Reds can't resist "harmless" spinners with jighead plastic minnow combos.
The wobbling, golden flashing blade of my spinnerbait humped up an impressive wake as it cut a path over the submerged grass. Halfway back to the boat, I noticed it was being tailgated by a much bigger wake, so I slowed it down a tad. A copper flash engulfed the golden flash in an explosion of grass and mud.
The big red looked as angry as hungry, given the way it tried to demolish the spinnerbait. And many anglers have come to the conclusion that spinnerbaits not only excel in grassy waters that foul many other artificials, but bring strikes from fish that might not otherwise bite.
Bass anglers discovered long ago that spinnerbaits attract redfish. Largemouth bass can handle brackish waters where redfish thrive, and it is in such crossroads that both bass and reds are taken on spinnerbaits, from the central Gulf of Mexico to Florida to the southern Atlantic coast.
“A redfish will eat anything a bass will eat,” said Capt. Charlie Thomason, out of Hopedale, Louisiana. “They’ll hit many subsurface lures that a bass will hit, and seem especially keen on anything that flashes or emits of lot of vibration.”
Where bass contests take place in estuarine waters, anglers winging spinnerbaits have been duped into thinking they have hooked a bass of a lifetime when in fact the fish ends up being a big red. And with so many competitive bass anglers getting involved in the redfish tournament circuits, it only follows that bass tactics and lures are producing in a big way.
“We turn to spinnerbaits when fishing for redfish along shallow shorelines that drop off more than two feet,” said Keith Hartsell, a professional redfish angler from Perryland, Texas, who partners with his brother, Greg. “If we get in deeper structure or if we get into water that’s off-color, spinnerbaits get the nod because they give off good vibrations that attract fish.”
Redfish anglers choose from three types of spinnerbaits: conventional “safety pin” versions that bass anglers prefer, in-line spinners, and beetle spinners. A safety-pin spinner employs a bent arm that suspends one or more blades over a skirt-tipped head. An in-line spinnerbait has a straight wire extending from the head with a spinner rotating around the wire. A beetle spinner, also known as a “harness” spinner, resembles a safety-pin spinnerbait, but it usually consists of a wire harness temporarily attached to a standard lead jighead. Often, anglers tip jigheads with soft-plastic minnows or shrimp baits. In response to the increased demand for spinnerbaits among the redfishing crowd, most manufacturers are now fitting their baits with titanium or stainless wire to ward off saltwater corrosion.
Left to right, safety pin spinnerbait; in-line spinner with soft bait; Snagless Sally.
“I’ve caught redfish with the conventional safety-pin-style spinnerbait, but in my experience, I think the soft-plastic beetle body with a Hildebrandt spinner harness works better than a skirted bait,” said Stephen Browning, a professional bass angler and redfish angler from Conway, Arkansas. “I caught redfish in a bass tournament in the Mobile Delta with an in-line Snagless Sally, but I haven’t intentionally fished in-line spinnerbaits for redfish. A Snagless Sally comes through cover better than some other baits.”
Blades also come in many shapes and sizes, but generally fall into three categories. A nearly round Colorado blade displaces the most water and can go deeper quicker. Not entirely weedless, a long, slender willow-leaf blade won’t cut through solid vegetation mats, but it does slip through small openings in broken weed patches. An Indiana blade combines some aspects of each.
“I usually use a single Colorado blade for redfish because I fish in a lot of dirty water, but redfish also eat willow-leaf or tandem willow-leaf spinnerbaits,” Thomason said. “When I’m fishing in dirty water, I like something that gives off a lot of vibration or has a little bit of “thump” to it. A Colorado blade displaces a lot of water. I like in-line spinnerbaits when fishing open water or clear water along a bank.”
A harness spinner gives anglers considerable versatility. Since the components come separate, anglers can switch blades, arm sizes, jigheads or trailers easily to adapt to changing conditions. If anglers see redfish striking shad or other baitfish of a particular color, they can easily remove one plastic trailer and slip on another that more closely resembles the dominant bait. They can resume casting in seconds without retying. Since the harness loosely attaches to the jighead, it also stands up to the abuse that redfish can inflict upon a lure with their powerful jaws and shell crushers in their throats.
