Spinnerbaits in Saltwater

[Chucktown Redfisher]

Hey guys! New member here.  I grew up a bass fisherman and was taught how to fish a spinnerbait and a jig by an older gentleman almost 15 years ago.  My fishing buddy was also an avid lure maker and I have memories of spending weekends in high school in his basement learning how to make R bends and blend skirts. Unfortunately my friend has had some serious medical issues and has been forced to not only give up fishing but also lure making.  Recently he decided to pass down a large part of his inventory and tools to me and I am very grateful, however, I have been living and fishing in an inshore environment in SC for the last 6 years.  While he will forget more than I will ever learn about building and fishing spinnerbaits for bass, he has limited redfish/trout experience.  I have been chasing redfish/trout almost exclusively for the last six years and I am wondering how to turn these "freshwater" baits into inshore baits.  I am not concerned with the strength of the hooks/tackle in general.  I am curious if anyone has gone down this journey and would be willing to share some tips and tricks.  I have started with "in-line" spinners with my favorite paddle tail as a trailer but am looking to move to spinnerbaits and buzzbaits.  Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Darkman]

Oh yeah I have but with a different fish, the spotted bay bass

ive used regular spinnerbaits on them and the worked great, I imagin trout and redfish like to chase just make the correct adjustments to the size of the fish, try all chartreuse or white and chartreuse . Those fish are not shy I believe so try loud colors

good luck and I hope I helped some

[BLT]

I have used "off the shelf" inlines from Walmart many times in the salt water. Bluefish mainly, but hopes of Flounder going after them also. Only thing I will say to do, if you want to get some miles out of them, when done for the day, soak them in a container of good soapy water, then rinse well, or they will rust out.

[Anglinarcher]

Lived in Louisiana for some time and I and my wife loved to fish the Reds and Specks in salt and brackish water.  I will promise you that inshore overhead spinnerbait style lures will catch them, and yes, the Bluefish and Flounder as well.  

I also fished the fresh water, normally Toledo Bend, so I often used the same lures for both waters.  Wow, brings back some great memories.

The smaller sized, 1/4 and 3/8 oz, in light and bright colors were best for the Speckled sea trout.  3/8 oz and bigger, sometimes much bigger, were  better for the reds, especially the bull reds.  I found that Reds like all color ranges.

I never bothered to wash my spinnerbaits off.  I did rinse them off with fresh water, but the Reds and big Bass would normally tear them up soon enough that a complete wash was never worth the time.  Hehehe

[psilvers]

When I lived in Alabama, there were a lot of guys on the gulf Coast who would use spinnerbaits for trout and reds. I haven't seen them used much for blues or stripers, but I would think that they would be effective.

 

I am not trying to hijack this thread, but I thought this might add another dimension - has anyone ever tried to use chatterbaits for blues or stripers? I am starting to make some chatterbaits with bucktail. I think they would be GREAT for blues, stripers, etc.

 

Pete

[Chucktown Redfisher]

Pete,

Zman is now making a bucktail chatter bait that is sold exclusively in Dick's Sporting Goods.  It may be on Zman's website though, would be something worth checking out for ideas maybe.

[psilvers]

On 1/19/2018 at 9:59 PM, Chucktown Redfisher said:

Pete,

Zman is now making a bucktail chatter bait that is sold exclusively in Dick's Sporting Goods.  It may be on Zman's website though, would be something worth checking out for ideas maybe.

Thanks for the info! I will have to check it out. However, Zman chatterbaits are generally 1/2 oz or smaller. I was thinking of something bigger.

 

[Capt.Mike]

Using homemade chatter-baits 1 oz to 5 oz .  There are no large swimming Jigs available so you need a little more hardware to make them (the Jigs) work. Made a one Oz and a five Oz just for fun to try and caught fish on first drop of each. Caught one fish on the big one before taken by maybe a shark.  One Oz caught several fish before losing it. Still playing with the idea and have caught several different species fishing out on the gulf.  Fishing them very unconventionally.  It has been kinda crazy fun!

[JD_mudbug]

I have used spinnerbaits in saltwater for stripers and blues. I find looped wire spinnerbait frames are best suited for stripers and blues. They can mangle the R bend ones easily. If I am using an R bend in saltwater, I will put a small piece of surgical tubing over the R bend so I can use a leader without the snap sliding down the wire when a fish hits.

On some, I have tied bucktail instead of using the typical skirt and used a grub for a trailer. On others, I use skirts made of magnum size skirt tabs.  Another way to use them is to not use a skirt/bucktail and just put a soft plastic bait over the skirt collar right to the head. A paddletail shad or ribbontail eel will work for stripers and blues. Maybe try a plastic shrimp or other soft plastic good for redfish on the spinnerbait.

You can modify a mold slightly to take a loop wire where the hook would go. You get a loop right after the skirt collar. You can attach a treble or single hook with split rings and swivel. That way you can replace the hook as needed. A .051 looped wire spinnerbait with a loop right after the skirt collar and free swinging hook gives more durability.