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My choice of small lure for perch fishing has evolved over the past decade. When I first started kayak fishing in the Severn, I used a small jighead with a white twister tail. I caught plenty of perch.
A few years later someone showed me the beetle spin (safety-pin style wire bait with a spinner blade). I did not have much luck using the grub-like plastic that came with the beetle spins. But I did better when I substituted a small twister tail or a 2" minnow with a flexible tail. Here are a few examples.
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As I became more active in the Severn River Rod and Keg Club, I got to know Woody Tillery, who made very successful and artistically beautiful spinnerbaits with feathers tied on instead of hair. I used both the 1/16-oz and 1/8-oz sizes. These were the gold standard of small spinners, but they were costly. Three years ago, Woody stopped tying because of medical issues. I bought up a bunch of his lures thinking they would be the end of the production. Fortunately for Woody, he was able to change medications, which allowed him to return to tying (albeit at a slower pace). Today, Woody's lures are available at several local tackle shops under the names of Woody's Tackle or Maryland Tackle.
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While I was enjoying catching perch with Woody's feather spinners, I looked around for an alternative that was less costly. I discovered that Strike King made small spinnerbaits in the Mini-King (1/8-oz) and Micro-King (1/16-oz) sizes. These cost in the $2 to $3 range, but at that time the only place I could find the Micro-Kings was at Dicks or online. The two sizes looked almost identical, but I seemed to have better luck with the smaller Micro-Kings.
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A few years ago, Snaggedline member Bignose (Stu) gave me several of his handmade spinners to try out. They looked much like the Woody's spinners but used mostly artificial fibers with an occasional feathers. His standard spinners (single blade) have been excellent producers. Last winter Stu sent me a few experimental models that used two smaller blades instead of a single larger blade. I tried one of them early in the spring. This year the perch were very late in showing up, and I never gave the double-bladed version a fair trial. I plan to give it another workout this month.
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Several other Snaggedline members are also talented spinner-style luremakers. Last spring, Grady Black sent me one of his prototypes to test. It follows the beetle spin concept but uses a hand-tied jighead/bucktail. The lure looks like a winner. I will add that to the arsenal for my tests this month.
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Most recently I received two spinners from Sparky1423. These are similar to the ones made by Woody and Stu, but have longer arms from the bend to the jighead. I have been traveling for the past week and a half and have not been on the Severn in a while. I plan to get out this next week and do some side-by-side tests of these great looking lures made by our talented members.
004.jpg
You can see from the photos that most of the small spinners I use have some white and some chartreuse. Those colors produce well for me in the Severn shallow shoreline spots. In addition to catching hundreds of perch each year on these small spinners, I have caught stripers, bluefish, pumpkinseed, catfish, and even some LMBs at Mallows Bay. If you are not already using this style of lure, I recommend that you check them out. At the Pasadena Kayak Fishing Flea Market last March Bignose and Grady Black had some of their own creations for sale.
001.jpg
A few years later someone showed me the beetle spin (safety-pin style wire bait with a spinner blade). I did not have much luck using the grub-like plastic that came with the beetle spins. But I did better when I substituted a small twister tail or a 2" minnow with a flexible tail. Here are a few examples.
007.jpg
As I became more active in the Severn River Rod and Keg Club, I got to know Woody Tillery, who made very successful and artistically beautiful spinnerbaits with feathers tied on instead of hair. I used both the 1/16-oz and 1/8-oz sizes. These were the gold standard of small spinners, but they were costly. Three years ago, Woody stopped tying because of medical issues. I bought up a bunch of his lures thinking they would be the end of the production. Fortunately for Woody, he was able to change medications, which allowed him to return to tying (albeit at a slower pace). Today, Woody's lures are available at several local tackle shops under the names of Woody's Tackle or Maryland Tackle.
005.jpg
While I was enjoying catching perch with Woody's feather spinners, I looked around for an alternative that was less costly. I discovered that Strike King made small spinnerbaits in the Mini-King (1/8-oz) and Micro-King (1/16-oz) sizes. These cost in the $2 to $3 range, but at that time the only place I could find the Micro-Kings was at Dicks or online. The two sizes looked almost identical, but I seemed to have better luck with the smaller Micro-Kings.
006.jpg
A few years ago, Snaggedline member Bignose (Stu) gave me several of his handmade spinners to try out. They looked much like the Woody's spinners but used mostly artificial fibers with an occasional feathers. His standard spinners (single blade) have been excellent producers. Last winter Stu sent me a few experimental models that used two smaller blades instead of a single larger blade. I tried one of them early in the spring. This year the perch were very late in showing up, and I never gave the double-bladed version a fair trial. I plan to give it another workout this month.
003.jpg
Several other Snaggedline members are also talented spinner-style luremakers. Last spring, Grady Black sent me one of his prototypes to test. It follows the beetle spin concept but uses a hand-tied jighead/bucktail. The lure looks like a winner. I will add that to the arsenal for my tests this month.
002.jpg
Most recently I received two spinners from Sparky1423. These are similar to the ones made by Woody and Stu, but have longer arms from the bend to the jighead. I have been traveling for the past week and a half and have not been on the Severn in a while. I plan to get out this next week and do some side-by-side tests of these great looking lures made by our talented members.
004.jpg
You can see from the photos that most of the small spinners I use have some white and some chartreuse. Those colors produce well for me in the Severn shallow shoreline spots. In addition to catching hundreds of perch each year on these small spinners, I have caught stripers, bluefish, pumpkinseed, catfish, and even some LMBs at Mallows Bay. If you are not already using this style of lure, I recommend that you check them out. At the Pasadena Kayak Fishing Flea Market last March Bignose and Grady Black had some of their own creations for sale.
001.jpg
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