When I was a kid there were times when we headed for the creek with a fishing pole and a bunch of worms and spent the day sitting around a hole waiting for a trout to bite. It was fun and pretty much all we knew in those days. But soon, as we learned more and more about the sport of trout fishing, our approach of catching fish changed.

I was helping a friend of mine one day cleaning up in his grandfather’s barn. His grandfather had a room upstairs in the barn that he used to store lots of things. While putting some stuff in the room, I happened to notice this thing sitting out on a tabletop. My friend explained to me that it was an old spinner that his grandfather liked to use when he was trout fishing. This lure turned out to be a Swiss Swing. It was a basically simple in-line spinner with a gold colored blade, some gold beads along the shank and a treble hook. “Have you ever fished with it?” I asked. “Nope” came the reply and that was that. Several months later while I was fishing at my brother–in-law’s cabin with some of his friends, one of them produced a C.P. Swing. It was very similar to the Swiss Swing in looks so I asked him about it and he explained that he used it from time to time and had some success.

Beyond seeing these spinners I never gave them much thought until one day I was handed a spinning rod as a gift. It was a really nice rod and I decided to try it on my next fishing trip. As it so happened I was telling a friend about my new gift when he said, “That’s a perfect rod for fishing a Worden's Rooster Tail.” Rooster Tails are an established in-line spinner with a colored body and a hair skirt that covered the hook. He went on to tell me that he had great success using these spinners and I should try one. So taking his suggestion I bought a couple and went fishing. 

These spinners are a lot of fun to fish with. They are easy to use, easy to cast and retrieve and when a fish hits it, he hits it hard, making for some exhilarating strikes. They are several varieties of spinner on the market, all having some success, but for me it always filters down to two of them. Both are in-line spinners, meaning they are constructed in a way to have the blade rotate around the main shaft of the spinner rather than having the blade hanging over the top of the hook section. In other words, on an in-line spinner from the eye where you tie your line, it is one straight piece of wire to the hook. The blade, as I mention, spins around the wire when pulled through the water, creating the action. When the blade spins it gives off an audible vibration and a visible flash that in turn attracts the trout to strike.

I started to say that I have narrowed choice of spinner for trout to the Rooster Tail and Joe’s Flies. Whether these two products are the best choice will be up to you to decide of course, but for me they are both great. Each one is a bit different from the other and on some days either can outfish the other. It can make for a lot of fun switching between the two as the day moves along. 

Why Fish a Spinner? 

The nice thing about spinners is they play into a trout’s aggressive behavior. Trout will strike a spinner not because he is just hungry, but because he’s curious too. Many times I’ve had trout follow a spinner and then bite at the tail end just to see what it is. Additionally, I have had trout strike a spinner because, I think, the trout thinks it’s a baitfish moving into his area and he’s biting for no other reason than to chase away the intruder.

How To Fish A Spinner?

There certainly isn’t any wrong way to fish a spinner. I have heard anglers say he does it this way or that, but for me, fishing it with a down stream retrieve has been the most successful way. Certainly I have fished it casting down stream and retrieving it up stream, but by far I catch more fish casting up stream and bring it down stream. It stands to reason actually that most things in the water are moving down and into the fish’s vision. An injured baitfish for example, caught in the current makes for a huge target. A spinner fished down stream may mimic a situation like this. Or maybe it looks like a minnow moving to a new location and the flash from the blade is like a swimming minnow. What it actually looks like to a trout no one really knows, but a trout certainly likes what he sees and strikes it.

Additionally, I try to keep the spinner near bottom on the retrieve. I add a bit of split shot to the line about 10-15 inches above the spinner. This helps the spinner to sink and sort of run interference for it too, by bouncing off rocks and things first that are  ahead of the spinner.

The trick to the down stream retrieve has too parts to it. The first part is when you cast. The instant the spinner touches the water start reeling. When creek fishing you are in moving water and heavy things sink fast, but more importantly to the trout, it looks like a baitfish has broken the surface of the water if the blade starts turning as soon as it hits the water. I have had many a strike within seconds of the spinner hitting the water doing it this way. 

The second part is the retrieve. It takes some practice, but the retrieve needs to have the right speed. The spinner should travel just a little faster than the water is flowing. If the spinner moves too fast through the water, the trout won’t bother with it. One of the ways I judge the speed of the retrieve is by watching the blades rotation. If I can make the blade look as if it is fluttering rather than spinning, bang, fish on. (I want to mention that I wear polarized sunglasses when fishing and they allow me to see through the water by eliminating the glare given off by the water surface. Additionally that helps me see the fish and the spinner. Many times I have watch a trout follow the spinner some distance and by seeing that I can adjust the spinner’s speed to tease the trout just bit to make him strike. I couldn’t do that if I can’t see the fish.)

One other technique that works is casting across the stream and allowing the spinner to flutter on a slow retrieve bringing it back across but also down stream. Trout like to follow it before they hit and usually hit it as the spinner reaches the end of the arc and starts back up stream.

Colors And Blades 

I spent a large amount of time experimenting with many Rooster Tail colors to see if one color can out fish another. I could give good argument to certain ones over others, but by far I found the blade had more to do with catching fish than the color. And interestingly, my biggest secret to share has to do with silver colored blades and gold colored blades. In its simplest form I found that silver blades out fish gold blades on cloudy days and gold blades out fished the silver blades on sunny days. I’ve stuck with that formula and it seems to still hold very true over years of experimenting. 

Earlier I mentioned Joe’s Flies as a good choice in spinners for trout. These spinners are unique in that they have a fly attached to the shank of the spinner, which makes up the hook section. They also have a small treble hook attached to the main hook that sticks out the back. Personally I’m not a fan of treble hooks because I like to release my trout so they can fight another day. I cut the treble hook off to make it easier to release the fish unharmed. I also cut the hooks on Rooster Tails down to just one hook as well. Do I loose some fish doing this? Sure, but sometimes knowing you were able to fool them into striking is good enough. Joe’s Flies use a different type of blade than that of the Rooster Tail. These blades are fashioned more in the Colorado blade style, which gives off a different vibration than does a Rooster Tail spinner. These spinners, Joe’s Flies that is, can be fished a bit slower and still have the blade rotate smoothly.  

Be Prepared To Do Some Walking 

With spinner fishing you will also have the ability to cover a lot of water and more quickly. Casting to every nook and cranny of the stream that you are fishing can be done quickly and very systematically. If a trout wants to hit a spinner he usually does so quickly upon the first presentation of the spinner. Otherwise he’ll pay no attention. Because I like to cast up stream and retrieve down stream, I make long casts far above an area I think maybe holding trout. The trout can’t see me because they are facing up stream and the retrieve brings the spinner into their view as it comes down to them. Once I have made enough casts to satisfy me, I move up stream and start the process again. In a typical day of fishing, walking up to a couple of miles isn’t unusual. Freestone streams generally have pockets where fish will be and then long stretches where fish are not usually available, so this adds to the walk.  

Trout fishing, like any kind of fishing, has its different approaches. If you fish bait or fly rod as your usual way to fish, next time you go out try something different. Spinner fishing is just another tool in the box for an angler to have to his disposal and it’s just plain fun. The other nice thing about spinner fishing, spinners catch trout. But you’ll need to try it to find out!!