The magic of spinning petals. Catching on spinners

A variety of wobblers and jigs have recently thoroughly ousted from the boxes of spinning players old-good, eternal “iron”. But blades do not give up, because they still have their own vast niche in spinning. And in this article I would like to draw the attention of spinning to the most popular part of metal baits – spinning blades. Despite the general unpretentiousness of their designs, these lures have served anglers for many decades, becoming in fact a real classic of spinning lures. Over these many years, a whole system has developed among spinning anglers, leading to a certain ordering of these blades by their type, helping us to understand in conversation and in print, what kind of blades we are talking about.

Design of blades

It so happens that as a standard of rotating blades often act as a rotating blades of the old French company Mepps. It is the terminology of its catalogs was the most convenient in the division of rotating blades by number and by the shape of their petals, where Aglia rotates at an angle of about 60 degrees, slimmer Comet – at an angle of about 45 degrees, and narrow petals Long and at all about 30 degrees. And even when choosing reels among the blades of other companies, we often focus on this French scale Mepps, just for their own convenience. Similar forms of blades are plenty of Spanish Lukris, German DAM and Balzer and a number of other manufacturers of blades.

As a benchmark of rotating blades often act as a rotating blades of the old French company Mepps

But the world is full of other spinners, whose blades have completely different proportions and therefore do not quite fit into the usual system from Mepps. For example, American wide blades Colorado or original forms of blades of Swedish Myran and Abu Garcia reels, as well as blades front-loaded reels Lusox from the same French Mepps and Finnish Blue Fox.

But the world is full of other reels, whose petals have completely different proportions

In addition, there are still rotating blades of the class “inline”, with its own special design and petals of a special shape, working without the help of shackles. Again, you can find such blades from the same Mepps and very budget options among the Panter Martin models.

You can find such trollers at the same Mepps

Core construction

After considering the petals, it is worth taking a closer look at the device of the core of different rotating blades. This part is not only the basis for loading the trollers. Let’s say that in a typical spinner, of which the majority, the core is usually located behind the shackle (collar) rotation of the petal. The shape of such cores is most often close to bullet-shaped or cylindrical, but sometimes can be made in the shape of a fish, as in Smith Niakis, Stinger Totem Min or Blue Fox Minnow Super Vibrax.

This part is not only the basis of the loading of the troller

The cores of spinnerbaits created for fishing in strong currents can be larger in size compared to similar standard version, like the Mepps Hard Long, which is based on the standard Mepps Long. On top of all this, trollers with such reinforced cores become more long-range, in addition to fast salmon rivers they can be useful on large deep waters.

Spinning blades with front loading are most often devoid of a core. The main mass of this type of spinners is concentrated in the weight, which is located in front of the entire design of the troller. Such blades are good to catch the bottom areas of the reservoir, using a step-by-step wiring. For example, the same front-loaded Mepps Lusox has its cleverly bent wide petal rotates at an angle of only 20-25 degrees, which does not create strong resistance to the conduct, despite the impressive size of the petal, while making the bling very noticeable in the water. And what else is interesting about front-loaded spinners – they are often equipped with detachable cargo-heads, without which the bling becomes a completely different bait, which can perfectly catch in the upper layers of water, literally above the carpet of grass, successfully competing with various kinds of poppers, wolfers and silicone frog.

And also front-loaded spinners practically do not twist the fishing line when wiring. The solution to this problem for other types of rotating blades everywhere is different. Manufacturers design not all spinners so as to avoid twisting the fishing line, but some of the trollers have different devices that can resist such troubles. This is either a core in the form of a fish with a center of gravity shifted to its “belly”, or a similar solution, but in the form of a core of several balls, where one of them is tungsten and larger than the rest, and the center of gravity in it is also shifted, as on the Caviar spinners from Savage Gear.

Some of the blades have different devices that can resist kinking

All this is good, but the best hydrodynamics for a spinning troller can be achieved if you create a core that does not have different uneven protrusions on its body, this will avoid failures in the operation of the petal vertushka. Our compatriots from Krasnoyarsk have managed to create blades with such a core. In their Water Beetle spinners, the cores inside are half hollow, which, while maintaining the external flat forms, allows the trollers to successfully resist the twisting of the fishing line.

In Water Beetle the cores are half hollow inside, which allows the trollers to successfully resist the twisting of the line

On the American Osprey Notangle Spinner by Eppinger the problem of twisting is solved simply and uncomplicatedly, by bending the axial wire at an angle of about 45 degrees.

The problem of twisting is solved simply and uncomplicatedly by bending the center wire at an angle of about 45 degrees

In the end, any spinning troller that twists the line can be controlled by installing a swivel or even a special tandem of swivels like Owner 52454 or Owner 52459.

Equipping the hooks

Now let’s talk a little about the equipment of hooks for spinning trollers. Strange as it may seem, but the effectiveness of various kinds of decorations on the hooks is often justified. It’s no secret that salmon and grayling very favorably relate to various compact flies, tied on the forend of trebles or single hooks, which clearly migrated to spinning from fly fishing. But for pike sometimes it is interesting to simply increase the total volume of the bait, and at the expense of any plumage of the tee including. It is not always necessarily can be tied on the hook voluminous fly (bacteil), you can equip the hook with a twister or even an “eye” (drop), as on a winter balancer, which in addition to toothy and perch additionally attracts well, like the tees Stinger ST-36.

For pike sometimes interesting simple increase in the total volume of the bait

Why some catch better and others worse

The main question is why very similar blades catch differently, some better, others worse? After all, we often see how two similar-looking reels from different manufacturers bring completely different results on fishing. Through a little expertise can be found answers. To do this, it is necessary to compare blades on several parameters – the materials of their petals, the correctness of the forms of bending and metal thickness, the thickness of the axial wire and the size and shape of the shackles on which rotate the petals of baits. “Correct” rotating troller is usually equipped with a petal of copper alloy (more often brass), it is easy to check with a magnet, even in the store.

The “right” spinning troll is usually fitted with a copper alloy petal

The moderately thin petal of a good troller is neatly and evenly stamped, the axial stainless steel wire is quite rigid, elastic, the shackles are even, without warps and nicks. Structurally, shackles are different, especially successful those made of flattened washers, they are least susceptible to sticking different algae during wiring. Too thick metal petal will slow down the inclusion of the petal in the work and with it the troller will be more often knocked down on the move. Excessively thin petals on the contrary will be easy to wind up, but also to damage will be prone to more often, eventually putting the troller out of action. If you are looking for a kind of golden mean, then again for the benchmark is quite suitable Mepps spinners, both in terms of metal quality and thickness of petals, and in terms of shackles and axial wire.

Actually, rotating blades – it is undoubtedly very interesting lures, catching and very durable. If you choose them wisely, relying on common sense and the good name of the manufacturer, they will always occupy one of the most honorable places in your arsenal, not yielding to any of the most modern wobblers.

Author: Bob Nudd is an expert fisherman with over 20 years experience and winner of many competitions.