By Jonthan LePera
Special to BassFan

Duo Realis USA research and development specialist and DUO international manager David Swendseid has been obsessed with all things fishing since he was a teenager. The Duo Realis SpinBait is the result of his pursuit to achieve perfection.

Most interesting, the SpinBait has morphed from its initial concept into a more versatile bait with greater potential.

Getting it Right

Duo Realis' intensified research and production sought to create a bait that “looked like it was isolated, swimming, or struggling to (swim), by reducing the surface areas of the propellors.”

As more anglers fished and gained mastery over the bait, spybaiting became a finesse-specific technique.

“The guys that started to sample and stick with it, you can see the levels of their mastery,” said Swendseid, an Oregon resident who competes on the APEX Pro Tour. “There is a learning curve to spybaiting. I call it the easiest, most difficult finesse technique out there.”

Initially, the spybait seemed a natural progression from a hair jig or grub for wary smallmouth bass in shallow, clear water. However, each of those has its limitations as the spybait has batted clean-up for those techniques.

“The more you can keep an open mind, the better the opportunity for a graduation to a higher level of the technique,” Swendseid said. “I would catch fish that other people wouldn’t, especially in tournaments, by moving the bait in a continuous fashion and lining that bait in a natural way.”

Swendseid taps into the drawing power of the spybait to sneak into an area to make tactical fan casts where fish will hook up or show themselves.

Next-Level Modifications

Much of the drawing power of a spybait comes from the prop’s ability to grab water and push it along the bodyline.

“You can’t see it with the naked eye, but that turbulence, although invisible, is a broken-up airway of resistance that the other side of the bait isn’t experiencing,” Swendseid said. “That allows the fish to use its sensory network to detect those pressures.”

Swendseid noticed the three- and four-blade configurations that some of his competitors introduced. However, through experimentation, he found that they provided too much lift to the bait and lessened its versatility. In addition, he was conscious of the vibration that the counter-rotating blades could create through their rotation speed.

Even with such a finesse-type bait, when water is so clear that you can read the production year on a dime in 30 feet of water, he’ll reduce the illumination of the silver blade.

“We have blackened chrome, but it still reflects like the scales coming off a fish. If I want to reduce, I blacken a blade with a sharpie since each has four reflective surfaces,” he said.

Anglers wanting a suspending spybait can bend the props outward to create the necessary drag, Swendseid suggests. Tying strands of a feather that’s been trimmed from the spine, just enough to cover the throat of the hook, works also. Synthetic flash material can also be employed.

“Old fly-tyer guys, if they want to add a bit of iridescence, they’ll use a tiny strand of micro-sized flashabou. Fold it in two and cut it in half; it’s enough,” he said. “In slow motion, you can see how much that feather undulates because of the space and freedom you have given that strand.”

Going Down the Rabbit Hole

One size doesn’t fit all with any technique, including spybaiting; each model has its niche.

Swendseid could hang his hat on the 80 G-Fix due to its water displacement and the micro-vibration emitted from the lure. “In research, lower frequencies can produce longer and better, though higher frequencies do work,” Swendseid reasoned.

> Spinbait 60 and 60 Grade A – Weighing approximately 1/6-ounce, the 60-milimeter petite size and profile bode well for pond and canal fishing. Although slightly heavier, the Grade A sports a thin tail feather; this model wasn’t meant for big water.

> Spinbait 62 Alpha – A 62-millimeter sized bait specifically meant to mimic minnows that are still immature into the post-spawn. The bait could target skittish shallow fish by increasing line diameter, yet light line allows it to be fished deeper. Weighing 3/8-ounce, the bait creates more drag because there’s more plastic in the water. Reel the lure too fast and it will blow; 6-pound line on a 2500 series spinning reel works best.

> Spinbait 72 Alpha – Fished on 8-pound line, this half-ounce model can be cast long distances. It can work well when probing riprap, known for washing baits past unsuspecting bass. The 72 Alpha emulates the perch or trout that frequent rock, seawalls or boulder rows. However, the more extensive 80 series could create too much resistance in the water column to descend correctly.

“I cast the 72 beyond my target and once it hits that current seam and starts to push the bait, I could retrieve the bait with a different speed to make it look like it’s swimming through,” Swendseid said.

> Spinbait 80 and 80 G-Fix – Both models are similar in length and weight; each weighted uniquely. The 80 descends horizontally and can be fished higher in the water column. The 80 G-Fix descends head-down, but still shimmies as it dives downward.

> Spinbait 90 – Fairly direct action with some side wobble. A good chuck-and-wind bait for covering water quickly or tracking deeper with long casts.

> Spinbait 100 – A larger profile with a significantly pronounced shimmy. “The rotation and shimmy are exaggerated significantly. As a result, we were able to increase the dynamic action of the lure while increasing size and weight,” said Swendseid.

Unconventional Wisdom?

At an event at Lake Guntersville a few years back, an angler waved Swendsied over, all too eager to share his use of the spybait on a lake rife with weed beds, deep ledges and weed pockets.

The angler admitted to fishing a spybait inches beneath the surface, just above the grass bed.



Photo courtesy of David Swendseid
Photo: Photo courtesy of David Swendseid

David Swendseid displays a quartet of quality smallmouth caught on a spybait.

“He was using 20-pound line tied on the front of the spybait, so the barrel effect of that line worked as a keel and the lure became a surfboard,” Swendsied said. “I used that logic to find the limits of the lure. It was brilliant of him to figure that out; he had it down to a science.”

Swendseid fished a spybait during the tournament, but he neglected to target cuts and channels where weeds dropped into deeper channels, as his fellow competitor did.

Swendseid sees new opportunities for spybaiting on milfoil lakes.

“On those big, expansive pieces of milfoil that run up on a flat or a bank, you’re going to find the places that the sun and the rock have told the milfoil 'no more,''' Swendseid said. “Those places and depressions leading to deeper water access are some of the most effective.”

Swendseid stresses the importance of parking the boat in the milfoil bed and casting at the channel pockets from afar to avoid spooking bass.

When choosing colors, fish the conditions based on light penetration, water clarity and time of day. The goal is to select a spybait that appears as natural as live bait. A reflective finish like river bait, prism gill or Wakasagi excels in lower-light conditions. In slightly colored water, white, smoke, bone hues and chartreuse shad are solid choices. In clear water, translucent colors like ghost minnow and CL dace work well, but BK ayu is top shelf.

Line Really Matters

Swendseid says it’s imperative to fish the best line you can afford when spybaiting.

“Light line allows for that stealth presentation, making the lure look like it's out there by itself. However, if that fish that eats it is big, you want the rod to double over to keep the hook point intact,” Swendseid said.

Some anglers use beefy lines, stronger hooks and stiffer rods to land acrobatic smallmouth and it works, especially around vegetation. However, figure in clear water and smallmouth quickly spot a fake; weary bronzebacks will swim the other way.

The bite could feel like a wet sock, slight tick or a vicious strike. Most challenging, when big fish hit the spybait and charge toward the boat, Swendseid advises to keep reeling. Once the fish realizes it’s hooked, it will turn to defend and that’s when the 4 to 8 feet of slack can be used to bury the hook point into the roof of its mouth. A medium-light action rod absorbs the power, keeping it pinned.

Gear

For the 62 Alpha or 60 Grade, use an ultra- to medium-light spinning rod with 4- to 6-pound fluorocarbon spooled on a 2000 or 2500 series reel.

When fishing deeper or making long casts with an Alpha 62, i-class 80, 80 G-Fix or 90, employ a 7- to 7 1/2-foot medium-light spinning rod, a 2500 or 3000 series spinning reel spooled with 5- or 6-pound line.

The larger baits can be thrown on a light-action crankbait rod, preferably fiberglass. A smaller-spooled casting reel spooled with 8-pound fluorocarbon line makes digital or magnetic control essential.