question about crankbaits and spinners

[Chrome__Fisher]

hey steve in the 8/19 report you stated that your party had used some crankbaits and spinners on your outings. would you be able to point out what size and make of spinners/cranks you would suggest? i have never fished with those before, well not for salmon, and am curious to what salmon might hit. :confused: till next time

[Thunderstud]

Hi Chrome. I can tell you we started using Storm Deep Thundersticks Jr.'s two years ago and we don't use much else. We always have a good catch and the fish really hit them. We are using the fire tiger and perch colors. It seems that the orange bottom and green body is the constant that they hit most. We also use some hot n tots, but I have not used anything else. I did ask about spinners too..so hopefully we will have someone answer on that. I would love to go up with a new bait and take my partners money this year !! I love the thought of it.

[speyday]

number 1 choice: gold or brass number 6....no tail.....just blade, body, and hook (sometimes with green or red tubing)

number 2 choice: black; and various flo. colors taped on the underside of the blade.

sometimes a number 5 if the holes, runs or pockets youre fishing are smaller or shallower; but a 6 (some of my friends even go up to number 7) is a good all arounder.

Fish em low and as slow as possible to keep the blade a-thumpin. If you have access to homemade spinners (i make my own) I like to offset a single siwash hook with some pliers and use that. Less snag prone, and easier to remove from the fish's mouth. Many of the steelhead Ive caught have horrible mangling when they chomp down and get hooked on all 3 hooks of a treble.

www.mortac.com is a great site to buy components.

There's nothing like getting a fish that you know actually crushed your offering. Spinners are a "no doubt" fish catcher. As with most salmon fishing; the darker or lower the light, the better.

speyday

[Steve@BBT]

Hey Thunderstud & Chrome Fisher, Sorry I didn't get back to you guys on the other thread right away... As to the Little Man question Chrome, I really don't fish it much myself, so, like me, you'll just have to get out the map and start exploring!

Speyday did a good job of answering the question, but for what it's worth, here's what I use.

Spinner Bill's spinners (Can be purchased @ BBT!) in sizes 5 & 6 leaning more to the 6. I like green and chartreuse bodies with a little tape on the blade the best, silver or gold blade depending on the time of day/water condition. Pink, blue and red all have their moments as well.

On the crank baits I like the Thunderstick JR deep diving the best also and find that Thunderstud is correct about the green with orange underside models being the most productive, but have also done well on metallic greens, blues and reds.

Other productive crank baits are the regular sized thundersticks in both deep diving and regular, a few hot-n-tots, the Barramundi Mauler (sp?) and Dave's nitro shiner, knock offs of the thundersticks that are a little cheaper.

Steve

[Chrome__Fisher]

just want to thank you all for the info. i still have lots of questions about understanding salmon and steelhead, but only so much time. thanks again

[Thunderstud]

Hey chrome, thought I would share my vast knowledge of the salmon stuff with you. Four years ago my friend talked me into going to Ludington and trying the salmon fishing. I was an avid hunter (still am), but fished casually through the year. That first year we did not get a bite and that was 14 hour days in the boat and I had a bad back all week. In short, I was miserable and completely turned off!! The next year I politley told the guys I would try again, only because I felt like I had been beaten. I told them I was going to buy some of the Thundersticks I had seen on the guide boats as they went past us. I did and low and behold I caught the first fish of the week. We still fished exclusively from the boat and it was murder. Especially, when holes fill up with fisherman and you can't leave the hole you are sitting in or you will lose it! Well, even though it was chilly that year, I started wading in my shorts and tennis shoes and fishing that way. At least I was out of the boat and again...seemed like all the guides that came past us had waders on!
Last year...bought waders, more thundersticks and we had the run of the river..barely fished from the boat at all and caught fish all day every day. It was fantastic! So, I have gone from being completely miserable to loving this trip and reading this site frequently from about July on in anticipation. Hopefully, this will help you skip about 3 years of futility and frustration and allow you to get right to the fun stuff...catching big fish! I haven't met Steve or even been into the shop before, but I will be making my way up there this year and buying a few of the spinners he described.
Good luck to you this year and if you find anything else that works better please share it. I love taking baits up there that my partners don't know about...it burns them up !!