(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
In 1996, Mike McClelland quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with when he won consecutive Bassmaster Central Invitationals. Other than the man in the winner’s circle, the thing that the two victories shared in common was that in both cases 100 percent of the fish that he weighed in came on a War Eagle spinnerbait.
Over two decades later, there’s still not a day that McClelland backs his boat into the water and doesn’t have any spinnerbaits on board. That’s not the case for many other anglers, who’ve found swimjigs and swimbaits to be suitable replacements for the old faithful spinnerbait, but the Arkansas pro said that’s a mistake.
“Fish haven’t quit eating spinnerbaits,” he said. “We’ve stopped throwing them.”
In order to have success with spinnerbaits, he said that it’s critical to understand how different blade combinations affect vibration and flash. He doesn’t have any brand other than War Eagle on his boat 21 years after he jumpstarted his career with them, but today he has a wide variety of them ready to go.
With either spinnerbaits or their close cousin, the buzzbait, McClelland primarily uses three different Falcon Cara rods. He likes the 7’4” medium-heavy “jig” rod for larger versions of each – 3/4- and 1 ounce spinnerbaits and 1/2-ounce buzzbaits. For mid-size lures, he uses his Signature Series Cara in the 7’2” length, and for the smallest versions he uses a 6’8” model.
While the rods may be the same, he varies his reels and line for the different lures. With a spinnerbait, he typically uses a Cabela’s Arachnid in the 6:1 gear ratio, although he’ll sometimes drop down to 5:1 early in the year when a slow retrieve is critical. He spools it up with 16- to 20-poiund test Sunline Reaction fluorocarbon. “You want to allow him to eat it well,” he explained, so when he gets a bite he just speeds up his reeling and then leans into the fish. With a buzzbait, he likes the 8:1 Arachnid because it allows him to bring the lure in faster once it’s past key targets. He typically spools it with 30- to 50-pound Sunline FX2 braid.
No matter what season he’s fishing, the key with a spinnerbait is to stop, snap and twitch it, “anything you can do to make the blades flash or do something different.” In the spring, the key is to match the hatch closely. With a buzzbait, his springtime tip is to “put that bait up there between the bank and their beds.”
In the post-spawn, he’ll start in the creeks and this is a time of year when he utilizes a waking spinnerbait. It’s also when he’ll fish at night with a single black Colorado blade. This is prime buzzbait time, too, and he’ll often use a Horny Toad instead of a skirt, which makes it easier to skip under boat docks and overhanging limbs.
In the fall, both a spinnerbait and a buzzbait are “big deals,” McClelland advised. In fact, as bass from coast-to-coast become more used to the ultra-popular Whopper Plopper, he expects to see buzzbaits make a resurgence. At this time of year, his number one spinnerbait choice is typically a dual willow-leaf.
If you want to learn some of the other keys to McClelland’s spinnerbait and buzzbait strategies, including the reason he rarely uses a trailer hook with a spinnerbait, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
