Giant spinnerbaits !
First of all, I have to say, my biggest bass on a spinnerbait was not quite 6 lbs, although I have caught a bunch of 4's and 5's.
Last year in about April, I had been fishing Coyote, mostly with live dads and doing very well. Then in a period of a few days, the lake got really murky, as they dumped a bunch of water into it from the lake above. Our dad bite was ruined, but I told my buddy I thought a white spinnerbait could work. I even tied one on and threw it around a bit, but didn't put much heart into it.
Later that day these two guys come up and pull a 10 1/2 and an 11 3/4 lb'er out of there livewell..... and then show us the lures they were throwing....... A WHITE SPINNERBAIT !!! I knew it !

Anyway, how about a big spinnerbait ? NO, I mean a BIG spinnerbait ! Like a skirt which trails back 6 to 8 inches long ! A trailer hook could be added with a short cable leader. Where can I get those big Musky size blade baits ? I don't care if I have to use my trout lure rod to throw one ! Then I was thinking about this too..... a much longer, maybe a little thicker, skirt, would add very little drag to the bait, even though it gave a much bigger profile. A willowleaf blade could be HUGE too, and not create a ton of resistance...... Can I buy something like this, or do I have to make it ?

I really think this could be good at any of the trout planted lakes early in the year, say mid Feb through mid March when the water was still murky.... or even if it got murky later from a late rain, or water being dumped in from a lake above (like Coyote had early this year)

Pretty hyped about this. Can you tell from my novel ??? :-)

Peace,
Fish

Hey FishChris,

Have you heard of or seen the "LedgeBuster" spinnerbaits? If I'm not mistaken, they are all willow leafed and weigh up to 2oz? I haven't seen an all white model but I would imagine that they have one. I know you can get some of the dark color models from my brother's shop in Brea. He carries mostly the blacks and black combination for fishing the Long Beach and federal breakwater out here. Yes...that's right...in the ocean! I think it might be worth a call to his shop. His number is 714-674-0064. I'm sure he can help you out.

Darin

One day, ten years ago, I mentioned trying spinnerbaits on Calicos in the kelp and was laughed at. If they work at the breakwall, I'd bet they would work great around boiler rocks between Pt. Fermin & Marineland.

Chris

I saw some giant spinnerbaits like what your talking about at
fishermans wharehouse up in Fresno about a month and a half ago.

-Shane

Chris,
I've been thinking alot about this also. In fact, I just recently bought some LedgeBuster spinnerbaits like the ones Darin mentioned. The main reason for my interest in them is that I know alot of nice bass are taken in winter on a slow rolled spinnerbait in deep water. I think the LedgeBuster's are going to be good, but i'm not going to stop there. For a while now i've been looking for twin or double armed spinnerbaits. These things are really hard to find! I've found one or two different brands that make them, but i'm not sure if it's excactly what I want. I'm going to keep looking and i've even started to mess around and come up with a prototype, but I haven't got to fish it yet. A slow rolled, twin armed spinnerbait fished in deep water is something that I bet few big bass have seen.

Ya know, I LOVE an over size blade in Febuary and March. Especially white! White is my main "go to" color anyway with blades but BIG ones in spring, catch big fish.
I hooked a fish at Spring Lake in the spring with an oversize blade. It grabbed it and ran slowly but powerfully straight back into the tules. There was nothing I could do to turn the fish. She broke off.
The LedgeBuster blades are great. Nuf said.

Coyote Bait and Tackle has the Ledgebusters. I'm not sure if they have all white though. If you try to make your own remember to have enough weight to balance out any drag from oversizing either the skirt or the blade, as it will spin otherwise. As for the guy looking for the double-arm baits, let me now if you find any good sized ones. I have an old Shannon that I used to use with lots of success until I found out it was a collector's dream.

I grabbed a couple of Ledgebusters, 1.5 oz., from Bass Pro Shops for the spotties and calicos. The Clearwater ones with a big willowleaf are pretty cool. I know a couple of guys that have wrecked some double digits from deep trees at Salto on an otherwise marginal bite with the 1.5 & 2 oz. ones.

Go to this awesome Musky site, and first click on the link for "bucktails". They do not have a seperate page for spinnerbaits, but they do have a bunch of big ones ! Granted many are the inline type (I guess those are popular for Musky fishing..... and might work good for bass too.... I just wouldn't know that)

Then, after you have checked out all the giant spinnerbaits, click on the "cranbaits" link...... AWESOME !

This site is the BOMB ! Think I might just sit down and make a "Musky sized" order :-)

http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/

Peace,
Fish

I just picked up a couple of the Terminator Heavy T spinnerbaits that looked really good. The ones I got were the 1.5 oz flavor. They have a huge blade but the rest of the bait(except the head of course) is basically the same size as regular spinnerbaits. The blade on these is what caught my eye though. They are sort of willow shaped, but wider through the middle of the blade. I bought them for using in heavy current, but they would be killer for slow rolling along bluffs or deep structure.


Also, did you check out the jerkbait section of that Musky site. There are three plastic baits on there that look awesome. I really like the two eels. I am ordering some of the 8.5 ichers for the Delta. Although they don't look to be very weedless, I just know I can work the weedlines with them pretty good. We'll see.

Chris

I love musky sites!!! I have used some of the cranks (Muskie Innovations)and I feel that they will work on big bass out here, and the prices are great. Another good site is pastikas.com prices are better but the selection is not as great.

one more thing to think about!

The trailer. I know guys (myself included) have great success on the Delta with a big buzzbait and an 8" lizard as a trailer. It looks like a baby muscrat or beaver or aomething like that. Of course, up there black os best, but why not a big white trailer on the back of those big white spinnerbaits.

Just one more thing to think about!
Cam

Musky lures crack me up!
http://www.calfishing.com/images/lures/musky.jpg

Shoot, I pulled one of those from the bottom of my old 3 tiered Plano box, little did I know that tangled mess was a musky lure! Mine had old Balls O' Fire Salmon eggs dried all over it for scent, and an old Zebco Deliar wrapped up to weigh the fish as you retrieved the tangled mess.

Big Spinnerbaits...yep...

What about making the "body" of the spinnerbait a 8" Bluegill, or a baby bass....

And the blades more like a school of little baitfish....like 10 tiny blades....

At least, putting a huge gitzit/tube bait as the body....

A spinnerbait should look like, IMO, a fish chasing a school of bait...or another fish....

Hi Fish!

For excellent quality big blades to modify any spinnerbait, try Hildebrandt (especially their No. 8 Willowleaf). You would have to buy their "Slim Eli" spinners in No. 8 Willowleaf and cut them up for the blades to put on your stock or home-made spinnerbait!

See http://www.hildebrandt.net
http://www.hildebrandt.net/products/slim_eli.shtml

Go well, buddy!
Jacques
(BigBass)