northstar906

I’ve been making my own spinners for a little over a year and a half now and have a very solid French blade spinner in 2 sizes and a couple different in-line patterns in various sizes that work well also. It’s winter up here (Michigan) which is typically my main building season and I thought I’d make a variant of my French spinners with willow blades so I put together a parts order figuring the transition would be pretty painless and it’s not the case. My willow blades really enjoy sticking to the spinner bodies. First thought is that my size 2 clevis might be too big for the willows. Second is that maybe my blades are undersized. My testing spot is the equivalent to an indoor pool right now as everything is froze over so flow is pretty low but even on a fast retrieve the larger spinner is mediocre. Smaller is still a no go. Before I go putting in another order with 10$ shipping I thought I’d try to get a little input.. blade sizes are 1 and 2.

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum, relatively new to tackle crafting. Started making my spinners for cost reasons and low and behold I'm now hooked on the process. I almost exclusively fish for stream trout and salmon depending on time of year, with the occasional visit to stocked lakes. I have a couple of french patterns (roughly a size 0 and size 1) and a couple of patterns using inline blades with lead worm weights (1/16th oz and 1/8 oz weights) that work pretty well. I don't own an airbrush or any of the specialized paints, I mostly stick to acrylics on the lead as my wife likes to paint so that's what is available to me...also applied with a brush. I typically sand my lead prior to painting but I'd like to try and eliminated that process because well, lead dust isn't good for you. I know most people here are likely using airbrush and powder paints, but those that aren't, have you tried to use a self etching primer on the lead and had decent results? We don't have the huge rivers up here, a lot of what I fish is 1-2 feet deep with the occasional 3-4 foot hole, usually between 10 and 20 feet wide. I also like throwing my spinners in shallow sections of rapids so they will see some rough use, I realize that no paint is going to hold up over time when I'm constantly banging them off of rocks but as it is there is a distinct difference in how well it holds up when I sand as compared to not, I'd just like to eliminate that process. Second question I have is related to some of the rub on silver plating solutions. I do have nickel plated blades but I'd like to try some silver blades and was looking into these silver plating solutions as they seem very easy to apply. Has anybody tried these solutions out or do you typically just buy silver plated blades to begin with? I'd obviously run a coat of clear coat over them when I'm done plating. I do on most of my brass blades as they are not lacquered blades to begin with. Hard as Nails seems to hold up pretty well on my brass so that's what I've been using for a clear coat over all my painted bodies and blades. Edit: Guess I should introduce myself too! Name is Deric, I'm from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, 28 years old almost 29. I live very close to a good trout stream that I do all my testing with my spinners on. Even if it's just throwing some beads and bodies on a shaft, if I can do it myself, I'd much rather go that route than store bought. Nothing beats catching fish on a spinner that you made yourself.