Putting On Your Own Spin by Steve Chaconas, BoatUS Pro Staff and Ask the Experts contributor

So, you tie on your last spinnerbait that has been catching fish for years. You snag a log and you lose it. But, you can’t find that blade and size combination anywhere. Either the company is out of business or they have discontinued that particular lure. Why not make your own?

Building a spinnerbait is as simple as assembly or can be as detailed as bending the wire and molding the lead head all the way through detailed air brushed paint jobs.

For now, take a look at simple assembly. The first step is an inventory activity. You will need only one tool, round bend pliers. While you can use needle nose piers, the round bends will make a better curve to prevent the rear blade swivel from hanging up. Also, you might want to have split ring pliers to make it easier to attach blades to the split ring on the swivel.

Start your parts list by first getting the right shapes colors and sizes. Take one of your favorite spinnerbaits and print out the free chart from Jann’s Netcraft. http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content/Parts_Sizing.htm. Lay the blades, swivel, beads, spacers and clevis on the chart and take note of the sizes. Match the size and the color of the blades.

For the spinnerbait heads, you have a choice of sizes and finished or unfinished heads. Unfinished heads can either be powder coated, a very durable chip proof finish, or they can be airbrushed or even hand painted with vinyl jig paint. In either case, it’s pretty easy to get very close to the original.

After choosing heads, it’s time to accessorize. Stick-on eyes and skirts in a variety of materials and colors can be added to match or modify the original.

Assembly is very easy. For our bait, start with a bead, then slide the clevis into the first nickel blade and then onto the wire. Add another bead, then the spacer. Put the back gold blade on the swivel. At this point take the round bend pliers and roll the end of the wire downward toward the hook. Just before you close it, put the swivel into the loop, then close it. Add the skirt and you have your copy, as good as new and about half the price of buying one.

At this point, if you wanted to make large quantities, you can bring the cost down even more! A lot of bass clubs buy in bulk and assemble their own. Some even sell them to raise money for their charitable events. In any case, these cost savings will allow anglers to be more aggressive with their casts into very heavy cover.

Now it’s time to experiment with different colors blade sizes and shapes. To get started Jann’s Netcraft has a kit to “play around with” to build 10 spinnerbaits. It comes with instructions and materials for experimentation. (Catalog # 325900)

For this spinnerbait, get these supplies from JannsNetcraft.com: Colorado Blades #1 Smooth Nickel, Mag Willow #4 Gold, Ball Bearing Swivel w/ring Size 2, Wire Clevis Nickel Size 3, Turboflare Skirts, Premium Spinnerbait head ¼ oz, Molded Eyes 5/32”, Powder Paint, Round Bend Pliers

Article Reprinted With Permission: Boat Owners Association of the United States