How To Fish Inline Spinners For Trout All Year Long

Inline spinners are one of the best choices for trout when they are in some of their most finicky stages. While an inline spinner will get bit year round, you can count on them most in early spring or late fall, when only the most realistic flies seem to produce. Almost all species of trout fall victim to a spinner, and you can even use them to go after steelhead! They’re one of the most versatile, simple baits to use for trout fishing, but here are a few of the best rules of practice to maximize your catches!

When To Fish Inline Spinners

The most obvious reason for fishing these spinners over a soft plastic, dough bait, or fly, is the weight. If you are fishing a river or creek with lots of branches, bushes, and eddys, you’ll want to cast directly into them and sink quickly where the trout are hiding out. An inline spinner gives you a weighted presentation to do just that. Casting with small tackle makes aiming a disaster, but with an inline spinner you can chuck it deep to a further target, or cast more aggressively at a precise point that looks “fishy.”

The added weight on these comes from the blade attached to the body. These blades, in addition to beefing up the lure, produce tons of action, and leads to tons of bites. Especially in current or on the fall, these blades flail, pump, chug, and wiggle all around the water. Much like the smaller baitfish a trout will be chasing, this will give off an erratic, fleeing action.

Gear For Inline Spinners

Cast and retrieve works great in lakes or rivers, as long as you give the bait a chance to get down deep and pass as many possible targets as possible. Keep in mind you want the blade to flail and trout are very fast, so you can burn a spinner back as quickly as possible in any body of water.

Colors For Inline Spinners

Look for a dark colored (dark blue, red, black) spinner to perform best in low light conditions, and bright spinners (gold is my favorite) to perform in bright light or clear water. Sizes vary, but typically the bigger the bait the bigger the fish with a bait like this. So, downsize for stocker bites and go big if you’re chasing a personal best!