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Topic starter
July 10, 2023 9:03 pm
Spinnerbaits have accounted for some of my biggest largemouth and smallies, and in the coldest of waters, and during the most aggressive bites.
The mods seem endless with these sometimes forgotten baits in a world of sexy-over-the-top Johnny-come-lately offerings. I like to change blades to better match up to desired running depths, reinforce the R-bend, add trailers, paint blades, trim/change out skirts, add weight to the hooks to run deeper, remove the skirt and run a twin tail spider grub or paddletails...and a few more tricks.
Here are a few mods to a newly introduced bait from Freedom Tackle...I think these will be very effective during the late summer/fall shad runs and when the rivers run higher and faster again.
Kickerfish1 reacted
July 11, 2023 2:05 am
Tunning a Spinnerbait is an art. There is so much you can do with them to make them interesting.
One of the Original OG baits was the "Snagless Sally" an inline spinnerbait made for fishing in thick cover. id love to see an inline spinnerbait for bass with a more modern and innovative twist on it.
"The things you own, end up owning you." -
Topic starter
July 11, 2023 5:43 am
Yessir, Fred Arbogast was among the first Iconic brands I got into back in the 1980s when I got into bass fishing, and they had an allure to them that was special.
Topic starter
July 11, 2023 6:52 pm
I have modded four of these baits, 3 x 1/2 oz and one 1/4 oz. All run great, aside I had to bend the tip of the front willow on the 1/4 up a bit to get it to spin properly...I feel the blade is a bit too close to the R-bend on the SM series to get a good enough amount of water drag to spin properly.
Notes: excellent blade quality on the Kilter blade, the willow blade seems a bit thin, but the painted willow ones have quality paint. Excellent quality skirt strand count and color schemes, and taught and very uniform skirt band. The small rubber band around the R-bend is not really functional, I reinforced it with proper braid wrap/tie on top of the rubber o-ring/band. Hooks are very sharp, clevis and ball bearing is quality, and the head design, eyes and head paint is also excellent.
I love the way it thumps and the 1/2 surface wakes well and stay keeled when reeled at that pace for surface waking, even with a fat Kalins 5" Lunker Grub on the back end of it.
Overall I'd say it's a quality bait.
July 12, 2023 5:48 am
Yessir, Fred Arbogast was among the first Iconic brands I got into back in the 1980s when I got into bass fishing, and they had an allure to them that was special.
The Arbogast "Hawaii Wiggler" was the bee's knees!-
dragon1 reacted
Topic starter
October 8, 2023 7:44 pm
Reinforcement of this long thin arm on the Picasso 3/4 spinnerbait...great bait with excellent flash and vibration, but the long thin wire bends out way too easy.
Topic starter
October 10, 2023 2:21 pm
I tied a braid reinforcement "harness" behind the lead body and anchored it to the r-bend, and closed the r-bend at the same time. I doubled up on 20lb braid and ran it twice down and up to the r-bend. So that's 4x20 on braid. Now when I set the hook, the r-bend is reinforced and the braid harness helps to pull up on the back of the head of the spinnerbait, and should in theory, take the majority of the load/pressure off the main arm, which should in turn significantly reduce wire deformation under load.
I'll get it on the water to thoroughly test as well and report back.
RISE reacted
Topic starter
October 11, 2023 2:44 pm
@dragon1 much like the natal clip across there that I believe Daiwa used to use on their spinner baits?
Yeppers, with braid instead...very akin to using a proper rope tie support for a weak/overgrown limb on a tree.
BTW, I got about 35 minutes of heavy casting and cranking of this bait this morning and it runs consistently straight with no issues. Now just need to hook up to some good bass!
RISE reacted
