Designing your spinner rigs

[musicman]

Hi all,

I have started a blog series on the evaluation and selection of various components of spinner rigs. Would be interested in your feedback and insights as many of you on here make your own.

https://paintedbackrigs.com/spinner-rig-design-pt-1/

[clawman]

Great web site!

[buckaroo]

That’s a whole lotta information there! I started making my own back when I first started walleye fishing in ‘88. Saw an In-Fisherman segment with Marc Dorn and Dan Sura fishing Mille Lacs with them and remember thinking it looked so fun and easy. Can’t remember where I got the beads, but I made my own blades out of some “cowbells” I’d found washed up at my local trout lake. Some time snips to get them to the right size and shape, some mono, a couple of bait hooks I had in my tackle box, and a couple of clevises from old inline spinners I had laying around, and I was catching walleye out of my inflatable Fish Eagle raft rigged with a Minn Kota for power. Simple but effective and loads of fun! Been making them ever since with a variety of different components. Now that I actually have time to fish for walleye more (early retirement is SA-WEEEET), I’ll be messing around with them more.
Thanks for posting such detailed insight!

[musicman]

Thank you clawman and buckaroo. I'll let you know when Part 2 is up.

[bbheli]

Originally Posted by musicman

Hi all,

I have started a blog series on the evaluation and selection of various components of spinner rigs. Would be interested in your feedback and insights as many of you on here make your own.

https://paintedbackrigs.com/spinner-rig-design-pt-1/

Thanks, just started making my own.

Lots of information there. I used to tie my own but I gave up on that. Plenty of companies do a great job.

[musicman]

just added these to the site

[buckaroo]

Cool colors. I’ve never added a bead above the clevis and I read that it can hinder rotation of the blade. Have you experienced any specific advantages or drawbacks?

[musicman]

Great question, Buckaroo. When I first began making them in large numbers, I researched everything. I spent some time on this topic. I read all the posts on here, watched all the YouTube videos and read Joe Fellegy's book. (Mille Lacs: Thirty Years On The Big Lake). When I did see something on this topic, it was always to recommend the bead in front of the clevis. There were two reasons given: 1. was that it helped the clevis spin free as it kept the clevis from getting gunked up from junk or algae in the water and 2. the lead bead served as an "eye" bead.

In my early days I did have a few folded clevises poke one end into the bead below the clevis -- always if the bead was a craft bead of larger size like 8 mm because it had a larger diameter hole. A quick look at pictures of other rigs on the internet showed most were resolving that issue by adding a small 4 mm bead on each side of each clevis. I first saw this on pictures of tandem rigs used on Lake Erie.

Now, on all my rigs, you will see a 4mm bead on each side of each clevis to keep it free from the larger bead holes and supposedly, spin better. You will also see one extra "eye" bead up front of that for "cleaning the line" and "acting as an eye. Sometimes, that up front bead is an actual "eyeball bead".

I have not done any scientific research to support any of this. I just saw enough references and examples of doing it to copy it. I believe there is no right answer on this topic, just what makes you fish with confidence. But, I could be wrong. I have made thousands of rigs and so far, have received no complaints from any of my customers.

[musicman]

Part two covering the rest of the construction of spinner rigs / crawler harnesses is now published and available for you review and feedback. Just not enough space to cover every possible design consideration.

https://paintedbackrigs.com/spinner-...ions-part-two/

https://paintedbackrigs.com/spinner-...ions-part-two/