"Made for FISH"
The Spinnerbait gets an upgrade

 

While the safety pin spinner bait has been in use for over 30 years it has had the same basic design since the first one came out. Punisher Lures has found a way to improve the spinner bait.

 

Old spinner baits were made with small gauge wire so that you could feel the bait in the water. Feel the spinner catch and start to spin. This was fine except that it meant sacrificing action of the skirt and the bait under the water. The more rigid the wire used, (Or heavier the gauge) the more action imparted to the arm of the bait and thus the skirt.

 

Reel that sucker fast enough to make the water bulge around the Colorado or Willow Leaf blades and more times than not it would roll over and over twisting and kinking the line.  Add in cheap swivels because they had “nothing” at all to do with the “action” and you have a bait that catches fish, rife with problems, but which can be improved.

 

Enter the Punisher Lure company. Stephen Headrick, owner of the company redesigned his new spinner bait from the “Water” up. He started by creating a thin minnow shaped head with red eyes, that acts as a keel preventing the bait from “rolling” over and over in the water. I tested the bait using a Bait Casting reel and reeling as fast as I could and then to add more speed I pulled the rod along the boat as I reeled in. I TRIED to make the spinner bait roll and could not. Stephen also added a  heavier gauge wire so that the lure does not absorb any of the shocks and bumps it gets in the water, this transmits those bumps to the arm of the bait and thus to the skirt making it pulse twice as much as an old time spinner bait would. Include a high quality Sampo Ball Bearing and Abbra Kadabbara  you have a “New” and improved spinner bait.

 

I took several of the baits to Barren River for a trial run. It was a lousy day for fishing so we tested spinner baits. Jesse Duncan was my partner for the day. Jesse has helped to design several baits and has been fishing for over 60 years. Jesse Duncan is not easily impressed and LOVES to fish a spinner bait. Once Jesse started to use the bait he started to notice the things I mentioned above, about the performance. Jesse was hooked. He wants more of these baits. We both added twister tail trailers of Gulp and the baits just seemed to come to life as we reeled them in. These changes are not the only thing that  Stephen changed. Up till lately you could buy almost any soft bait in a watermelon   color, but you could not find  a  spinner   bait with a watermelon skirt. This was one of the first things Stephen did.

 

 He then ads   anywhere from 5 to 8 strands or red plastic  to each bait no matter what the color of the rest of the skirt. Some baits come with a single Colorado or Willow leaf blade, while others come with double blades  and one line of the baits comes with one regular colored blade and a red blade.

 

The baits caused a stir on Dale Hollow. Good fish up to 6 and 7 pounds have already been caught using the new baits in the last 6 to 8 months. Well a spinner bait is a spinner bait right? No, these baits are out producing identical competitor made baits with guides fishing them on a regular basis. The major difference seems to be the extra pulsing of the bait due to the heavier gauge wire. This gives the spinner a more life like quality and causes bass to bite. The other factors just add to the magic of this bait. The biggest producing skirt? The watermelon skirt with red strands.

 

The bait has been so successful that the Clarksville and Nashville Bass Pro Shops have picked up the new spinner bait. You  will sacrifice some of the feel of the blade moving with the heavier wire. However if the end result is getting your line stretched by a big hog bass, you will find the loss of feel to be minor. You can also find the lure at the Dale Hollow One Stop in Celina TN. near Dale Hollow Lake. If you fish in tournaments, you should try this “New” and improved spinner bait. It is a real "Money Bait" Not made for fishermen, "Made for FISH."

Guntersville Lake LM Bass with the Flame Spinner Bait

 

 

Jim Dicken / Editor Fishin.com