Surface Lures and Spinnerbaits For Bass

[Hoomooloo73]

G'Day to all, I'm only new to this site and have found alot of useful info on it, as I'm only new to the freshwater scene I would like to know peoples ideas on what are some good surface lures and spinnerbaits for Bass and techniques to use them, I've never tried surface lures or S/B's before and am keen to give it a go. I fish in the dams of SEQ I haven't been to many but am slowly getting round to them. Thanks in advance for any info. Cheers Matt

[el_carpo]

Hoomooloo73,

Surface lures (by type)--

1. Poppers: Cast, let it sit. Then give it a twitch of your rod tip to make it "pop." Wait until the water rings fade out and give it another twitch. These are slow retrieve surface lures that imitate a dying fish. Best used early or late when fish strike the surface most.

2. Jitterbug: Look like popper with a metal blade across its front. Same retrieve as a popper but with a longer twitch of rod tip (more of a short pull). It waddles side to side spitting water.

3. Surface minnow crankbait: Fat bodied or thin in form. You swim them just under the surface. I like to either use a slow, steady retrieve with a few twitches tossed in or a stop and go retrieve where I swim it for 10 feet and let it rise to the surface and repeat. Very good lure to use when you see minnows being chased and smashed at the surface by a hunting bass.

4. Jerk baits: Look similar to surface minnows. You jerk them in with a slow or fast retrieve. You want to make it look like a dying fish struggling to swim.

5. Walking bait. Look like cigars. You retrieve them by reeling slowly while rhythmically twitching your rod tip. You want to make it dart at the surface in a side to side manner. It looks like a snake. It takes a little practice to get it right but it's not too difficult and they work quite well. Google "Zara Spook" to see them.

6. Buzz bait: Look just like a spinnerbait but have a propeller blade. You use a quick retrieve with these. You want to "buzz" the surface so the blade spits water as you reel in.

7. Surface spoons: Spoons with a large, fixed single hook and a skirt. They don't look weedless but they are. Cast past a weed clump and slowly crawl it back over thick glops of surface weeds. If there are any open patches in the weed clump, let the spoon fall into it for a few inches. They usually hit it then. These lures are meant to imitate frogs or large insects scurrying over weeds.

8. Weedless plastic frogs: My favorite lure for heavy surface weeds. I cast them into the midst of the sloppiest of surface weed beds. Slowly crawl them back to you. I'm not sure how aussie bass will like them but our largemouth bass kill them.


Spinnerbaits (by type)--

1. Single blade: These have one blade. The shape of the blade varies. The main styles are willow blades, round blades and colorado blades. The willow blades are long and thin giving lots of flash and vibrations, the round blades are short and round and spin faster, and the colorado blades are somewhere in between. They have a longer blade length than the round but not as long as the willow and they are round at the tip instead of pointy like the willow. I use willow blades in murkier water because they give more flash and I can retieve them more slowly. I also like them when I'm targeting larger fish. When I want a faster retrieve in clearer water, I go with one of the other two. The round blades can also be used to buzz the surface. You reel in quickly just under the surface so the surface is disturbed. That sometimes triggers a strike. Another good technique is to "helicopter" your spinnerbait. You suddenly stop reeling and let your spinnerbait fall. The blade spins and your bait drops slowly and vertically. I love doing this when I run it over a sunken weed bed. Cast past the weed bed and reel your bait over it. When you get just past the weed bed, let your bait drop along its edge. Bass often hit spinnerbaits on the fall.

2. Tandem blade: Same as the single blades but have a second blade affixed to the spinnerbait arm. More flash and more vibrations and a slower fall when "helicoptering."


I didn't want to give company names because I'm not Australian and am not familiar with your local companies and brands. These guys can help you out there. I just gave lure types. If my desciptions are too vague, try doing a Google image search and they should show you what I meant.

I hope I helped. Good luck and catch a bunch!

E.C.

[Leigh77]

With the spinnerbaits have a look at either ausspin or bassman...they are both aussie made and produce great results. As for colours, I tend to stay with natural looking colours. Ausspin have a great 'baitfish' series, which has some great colours in them.

As for the blade configuration...willow blades will help the lure stay deeper in the water during retrieve. Whereas colorado blades are good for shallow work, though if you let it sink it will stay down.

Moving onto surface lures presents us with many options. Although my 2 favourite surface lures for Bass would be the Jointed Jitterbug and the Sammy 65.

The Jitterbug is slowly retrieved (with occasional pauses) making it wobble across the surface...this produces a real hypnotic sound that the Bass seem to love.

The Sammy is a 'walk the dog' type lure, but can also be fished in other ways. I have about 4 techniques when using this lure, and they all produce results. The zara spook puppy is another version of this lure, which also lives in my tackle box.

If the Bass are really on the job with surface lures, then a buzzbait is definately an exciting way to fish. It looks like a spinerbait, but has a propellor at the top and chops through the water. You can retrieve these at multiple speeds and the strikes can be very spectacular.

[Hoomooloo73]

El Carpo and Leigh77, thanks for the info, should give me a head start. I'll be on the water again sometime within the next few weeks to give them a try. Thanks again. Matt

[bdowdy]

fished cressbrook dam the other week and only used surface lures, pencil poppers were the best but did get acouple on crawlers, i think all surface fishing is great doesnt mater what lure is used.cheers bdowdy

[Nic]

We've caught stacks of bass on Heddon Tiny Torpedo fizzers and Sammy Stickbaits... I highly recommend those two.

[cabfisher]

Hi Try looking at Freash water reports I went to Borumba Dam Last week only fished one day. as it was a long weekend and crowded but there is a pic of my one and only Aust Bass I got on the luer in the pic also good luck and let me know how you go Cheers Harry;D

[fishytales]

Hi Try looking at Freash water reports I went to Borumba Dam Last week only fished one day. as it was a long weekend and crowded but there is a pic of my one and only Aust Bass I got on the luer in the pic also good luck and let me know how you go Cheers Harry;D


That bass looks undersize, what did it measure?

Chris

[Hoomooloo73]

Thanks for the added info bdowdy, nic and harry. I'm planning a trip in the first week of june, going to do Cressbrook and Boondooma, I'll be doing a bit of lure shopping before I go I think to try out all this new info, once again thanks for your input it is much appreciated. Cheers matt

[Fitzy]

G'Day Matt,

This might help http://www.sweetwaterfishing.com.au/SurfaceLuringBass.htm

Cheers,

fitzy..

[Stumpy-USA]

Something else you might want to try.

Try using a Zoom Super Fluke or Powerbait Jerk Shad. Rig it weightless on a 4/0 hook weedless. Toss it out let it sink almost out of sight then work it back with sharp twitches letting it sink back to your original depth between each twitch. This imitates a dying baitfish very well and can get you some explosive strikes at times.

You can fish it around any type of cover or open water points. I usually use pearl white, its a great imitator of almost any kind of baitfish. But, I really think its the action that causes most strikes. A dart here or there and then a slow fluttering fall. If the fish are around they'll let you know in a big way.

If you have the patience you can even fish them in very deep water, it just takes them a long time to sink.

It works wonders on bass over here, should work for you too !!

[bass king]

G'Day to all, I'm only new to this site and have found alot of useful info on it, as I'm only new to the freshwater scene I would like to know peoples ideas on what are some good surface lures and spinnerbaits for Bass and techniques to use them, I've never tried surface lures or S/B's before and am keen to give it a go. I fish in the dams of SEQ I haven't been to many but am slowly getting round to them. Thanks in advance for any info. Cheers Matt

hey im also new to this site but i no some great techniques on how to use and work poppers. you cast the popper out then give it a couple of flicks then pause for a moment and repeat. I have produced some great bass using this teacnique.:)