It's time to break out the cold weather bass fishing gear and get layered up. But don't put away your spinnerbaits just yet. Check out Jeremy Francis of Fishing the Lonestar as he shares his secrets on fishing a spinnerbait in cold weather. Learn how to choose the right blade when fishing a spinnerbait for bass in cold weather and pick up a few insider tips that could help you catch your next PB!

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Video transcript:

Jeremy Francis:
It is time to break out the cold weather gear, the long sleeves, the hoodies, the jackets. But as you get those out, don't put up your Spinnerbaits. Today we're talking about how to use Spinnerbaits in cold weather to catch fish. Let's roll.

Jeremy Francis:
Welcome back to the Monsterbass channel. If you are new, make sure you hit the subscribe button below. This channel, Monsterbass, is all about bringing you tips, tricks, and just how-to videos to go help you catch more fish, bigger fish, and hopefully your personal best using a lot of the baits that are coming in your Monsterbass subscription.

Jeremy Francis:
My name is Jeremy with Fishing the LoneStar. If you've not yet subscribed to my channel, it'll be linked below as well. Yes, I'm based out of Texas. Get out and share a ton of content with you around fishing, lakes in North Texas, and kind of what's working here, so make sure you check that out as well.

Jeremy Francis:
Now, today we are talking about throwing spinner baits in cold weather. Now, you normally throw spinnerbaits around grass sometimes in warmer weather, but the winter time or even the cold weather, fall or winter, is still a great time to throw a Spinnerbait. We're going to talk about a couple things today. One is different types of blades on spinnerbaits, kind of what they are and why they matter, when to choose each one. We're going to talk briefly about the hook set, because I believe that's just something that matters a lot when you're throwing a spinnerbait. Then third, I'm going to introduce something new, or at least it was somewhat new to me, maybe new to you, that you may not have seen yet that's going to really help you in these colder months catch more fish on a spinnerbait. Let's dive in.

Jeremy Francis:
All right, first and foremost, let's talk about the different blades on a spinnerbait. If you've seen spinnerbaits, which you probably have, they've been around forever, you've likely noticed there's a bunch of different variations of blades. We're going to talk a little bit about why that is and what some of those blades are.

Jeremy Francis:
First that's probably the most common is the double willow blade that you kind of see here. It's two elongated, this one's kind of kinked up, but it's two elongated skinny blades called willow blades. Now these willow blades are going to have a really tight spin to them. Let me set this one down. Going to have a really tight spin to them, as you see here. They're going to turn just like this. They're going to have a really tight spin. It's a really good shad imitation when bass are eating a smaller bait fish. You have one blade that spins around actual this way, and then you have another blade that twists at the very end this way. It's a really tight spinning action.

Jeremy Francis:
At the same time, you have Colorado blades, is another popular one. Again, you have that blade that's going to spin on its axis like this, and another one that's going to spin in the back like this and create a really big thump.

Jeremy Francis:
While your willow blades are going to have a really tight spin, your Colorado blades are going to have a very big thumping spin. Now in general, spinnerbaits create a lot of flash, a lot of commotion and a lot of vibration on the water, but one is going to cause less vibration and a little bit more flash. One's going to still flash, but have more of a thump.

Jeremy Francis:
I like to throw willow blades more around some of the thicker vegetation and when I feel like bass are chasing smaller bait fish, because those small, little blades represent smaller bait fish. I like to throw this probably in a little bit more clearer water, whereas if the water is stained or a low visibility, I'm going to throw these Colorado blades.

Jeremy Francis:
Now sometimes you'll see that there's a combination of both. In this one here, you've got both a big willow blade in the back and a smaller Colorado blade in the front. I normally like to kind of to think about which blades I'm throwing by the rear blade, not necessarily the one up front. The one up front's going to spin on this axis relatively the same either way. It's the one in the back that I usually am concerned with. Again, the willow blade's going to be a tight spin, Colorado blade's going to be a little bit of a wider spin.

Jeremy Francis:
Now one that you probably haven't seen before is called a Long Drop Blade. What's a Long Drop Blade? Well, it's what's featured on the Trickster by Luck-E-Strike. Now this bait was designed by professional angler, Rick Clun. It's pretty darn unique because of this Long Drop Blade that you see here.

Jeremy Francis:
What's interesting about this particular blade, it's a little bit of hybrid between a Willow blade and a Colorado blade, maybe even like an Indiana, which Indiana blade's also a little bit of a hybrid between a Willow blade and a Colorado blade. But the Long Drop Blade is pretty unique in that it gives off a lot wider spin and a lot bigger thump.

Jeremy Francis:
What I really also like about the trickster and this particular one that I received in a Monsterbass bag is this one's a three quarter ounce, so it's pretty heavy. Because it is heavier, you're going to want to fish it deeper. That's what's going to kind of segue into fishing it in colder water and why this bait works really well.

Jeremy Francis:
But let's talk about the hook set first, and then we'll jump into the technique that I've been using recently to catch fish with this lure in deeper water. All right. Your hook set, when you fill a bite on a spinnerbait, it's going to be somewhere between a Texas rig and a crank bait. Let's talk about both of those ends of the spectrum.

Jeremy Francis:
A Texas rig is a slow moving bait. When you fill a bite, you have to give a good hook set because you usually have it rigged weedless and you want to really drive that hook into the fish's mouth and give a big strong hook set.

Jeremy Francis:
Although with a crank bait, you have small trouble hooks on a moving bait and when the fish is biting and moving bait, you kind of just want to lean into it and kind of turn your hips and let the rod and the fish almost kind of load and hook the fish itself, so big, hard hooks out with the Texas rig, sweeping motion with a crank bait. We've talked about that in previous videos on the Monsterbass channel.

Jeremy Francis:
Those are the two extremes. The Spinnerbait's going to be somewhere in the middle. You still have a pretty big hook that's in that skirt. It is a moving bait. This wire though is going to absorb some of the blow, but because the fish is swimming after the bait and it is moving, you don't have to give a hard, big hook set. You don't necessarily want to just sweep either and kind of have a softer hook set like you would with a crank bait. It's somewhere in the middle.

Jeremy Francis:
I normally kind of give what I call a swift sweep with a Spinnerbait and then reel down and obviously reel the fish in. But you kind of want to lean, but swiftly while setting that hook, because usually a Spinnerbait does have a bigger hook, single hook that you want to drive into the fish's mouth.

Jeremy Francis:
That's a little bit of the hook set that works for me. Again, I call it kind of the swift sweep. I don't want to coin that phrase, but that's kind of what I call it as as you swiftly sweep into a hook set and then obviously reel the fish in.

Jeremy Francis:
Now let's talk about colder water and where fish go when the fish gets cooler. Sometimes they'll push up and chase bait fish on points, ledges, up against bluffs, et cetera. But a lot of times when it gets cooler, fish will also move a little bit deeper. You can kind of find the deepest little pocket of wherever you're fishing, whether that be a creek channel, or even if you're pond fishing, you find the deepest of that pond. That's usually where the fish are going to congregate.

Jeremy Francis:
That's where I really like the Trickster because that heavier designed head is going to get down deeper. But then as I mentioned before, those Long Drop Blades are also going to give a really big sweeping motion and commotion in the water.

Jeremy Francis:
IF you think you out your Willow blade, your Willow blades going to spin this way. Your Colorado blade's going to spin like this. The Long Drop Blade is going to rotate and spin very wide.

Jeremy Francis:
Now when you're fishing the Trickster, you want to fish really slow. It's a slow, real slow retrieve. You don't want to get too fast with it. You can burn it on top. Rick Con talks about that in some of those videos, how he likes to burn them on top. But I like to fish them a little bit slower, almost kind of hitting the bottom with it. Think about it, cold weather, bass are going to get deeper. That's where at least the warmer water is that's still cold, but the warmest of the cold water. They're going to go out deeper. They're going to be a little slower. The bait's going to be slower. You want to have a slower retrieve, but that big, wide, wobbling blade on the back, that Long Drop Blade that's unique to the Trickster, is going to draw strikes and is going to help you catch fish in deeper water. I've been fishing between nine to 12 feet, somewhere in there.

Jeremy Francis:
Again, you've got multiple different types of blades. You've got Willow blades, you've got Colorado blades, Indiana blades, but don't sleep on a Long Drop Blade. At first, I didn't really like it because it was such a big wobble. It's not something I was used to, but once I kind of figured out to slow roll it and to fish it a little deeper, a little slower, I actually did produce bites and caught fish as you saw in this video. Pretty cool.

Jeremy Francis:
I tried something new, asking you to try something new. The Trickster that came in a recent regional pro bag by Monsterbass helped me go catch some fish. Pretty darn cool.

Jeremy Francis:
Speaking of the regional pro bag, if you've not yet tried them out, make sure you subscribe to Monsterbass. These regional pro bags are packed full of baits that are specific to your region, your time of year to help you go catch fish. You're not going to get the same baits. If you're like me in Texas, you're not going to get the same baits as someone in say, Michigan. They're going to get different baits than what you're getting. That's what makes Monsterbass unique is their handpicked baits for you and for your region, and you get this awesome reusable bait bag. I have tons of these now in my boat. This is my main go-to for how I store baits. Pretty awesome. You get basically a free bag included in your subscription. Make sure you check out Monsterbass.

Jeremy Francis:
Again, my name is Jeremy, Fishing the LoneStar. Thank you for checking out this video. Drop me a comment below. Let me know if you've tried the Trickster yet with that Long Draw Blade. What'd you think of it? Again, fish it slow, fish it deep and you'll catch some fish.

Jeremy Francis:
Again, if you have not yet, check out Monsterbass, subscribe to the channel and go check out the regional pro bags, Monsterbass, go catch one.