Perhaps the wildest new blade design comes from Terminator, who relied on the savvy of Arkansas pro Rob Kilby to build a new lure called the Hybrid Blade. Seems that Kilby and others had been cutting and bending scrap aluminum into unique blade shapes to produce different vibrations. Kilby used handmade versions of this shoehorn-like blade to take checks at tournaments across the country. “It’s best around grass or other thick cover,” he notes. “You can work it on top like a buzzbait, drop it down and fish through cover, or bulge the surface, a deadly fall technique wherever bass feed on gizzard shad.”
Colors
Not surprisingly, color options have grown with new technologies for applying paints and dyes. You can’t miss the deluge of red stuff in the fishing market, and the trend has not bypassed spinnerbaits.
In their ICON Series, Stanley Jigs has the Hot Flash Bloodspot models with red hooks and bright contrasting skirts. Persuader American’s Bleeding Minnow Series has Mustad Ultra Point red hooks and a red Colorado or willowleaf blade on their tandem models. Their Nature Scales skirts are white with red trim and their white heads have big red eyes. Falcon Lures’ Big Eyez Series also incorporates large red eyes on the spinnerbait head as an attractor.
Terminator’s Red Series has a red hook, and one side of the small Colorado on their tandem spinnerbaits is red, the other metallic. The Talon Super Stainless Red Series from Leadhead Lures adds red hooks. StrikeZone Lures has the Blood Blade, with a reddish hue that merges into gold. And Strike King’s Premier Elite Series has red hooks and a small red blade tab, rigged on the split ring holding the trailing willowleaf blade.
In its Texas Two-Step line, Leadhead Lures offers an array of tandem willowleafs painted on one side and metallic on the other, providing versatility and an entirely new type of flash. A special poly-coating seals the paint to avoid chipping. Li’l Hustler‘s Escort Series has some spectacular new blade finishes, which match head and skirt colors for a unique look. In a different approach to mixing and matching colors, Team Supreme offers 50/50 blades in several spinnerbait styles, gold on the top half and silver on the other, to cover a variety of sun and shade conditions and readily match bass preferences.
Mini Spinners
Though some models are meant for crappie and others for pond fishing, mini-spinnerbaits can be deadly in early spring when largemouths first move into shallow areas but aren’t yet feeding much. They also work anytime the bite is tough and you need a couple fish, as well as in late fall when water temperatures fall below 50°F.
Talon offers the Sac-A-Lait Plus, a single-blade model in an array of colors, with choices of Colorado, Indiana, or willowleaf blades. BOOYAH Bait Company has the Pond Magic, a 3/16-ounce tandem edition in a variety of configurations. In their popular Leverage Series, McGuinness Fishing Products has added the 3/16-ounce Lil’ Leverage. And Strike King has the Redeye Mini-King, an 1/8-ouncer.
Multi Blades
Strike King’s Quad Shad initiated the trend of baits with more than 2 blades, stacking 4 on the shaft with options in French, Colorado, and willowleaf blades. These flashy lures are designed to imitate a small school of shad. They’re favorites for river fishing from the Upper Mississippi to the Arkansas River. Blade size and spacing, as well as shaft length and angle, are critical in these lures, so all blades spin smoothly.
Recent options include Persuader’s Super Quad, with 4 willowleaf blades in 5 color combinations in 3/8- and 1/2-ounce sizes. In the Big Eyez Series, Falcon Lures offers a new Triple Willow model with a mix of silver and gold blades. Hart Tackle’s novel X2 uses two arms to support four blades.
