Make Your Own Fishing Lures - Spinners
courtesy of www.make-your-own-fishing-lures.com

Somewhat similar to fishing spoons are the fishing spinners which revolve on a wire shaft or a swivel. They are also very effective fishing lures for many freshwater and saltwater fish and an angler should always carry a good assortment of these lures.

They are easy to make and very inexpensive when made at home. Here again, it doesn't pay to make the spinner blades themselves. The time and effort spent in cutting them out isn't worth it because you can buy all the spinner blades you want from many of the mail-order supply houses.

They have them in stock in various shapes, sizes, and finishes and also carry other parts needed such as wire, swivels, beads, clevises, body forms and weights, and split rings.

You can buy the spinner blades by the dozen, gross, or thousand lots. Some of the blades cost about one cent apiece in the larger quantities. These are already stamped, shaped, and plated.

You couldn't possibly make them for much less by cutting out the blades from sheet metal and then plating them. By buying the finished blades and the other parts all you have to do is assemble the fishing spinners.

Spinner blades come in various shapes such as the Indiana, Colorado, Willow Leaf, June Bug, Kidney, and Propeller types. (See illustration below).

They usually run in size from No. 00 to No. 7 and up. The lower the number, the smaller the blade. Numbers 00, 0, and 1 are small sizes suitable for trout and panfish, while the larger sizes are best for bass, pike, lake trout, and saltwater fish.

You can get the spinner blades in various finishes such as gold, nickel, brass, and copper. Some are also made with hammered finishes. Still other blades are made from pearl or mussel shell.

To make completed fishing spinners you also need spring steel or stainless steel wire for shafts. The spring steel wire is usually coated with tin and is quite suitable for freshwater spinners. The stainless steel wire is better for saltwater spinners.

This wire is supplied in various diameters from .018 to .035, the thin gauges being used for small spinners and the heavier gauges for the larger freshwater spinners and all saltwater types.

You also need beads, which are used on the wire shafts to act as bearings. These beads are made from different materials and come in various sizes.

The light beads, made from pearl, glass, plastic, or hollow metal, are used for most fishing spinners where no extra weight is required. The solid brass beads are used for spinners which will be cast.

Fishing spinners also require clevises, which hold the blade so that it can revolve freely around the wire shaft. There are two types, as shown below. They usually come in two or three different sizes for small and large spinners.

Split rings are also needed in various sizes when making spinners. Barrel swivels such as those shown above are also required in different sizes.

Some of these split rings and swivels can be bought in fishing tackle stores, but you can save money if you buy them in larger quantities such as gross lots from a mail-order house.

Most spinners are used for fish trolling , but they can also be used for fish casting if you add a small clincher sinker or other weight to the leader. You can also get some sheet lead and cut out a small rudder which is then folded over the wire shaft of the spinner in front of the blade. (See illustration below)

To keep it from sliding down the shaft, make more turns than usual when forming the eye of the spinner. Then crimp the lead rudder on these turns with pliers.

In addition to serving as a casting weight, the lead rudder also acts as a keel and prevents the spinner from twisting the line. You can paint this lead weight in any color you want and even add an eye on each side.

You can also make special casting or trolling weights which are detachable and can be added to the spinner at the front. See my website on making sinkers for details on how such weights can be made.

Another way to make fishing spinners is to use nylon leader material instead of wire to serve as a shaft. You can buy the nylon material in coils of various diameters and strengths.

Cut off a length, tie a loop for an eye up front, slip on the beads, plus a clevis with a blade, and then tie

either a single hook or treble hook on the tail end.

The larger glass or plastic beads are best for this because they have bigger holes through which the nylon leader material can be threaded. If you want the spinner blade to revolve well above the hook, tie knots on the leader to act as stops against which the beads will rest.

The above illustration shows different types of fishing spinners you can make, using the nylon leader material. You can easily work out many of your own combinations.

The saltwater fishing spinners are very similar to the freshwater types. In fact, you can use many of the freshwater spinners for saltwater fishing if you use heavier wire shafts, bigger blades, and stronger hooks.

The fishing spinners described here do not cover every type made. But they are the basic types from which you can go on and make endless combinations of your own.

For more information on making lures, please visit www.Make-Your-Own-Fishing-Lures.com

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