll find that he has specific spinner colors and finishes mapped out for just about every conceivable weather condition, water clarity, temperature range and every other variable possible. For beginners I suggest starting simple. Contrast is good. A blade with some flash and a darker-colored body is a good bet. My favorite, by far, is our genuine white silver blade & black body (pictured below). Believe it or not...it is the only spinner I carry and have lost count of how many days we've caught steelhead, chinook and coho all on the same day, all on the same spinner. Once you start catching fish and gaining confidence you can branch out into other combos.
• Move. Hit a spot, cover it well and if you haven't had any action move up or downstream. Keep moving (if possible) and cover a lot of water. If you favor certain spots you can always come back and hit those spots again multiple times just don't camp out unless your continuously catching fish there.
• Let the current do the work. Cast upstream, let lure sink, mend or let out line and allow current to work the lure. Often it's the bend in your line that will be what's working the lure. As my friend Mr Fast says "the bend is your friend." Watch tip of rod...if it's slowly bouncing up and down you know your spinner is working properly.

Great advice! I'd add:
A spinner is like a spoon which is like a jig which is like a bait which is like a fly: Put any of these in front of a biter, and it'll bite. On rare occasions, a fish will be willing to bite only one of these.



When I'm counting on the spinner to entice when other offerings won't, I use one or more of these:
Starting in lower left and going up -size 2 ripple blade, size 1 dimple blade, size 2 dimple blade, size 2 inline blade, size 2 French blade, size 3 French blade.
Starting on lower right and going up: Size 4 French blade with stickers for color, size 4 French blade brass naked, size 5 French blade silver plate with colored body, size 5 Fr blade plain body, size 5 French blade with heavier body.

 

Here's a trick I used way back in the 60's & 70's but haven't used it in a long time. I'm sure it would still be effective.
Use light weight Bear Valley & Colorado spinners drifted just like bait in faster current.

 

Si wash hooks are important, less fish lost and less snagging on bottom.

If youre not fishing bottom and feeling rocks or boulders stopping the blade, youre not fishing as fish will hold behind these.

Water conditions dictate the color,size, and blade style but the french blade is the blade that covers the most bases so to say.

When a fish bites hold on to that rod it will be like nothing youve felt before.

 

Leave them at home and grab the bobber rod!

 

Leave them at home and grab the bobber rod!

Bobbers are for kids:flowered:

 

I like my spinner fished in a vertical fashion before the swing. Start with your rod tip higher, get it down, pick up slack and almost just drift fish it. Follow the spinner across and down with the rod through the drift. Lots of bites as it transitions into a traditional swing. I prefer a 10'6" noodle rods and lighter #2/3 buds and blue foxes, and generally fish spinners for summers.


MH

 

So, I am new to spinners, tell me if I am miss understanding what I am reading.

Cast upstream, but in the slot, let the spinner sink and do its thing. Take up slack as it drifts by, them let the spinner finish the swing on its own. Once the swing is finished you them retrieve?

Or are you just casting it out, letting it sink them retrieving it as would see the bass guys fishing?

 

Spare Link,
I think it depends a lot on the hole you're fishing. I find casting upstream works well when you're fishing a slot that concentrates the fish, like above or below a rapid or along a ledge. A lot of these places may not be fishable from the side or above. Also, in a deep slot, it's sometimes easier to keep the spinner near the bottom when casting from below because the current's not pulling it up off the bottom. Use a lighter spinner (like a Blue Fox), let it drop, and retrieve just a bit faster than the current: just enough to get the blade going. In wider runs, where the fish may spread out, a more traditional, slightly upstream cast and then swing works better. Cast, step (downstream). Cast, step. Kind off like steelhead fly-fishing. Hardware works really well in these areas because it covers the water faster than other methods. You're looking for aggressive fish that will chase the spinner down before biting. No need to smack him in the face with spinners (unless it's freezing cold). Under normal conditions, you can usually step 5-10 feet between casts and still cover the water well. Reel if you need to keep the blade spinning, but once the spinner starts swinging, you often don't need to reel. You want to feel a slow, but steady thump-thump-thump.

Ultimately, whatever method gets a spinning blade in front of a biter will work best.

 

In his book, Jed Davis highly recommends making your own spinners because if you're using them correctly, you're gonna lose alot of them. So don't be afraid to put them close to structure, and along the bottom. That's how you get strikes. But, as we all know, that's how you lose them too.

I can make a silver plated or a gold-plated spinner for less than half the price of a store-bought nickel plate. That's not an exaggeration.

 

Like Cohoangler said, if you fish spinners correctly you are going to lose plenty of them, so making your own spinners makes good sense. Not only that, it's a nice way to spend a winter evening in front of the woodstove while you dream of all the fish you're going to catch with them.

The mention of cost started me to thinking about what it costs me to make a spinner. There are variables, most notably the hook used, but as near as I can tell my spinners with #5 silver blades cost me about 59 cents apiece. At that price I can carry a couple boxes of them and not worry about losing a few lures, and occasionally I will give away spinners to other fishermen who ask what I'm using.

I saw a quote once regarding fly tying that expressed the appeal of fishing with something that you've created with your own hands. I can't quote it exactly, but the gist of it was that the man who caught a trout on a fly that he personally had tied, had counted coup not once, but twice. For me both the pleasure of fishing the spinner and the satisfaction of catching fish using that lure are enhanced.

Making your own spinners gives you complete creative control, you can make pretty much anything you can dream up. That being said my number one spinner for steelhead and salmon is exactly the same as West Linn's: black body and silver blade. It's basic, but it works.

 

I gotta see what a 59 cent #5 genuine silver-bladed spinner looks like Would love to see a pic.

The exact spinner that I was referring to uses a marine brass blank .032 thickness plated in genuine white silver. That blade alone is over a buck (my cost) but is worth every penny to me because it gives me the confidence that I am using the very best spinner I can possibly obtain. I've gotten pretty good at not losing very many...which is good. Catching fish on your own stuff is a great feeling but I would still want the confidence that I was using the best components I could get. IMO we spend way too much time and money on other stuff (vehicles, boats licenses, gas, rods/reels and other gear) to not use the best components on the only things the fish actually see :wink:

Like Cohoangler said, if you fish spinners correctly you are going to lose plenty of them, so making your own spinners makes good sense. Not only that, it's a nice way to spend a winter evening in front of the woodstove while you dream of all the fish you're going to catch with them.

The mention of cost started me to thinking about what it costs me to make a spinner. There are variables, most notably the hook used, but as near as I can tell my spinners with #5 silver blades cost me about 59 cents apiece. At that price I can carry a couple boxes of them and not worry about losing a few lures, and occasionally I will give away spinners to other fishermen who ask what I'm using.

I saw a quote once regarding fly tying that expressed the appeal of fishing with something that you've created with your own hands. I can't quote it exactly, but the gist of it was that the man who caught a trout on a fly that he personally had tied, had counted coup not once, but twice. For me both the pleasure of fishing the spinner and the satisfaction of catching fish using that lure are enhanced.

Making your own spinners gives you complete creative control, you can make pretty much anything you can dream up. That being said my number one spinner for steelhead and salmon is exactly the same as West Linn's: black body and silver blade. It's basic, but it works.

 

Yea not sure how guys are building $.60 or less spinners with silver. The blades I get are not quite a buck apiece but close and brass bodies are also near a $1. Id say most of my spinners come close to if not $2+ including hooks....but still thats with good quality components and a heavier better spinner than what your going to buy in a store for $4-$5. Not saying store bought ones are bad either, I fish blue foxes a bit also. They all have thier time and place.

 

Since you asked, here is my 59 cent spinner.

Blade is .025 brass (15 cents each) that I silver plated using instructions from Jed Davis' book. If I used .032 brass it would add 4 cents to the cost of a blade.

Body is lead, poured in a walleye walking sinker mold and powder painted. I have a few hundred lbs of lead for pouring sinker, jig heads, and a variety of handgun bullets. The lead was about 20 cents per lb so the cost of a body is less than a penny. At today's prices it would be closer to a nickel.

.031 wire, 1/8" bead, and #3 clevis are purchased online, 15 or 20 cents total.

Hook is whatever you want to throw on there that you have confidence in, and costs vary widely. The Matzuo sickle hook is new to me, just something I want to try out this year.

Add it all up, throw in a little for paint and silver plate solution amortized over many pieces and that is the number I came up with.