Entry 87-2

Emily Shaffer’s Five Favorite Baits

Spinner Baits

Editor's Note: Emily Shaffer of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, a member of Strike King's professional team, and a 9-time Bassin' Gals Classic qualifier, has three first-place titles, 15 top-10 finishes and the WBFA 2002 Angler-of-the-Year title. With her career winnings at just over $200,000, Shaffer holds the record for the single largest bass, 9.01 pounds, weighed in at a Bassin' Gals Classic event, beating the 25-year history of the Bassmaster Classic and the 19-year history of the Bassin' Gals Classic. This week we'll look at Emily Shaffer's five favorite baits and how, where, when and why she fishes them.

Shaffer: I really like the Strike King spinner baits because the company makes them in so many sizes and so many different colors that I can match my spinner baits to the size and the color of the baitfish in any lake I fish. For instance, in the early spring, I may want to cast a 1/8- or a 1/4-ounce spinner bait on spinning tackle. But in the late summer or the early fall, I'll fish a bigger spinner bait, like a 1/2- or a 3/4-ounce lure, on a bait-casting rod.

The spinner bait, like the Diamond Shad, is a good locator bait. I can cover plenty of water with it quickly, and I can use the spinner bait for a wide variety of fishing techniques in various water depths. I can also fine-tune my spinner baits to my fishing conditions by changing blades and skirts. The spinner bait is one of the most-versatile lures in my tackle box. I can also add a trailer hook, and I always use a Strike King trailer hook when I'm fishing in competition, unless I'm fishing in extremely heavy cover. When I'm fishing against the clock, I have to make sure that I catch every bass that bites my bait, and that trailer hook allows me to catch bass that I probably will have missed without it.

Since Strike King introduced the Bleeding Bait trailer hooks, I use them exclusively on my spinner baits. I really believe that the red, Bleeding Bait trailer hook on my spinner baits, gets me more bites and produces more bass.

One of my best experiences with a spinner bait was when I was pre-fishing Lake Guntersville in north Alabama for a tournament a few years ago. My husband, Larry, and I were in a cove, and I threw my Strike King spinner bait next to a dock. I felt the bait hit something, and I told Larry there must be some kind of structure in the water. Larry encouraged me to cast back to the same spot and bring the spinner bait through that same section of water. When I did, I caught a 7-pound largemouth bass. Larry was pre-fishing for a BASS tournament, and the boat in front of us was Rick Clunn's boat. Rick had already fished this dock, and I'd caught a 7-pounder on my Strike King 3/8-ounce chartreuse-and-white spinner bait, that had apparently not wanted whatever lure Rick used.

Another good day with a spinner bait came when I was fishing a tournament at Kentucky Lake. I was fishing the east bank and had a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth bass. I knew smallmouth loved spinner baits, but that I'd have to give the spinner bait a really erratic action like pumping it and dropping it, jerking it and twitching it to get the smallmouth to bite. That day, I had five smallmouth with the biggest weighing 5.32 pounds. When I combined this smallmouth with my other four smallmouths, their weight totaled 21 pounds, which is a really good bag of smallmouth.

Next: Why I Crank
 

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