Using Spinnerbaits During Bedding Season

Spinnerbaits Help Catch Bass When Bluegills Bed and Spawn!
© 2011 Blake Rasch and
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites, and Fights!™

Using Fish Creek Spinners for Largemouth Bass

During Bluegill Spawn

The bream start bedding pretty early here in West Central Florida, and when I see them start to make their beds, I take out my spinnerbaits and start working the areas just outside the beds. You know that the bass are hungry, and are looking for a meal in the shallows where the panfish are bedding. Bass spawn just before the bream do, and need to build themselves back up again after breeding.

I like to use a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce spinner like Fish Creek Spinners' F379 when I'm fishing stained brown water. Most of the time, that's what I fish in anyway. The water here is always pretty brown because of the leaves that fall in and stain the water.

Fish Creek Spinner 1/2oz Bucktail Spinner

Now, sometimes the water is clear. In those times I use the the same spinner, but in white, with the bronze blades.

Fish Creek Spinner 1/2oz Bucktail Spinner

Bluegills make their nests in pretty much the same areas that largemouth bass do. They build their beds near the shoreline, usually fanning out a good sized depression about a foot in diameter in open areas, making them easy to spot.

I like to start out with a medium speed retrieve. I start to retrieve just as the spinner hits the water, so it doesn't sink too deep. If the bass are hitting, I maintain that while the bite is hot. If they are sluggish, or haven't started feeding, I let it sink deeper and start to twitch and wiggle the rod to make it seem like an injured baitfish. Usually this will do the trick. I will also rip a spinner through the beds if nothing else seems to work. I try to get it as close to the weeds or lilypads as possible and sometimes a largemouth will come out and grab it.

The best time I have found is usually first thing in the morning. The first hour after sunrise is usually really good with lots of bass hitting everything I throw out to them!

I really like Fish Creek Spinners. They are made by and here in America. They come in a lot of colors and designs. I have used them in salt water, and caught ladyfish, Jack Cervalle, and those pesky Snakefish. In the lakes and ponds near home, the bass eat them and even big bluegills get themselves caught on them.

Keep your line tight!
Blake Rasch
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites and Fights