Spinner Trials

[Kelkay]

Well I took my spinners out for a test run finally, on Sunday afternoon. Most of them did quite well in the spinning department. A few did not, and I will have to rework them, or just tear them down. I will have to say that some of them were a pure pleasure to cast, and spun effortlessly. I got kind of worried whether they would spin, as a friend told me he tried spinner making before, but his wouldn't spin, so he gave up on it. The fish weren't biting very good the day I went. Still I managed to get a catfish, and lost a nice one...on the same lure. I guess I will have to either duplicate that lure, or make another like it with another type of blade. I ordered a couple of books on spinner making. Hopefully they will help me on fine tuning my spinners. If anyone knows how to tune a spinner, and has a video on it, I would like to see it. I have seen one video where a guy sort of tuned one, but he did it pretty fast, so it was kind of hard to tell how to do it.

[pirkfan]

Well I took my spinners out for a test run finally, on Sunday afternoon. Most of them did quite well in the spinning department. A few did not, and I will have to rework them, or just tear them down. I will have to say that some of them were a pure pleasure to cast, and spun effortlessly. I got kind of worried whether they would spin, as a friend told me he tried spinner making before, but his wouldn't spin, so he gave up on it. The fish weren't biting very good the day I went. Still I managed to get a catfish, and lost a nice one...on the same lure. I guess I will have to either duplicate that lure, or make another like it with another type of blade. I ordered a couple of books on spinner making. Hopefully they will help me on fine tuning my spinners. If anyone knows how to tune a spinner, and has a video on it, I would like to see it. I have seen one video where a guy sort of tuned one, but he did it pretty fast, so it was kind of hard to tell how to do it.

There are some basic concepts to keep in mind when making spinners. First of all the bearing surface that the clevis turns on should be a small metal bead (glass would probably be OK too, pastic is not). Secondly, the clevis should be a match for the blade size, not too big, and especially not too little. The third factor is the blade itself, some blades just spin more freely than others, which generally relates to the width of the blade and the amount of cupping (ie, colorado blades are easy "starters", swing blades are not). If you are using a long narrow blade (which spins close to the body of the lure) and the body or the first couple of beads is too big, the blade may rub on the body and inhibit free rotation.

[Kelkay]

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I did use a small metal bead before and after the clevis on each spinner. I think I had too big of bead on some of them on top of the spinner. I also think a bigger, heavier blade may of helped on some of them. Most came out just fine. I ordered a couple of books on spinner making, hopefully this will help. Also if I knew how to accurately tune the spinner after making them, that should help as well. I searched You Tube, but did not see a video on that. One video on making salmon spinners did show a bit, but he did it very fast, and it was a little confusing on what to do exactly. Hopefully the books will clear that up when they get here. As for most of the ones that did not spin, they were the first of the bunch I was making. I used smaller blades until the larger blades I ordered came in, and larger lure components too. Still I was pleased with most of them, the vast majority of them worked just fine.

There are some basic concepts to keep in mind when making spinners. First of all the bearing surface that the clevis turns on should be a small metal bead (glass would probably be OK too, pastic is not). Secondly, the clevis should be a match for the blade size, not too big, and especially not too little. The third factor is the blade itself, some blades just spin more freely than others, which generally relates to the width of the blade and the amount of cupping (ie, colorado blades are easy "starters", swing blades are not). If you are using a long narrow blade (which spins close to the body of the lure) and the body or the first couple of beads is too big, the blade may rub on the body and inhibit free rotation.

[rickman]

You don't need two beads above and below the clevis. You just need one between the clevis and the body. Waste of a bead and could cause extra drag for the clevis/blade. If you need the extra bead, add it below the clevis or the bottom of the body.

[Kelkay]

Thanks Rick for your opinion.