Homemade Spinners

[Zib]

I've been busy making spinners for the up coming Michigan catch & release bass season (Opens April 25th). I was tired of paying for plain Mepps spinners, which went up in price ($2.99 to $3.69 for a plain #3 Aglia). I decided to make my own to save money & get some satisfaction from catching a fish with a lure I made.

Here's some #3's that I made.



I plan on making some #5 as well as some bucktail spinners for musky. After that I'll be making my own soft plastics & then maybe some musky size crank baits.

[fishin_musician]

They look nice. Are you twisting the wires or getting them made up?

[Zib]

I'm twisting them myself with a Hagen's Professional Wire Former. I bought it as a 40th B-Day present to myself last month.  I would have bought the Boggs tackle maker instead (a lot cheaper) but it can't handle the longer musky baits that I plan to make. The spinners cost me less than a $1 to make. I could have just made them with round nose pliers but I like the neatness of the wire bender. Plus it helps my carpal tunnel.

I'm thinking about making some spinners to donate to this year's Fish'n summer tournament. 

[HenryDavid]

I gotta say I'm really fascinated with the idea of spinner making.  How hard is it to get the wire twisted right?

That rainbow looking spinner looks great, they sure look authentic Mepps to me.  Where do you get your supplies?

There is a link on the main page here to Gofishin.com (now called "FishandSave", same link) that has some cheaper prices on spinners, they had a few Mepps for $1.79 and some Rooster Tails for $1.99.  I think I may be making my own this year though.

Any ideas of how to add some hair, as in a roostertail?

[Zib]

I bought most of my stuff from Hagen's http://www.hagensfish.com/ They are the cheapest on most items. If you don't order their minimum amount then you have to add a $1 to each line item that's under the minimum but it's still cheaper. They will also add 10% federal excise tax because they are a manufacture. My other parts came from Cabelas (Rainbow blades & VMC Barbarian hooks). The blade tape & tubing for the hooks came from Jann's Netcraft http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/ The bad thing about buying French blades from Cabelas is their blades are smaller than the Mepps Blade. A #3 Mepps French balde is same size as the Cabelas #4 blade (the ones in my picture).

Other places to buy lure making stuff:

http://www.mooreslures.com/ these guys are cheap as well but are closed for vacation the months of Feb & Mar.

http://lurepartsonline.com/cart.html

http://www.barlowstackle.com/

http://www.lurecraft.com/

Most of these places will send you a free catelog as well if you request it.

There's a few others out there but their selection isn't as good or prices are too high.

Twisting the wire is easy with the tool I have but it's a $115 tool. They have one's that bend the small diameter wire like I used that are $10 or you can use round nose pliers that cost about $8 to $10 in hobby shops (made in China). The German ones cost more but are better quality pliers.

You can tie bucktail or squirrels hair to the hooks if you want. Just get a cheap fly tying vise, a bobbin, thread, & the tool for tying the thread. Do a search on You Tube under tying bucktail & you'll get plenty of ideas for the videos on how to do it.

Tackle Underground is an excellent site on information for making all kinds of lures. http://www.tackleunderground.com/index.php

[HenryDavid]

Wow, great links and info. thanks.  Have you ever dealt with StaminaInc.com

[Zib]

Wow, great links and info. thanks.  Have you ever dealt with StaminaInc.com

I haven't dealt with them yet but know other guys that have. Stamina changed their name to Lure Parts Online http://lurepartsonline.com/cart.html

Guys on the Tackle Underground site said they had problems getting parts from Stamina because they were always out of stock. Their new website now tells you the parts are out of stock before you order.

[wetflyguy]

 Spinners look great .
 I have been wanting to try making them , already carve plugs.

wet

[zziipp]

them spinners look real nice.great job and info on parts thanx.

[Cpinner]

Zib, I'm jumping into this thread maybe a year and a half late but I had a few questions that I thought might be relevant.   Do you ever use your spinners to catch steelhead (or salmon) ?   They appear to be about the right size.   I have been subscribing to Salmon Trout Steelheader (STS) for about 3 years and there seems to be alot of talk in there about spinner fishing for steelhead, although it is a little Pacific Northwest oriented.   I've seen more and more homemade spinners being displayed in the magazine with single hooks, usually sickle hooks or siwash hooks.   I have always been troubled by a high snag rate when I'm fishing any kind of metal lure with a treble hook, be it a spoon or a plug or a spinner.   When I vacation in Florida in the winter I often fish around jetties, bridges and off piers where lots of other fishermen undoubtedly leave broken lines everywhere.  Sometime when I buy an expensive 2oz silver plated spoon in Florida (because I can toss it a good 40 yards with my Shimano Curado) I often swear that I am more likely to lose the spoon in a snag before I get a chance to catch a fish with it.   For the past year or so I've been making a move to replace all of my trebles on my steelhead spoons (and saltwater spoons) with single sickle hooks (usually 1/0) or single siwash hooks.  On some of the smaller spoons I may use a double hook, primarily if I want to tip the spoon with a small egg-sack.  I've read books written by expert spoon fishermen saying that a treble doesn't penetrate as deeply as a single hook and can often be spit out before you can get a decent hook-set.  They also say the single hooks are far more humane and much less likely to kill the fish if your objective is catch and release.   I certainly don't need any convincing that they are less prone to snagging.  

So I guess my question is .......have you explored using single hooks on spinners?   Do they adversely affect the motion of the lure?   Most of my spinners would be difficult to remove the trebles because of the way they are constructed where the hook is not attached with a split ring.  I'd have to cut or grind thru the eye of the treble hook without damaging the bottom loop of the center-wire just to remove the treble, not an easy 60-second chore.   But I am noticing more and more spinners being sold in places like Gander Mountain and Dicks Sporting Goods with large single hooks.  

Anybody else with experience in this area please jump in....if you are an active spinner fisherman is your catch rate any better or worse if you use single hook spinners?

[HenryDavid]

I fish mainly for trout with spinners, have some single hook rigs, I've tested them side by side.
If the trout are really hitting agressively it seems to make little difference, the hook up ratios are very close, however if they are short hitting or not committing completely I've found I get more hook ups on the trebles.  The trade off is minimal in my opinion.  You will spare the fish some extra wear with the single hooks for sure.

On some days when the trout are hitting really short a single trailer hook attached beyond the main hook seems to increase hook ups.  Some days it just doesn't matter.

[Carpy]

Single trailer hook on a spinner - never heard of that one HD. Do you just tie on a bare hook or a fly?

[HenryDavid]

single hook, Joe's Flies makes some with trailer hooks but they're treble hooks.

[Zib]

Do you ever use your spinners to catch steelhead (or salmon) ?  
So I guess my question is .......have you explored using single hooks on spinners?   Do they adversely affect the motion of the lure?   Most of my spinners would be difficult to remove the trebles because of the way they are constructed where the hook is not attached with a split ring.  I'd have to cut or grind thru the eye of the treble hook without damaging the bottom loop of the center-wire just to remove the treble, not an easy 60-second chore.   But I am noticing more and more spinners being sold in places like Gander Mountain and Dicks Sporting Goods with large single hooks.  

Anybody else with experience in this area please jump in....if you are an active spinner fisherman is your catch rate any better or worse if you use single hook spinners?

When I've targeted salmon & steelhead it has been trolling on Lake Huron & have never gotten around to fishing for them in the river with spinners but have been wanting to. There's no good salmon/trout rivers/streams near me. I have made up spinners with single hooks to use in weedy places & haven't noticed any difference in the action of the lure.

If you want to change the hook on your spinners just cut the hook off & attach the new one with a split ring. I suggest that you use a quality split ring like Spro & not the cheaper ones. I've had 3 Lb smallies pull the cheaper split rings apart & off they went with a hook  in their mouth.

[chumfoam]

   The first two steelhead I caught were on spinners in the Salmon River in New York. They used a heavy "L" shaped brass blade, and a many different body colors-all clear( orange, chartreuse, green, puple, red etc. ). During my first trip near Christmas 1979, I saw guys fishing deep pools early in the morning with spinners they were making during the day. All the spinners, I got, I purchased at the Salmon River Sports Shop(1.315.498.4343). They were among my most effective baits after that-especially when there were no salmon dumping eggs into the river.

    The key is a drifting them bottom just like an egg sac.