Seems like yesterday I bought my first Zorro Aggravators, Storm Bass Hogs, Okiebugs, and Fleck Weedwaders, clipping coupons out of Bassmaster Magazine. Two lures, a patch, and a catalog for $5.95 was a tempting deal for a budding basshead, even if it meant skipping lunch for a couple days.
Those spinnerbaits worked so well, I couldn’t imagine improvements. But then came Northland Reed Runners, Nichols Pulsators, and more. Finally, Terminator raised the bar with nickel-titanium wire. Today a new crop of blades has arrived.
As with earlier developments, not much is revolutionary. Basic spinnerbait design seems immutable, something the bass themselves have agreed works. But tweaking shapes and materials, along with new colors and blade designs, gives anglers new options that can mean extra bass.
Heavy Metal
Early on, anglers wrapped lead sinkers around the hookshaft to achieve extra weight. Weighted spinnerbaits can be cast far to cover expanses of grass or rock. Speed-reeling, a topnotch trigger for big smallmouths in clear open water, was possible when this hefty keel was added, as the lure won’t roll. Meanwhile, Japanese spinnerbait makers had been building finesse models, using a fish-shaped body that was longer than standard bullet-style spinnerbaits without adding bulk. Their central weight balance also means a straight retrieve at any speed. War Eagle’s Screamin Eagle Models adopt this concept—compact, 1/4-ounce size but weighing 1/2 ounce, great for burning the flats or deep slow-rolling.
Use of tungsten now allows manufacturers to build heavy but compact heads, as this metal is nearly twice as dense as lead. Terminator built its Custom Tungsten Series with naturalistic fish-shaped heads. Their density allows long, accurate casts, and the compact frame is an advantage in many situations.
Success of the Custom Tungsten Series led Terminator to add the 1-ounce T-1 Series Spinnerbait, built on a normal-sized nickel-titanium wire frame but with an elongated head for extra heft. Designed with input from California pro Skeet Reese, it’s meant to fish deep ledges or timber in clear reservoirs. But it also excels for making long casts and for slow-rolling through thinning grassbeds in fall, when lunkers wolf big blades.
It’s also a good choice for fast water in rivers and reservoir tailraces. Think Wilson and Wheeler dams. Meanwhile, the Japanese company Kanji International built the Zen X-Metal line with intricately painted tungsten heads and matching skirts, holographic blades, and a trailer clip to secure a plastic trailer.
Blade Design
Time was, one could choose among Colorado, willowleaf, and Indiana blades. Next came oval designs, some with a horizontal bevel of the “turtleback” blade, also called a Tennessee blade in some quarters. And Terminator added the more angular Oklahoma blade.
Jack Tibbs of StrikeZone Lures offers a new V-Blade, which looks like you cut a slice out of an Indiana. In addition to changing underwater vibration, the V-Blade’s action is more erratic, as the two blade tips flash back and forth when retrieved steadily. When it hits something or is paused, the blade reacts wildly. V-Blade models are available in tandem with a small Colorado blade in the Edgebuster Shallow Series, and also solo on a 3/4-ounce edition meant for deep spinnerbaiting on ledges and deep flats in early spring.
On Lake Eufaula, Alabama, and other southeastern reservoirs, anglers and guides have also had success with StrikeZone’s Ghost Blade, shaped like a big #6 Colorado but made of clear or color-tinted plastic. Matched with a small metal Colorado in front to provide a bit of flash, the big plastic blade creates major vibrations but far less flash than a big metal blade would produce.
