SPINNERS AND ARTIFICIAL BAITS

Spinners and Artificial Baits

Spinners are a popular type of artificial bait. They come in a multitude of shapes and sizes and are usually made from metal. The most common use to which they are put is shore fishing where the main prey is mackerel and pollock. Spinners can be quite heavy which makes casting a tad easier and their weight also means that they will readily sink down into the depths of the sea.

To determine how deep the water is you can count how long it takes for
the spinner to reach bottom. Knowing this you can, on subsequent casts, decide at what depth you wish to fish and when to begin the retrieve.

You can vary the speed of your retrieve. The slower the retrieve,the
deeper the spinner will fish. To prevent the spinner from going too deep a fast retrieve will have to be made.

Varying the speed of retrieve may fool the fish you are trying to catch into thinking that your spinner is a small fish in distress. Hopefully this will tempt it to strike.

They are available in many different designs, sizes and colours. Toby and Krill are two well known designs which are used by thousands of anglers around the coasts of Britain. Smaller species, such as thin-lipped mullet, can be pursued using smaller round-bladed spinners. It is good practice when using a small bladed spinner to place a ragworm or some other kind of fresh bait on the hook. This will improve your chances of attracting any one of a number of species and persuading them to take a bite. If you are after larger fish, such as bass, then a bar-shaped spinner would be a good choice.

Although they come in many colours the most popular are gold, silver and bronze. They often have reflective panels on each side. A swivel is attached to a split ring on the end of the spinner where it is tied to the line. This arrangement allows the spinner to rotate without twisting when the angler begins his retrieve.

A treble hook is used in preference to a single one because the fish might miss the single hook when attacking the spinner.

Spinners do not always have reflective panels. However, plain ones can be spruced up by adding stick-on metallic strips of Flectolite.

Though used mainly by shore anglers spinners can be used whilst fishing from a boat, being particularly effective when fishing in an estuary or over sandbanks. Mackerel and bass can be fished for in this way.