Spinner Fishing For Trout

Over the past 35 years I have witnessed just about any type of bait being used for Trout. I have seen the usual baits such as Corn, Dough Balls, Worms, Crickets etc etc   along with a myriad of plastic baits such as rubber Hellgramites and Grubs down to the lowly Spinner. Of all of the above mentioned baits the most misused and misunderstood baits is the spinner. In line Spinners come in a variety of sizes and shapes and colors as well as weights. I figured out years ago that they make all these different sizes and colors to be more appealing to the customer not the fish.

I started out using a Spinner as a child in Washington State. The tried and true Rooster Tail was made not far from where I grew up and the bait was a standard in the Wenatchee River for Trout and Steelhead. After moving to Tennessee in 1974 I soon realized that there was many different ways to fish a spinner. In Washington State most anglers Jigged the Spinners up off of the rocks in the larger pools to get the big Steelheads to bite, mostly on instinct of the flash. In Tennessee most anglers retrieved the Spinners so as to cover allot of water and not get hung up so much on the bottom. After many years we locals here in the Gatlinburg Area found a very nice in between Spinner that could be jigged, retrieved and even casted upstream and would not hang up when fishing with the current.
This Spinner is the "Joe's Fly Spinner". It is a copy of a Mepps In line wire Spinner with a nice Trout Fly attached on the end. This Spinner has no weight to it so you must attach a couple of BB size split shot up the line about 8-10 inches. This Spinner can be cast upstream and fluttered with the current in a more natural presentation. It can be retrieved much slower than a weighted Spinner so it is very fishable in colder water such as in the middle of winter. When it comes to colors there is one basic rule of thumb, Black Body, Gold Blade. A number 8 size Spinner Blade in Gold seems to draw out the most strikes and we all know that a Black Body is the best color to be highlited against the sky. After all, Trout eat for two reasons, hunger and natural reaction. So, like Henry Ford, you can choose any color you want as long as it is BLACK.

With the advent of many different weighted spinners most anglers only knew to quickly retrieve them from across the current and hopefully a trout would catch up to them to bite. There is no greater shame than to see a misinformed angler reeling a Spinner at a very fast pace and the Trout just can't catch up.
The next time you head out to the river to catch some Trout take along a few Joe's Fly's and rig them up on some 4 lb test with a couple of spit shot and see if they work as good for you as they do for me.

dale noland