(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.)
When John Crews first learned about the Japanese technique called spybaiting, he laughed. “I thought it was a joke at first,” he said, referring to the sinking finesse hard baits with propellers at the ends. “They’re crazy-looking in my opinion.”
Gradually, however, he began to come around. Now he’s so reliant on spybaits (aka, “spin baits”) that he designed one for SPRO. He no longer thinks they’re a joke, and he recognizes that it’s their unique action that makes them so effective.
“The props are not what makes a spybait so good,” he said. Instead, it’s the balance system that causes the lure to rock as you retrieve it. “They have an action unlike any other bait.” While you might initially think they’re interchangeable with suspending jerkbaits, he believes that jerkbaits need a bit of “help” in the form of wind or clouds to be effective, while spybaits can still excel when it’s sunny and slick.
The DUO Realis version was the first one that Crews settled upon, but eventually he saw the need for some changes to the design to fit his fishing style, and that led to the SPRO Spin John 80. It sinks slowly and rocks horizontally while sinking. Some of the changes he implemented included the following: swivels on the front and back to get the trebles away from the blades to keep fish hooked; matching blades and feathered trebles; and an extra “chin” on the front to create an improved action.
Crews said that it’s an exceptional lure year-round, but it is particularly good in the summer and fall. “Clear water is definitely better than stained water,” he explained, although it can produce under the latter conditions. He especially likes it on deeper flats like those found at Lake St. Clair, but it’s also exceptional for bass that are relating to brush piles but are not in them.
It’s important to use light line to maximize action. “Six-pound is almost heavy for a spybait,” he said, adding that many Japanese anglers use 4 or 5, but he can’t go that low. He likes a leader of Sunline FC fluorocarbon attached to ultra-limp Sunline PE8 12-pound braid. He’s in favor of a long leader no matter what technique he’s using, but said that it’s especially important in this context because it provides a little bit of stretch and keeps the lure down.
Initially Crews tried a medium-light “noodle” of a rod, but found that he couldn’t control many fish with it. He then moved to a 7’3” medium, and eventually to a 7’6” medium from Cashion, which he said provides the proper leverage to turn a bulldogging smallmouth. He’s also a stickler about hooks. He noted that light wire trebles tend to get dulled frequently, and he always replaces them with Gamakatsu G Finesse TGW hooks.
These lures pendulum on the retrieve, but don’t let up your guard throughout the cast. “You’ll get a surprising number of strikes when that bait starts to turn and come up,” he explained. The key is often to retrieve it as slowly as you can.
If you want to learn some of the other aspects of the Missile Baits owner’s spybaiting system, including how he picks colors for particular conditions and species of bass, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
