By Steve price

To many bass fishermen, spinnerbaits rank as the top lure choice in spring when bass are moving shallow, as well as when they're fishing vegetation, stumps and other cover near the shoreline. According to veteran bass pro Guy Eaker, however, blade baits can also be extremely effective lures in the autumn and well into the winter, a time when many anglers change to jigs, spoons or other choices.

"What makes spinnerbaits effective in cold weather is the fact the lures can be fished deeper and slower and still produce a lot of vibrations." explains the popular North Carolina pro. "By changing blade sizes and head weights, you can easily control the depth the lure runs and still use a variety of retrieve speeds." "This type of versatility isn't impossible on many other lures."

Eaker's choice of a cold water spinnerbait generally weighs 3/4 or 1 full ounce (for depths deeper than about eight feet) and includes one or two Colorado blades because they produce excellent vibration. He especially likes a 1 ounce lure with a single size 6 Colorado blade. "The majority of the time, a spinnerbait is a specific target lure," says Eaker, who's been competing in national bass tournaments since 1970, "but when bass are deeper in winter, you can rarely see individual targets so instead you have to concentrate more on areas."

"One of the techniques I've seen work numerous times in tournament competition is to slow-roll spinnerbaits down steep banks, such as on the far upper end of a lake where you tend to see more river-type conditions. Of course, this type of presentation will also work on the lower end of a lake around riprap, or wherever you have a fast-falling shoreline." Frequently, the key to such a presentation is finding specific cover. Such as a fallen log or a rockpile, at the bottom of just such a steep bank. The deepest Eaker has ever caught bass with spinnerbait is 25 feet, but he knows other pros who have caught bass even deeper with the lures.

"When you're fishing bluffs with a spinnerbait, it's a lot like slow-rolling." he says, "except that the lure is falling rather than moving horizontally. You make a cast toward the shallow part of the structure or the shoreline, then just pull your spinnerbait over the edge so it begins falling. If possible, you want it to touch the bottom several times during its fall, and each time it does you can pull it off with your rod tip." Eaker also suggests fishing spinnerbaits over submerged vegetation like milfoil or hydrilla during colder weather. This is when the true slow- rolling technique should be used.

"Depth control is extremely important in slow-rolling during the winter" he continues, "because bass are not going to move very far to strike. Your most productive areas will nearly always be along the deeper outside edges of the vegetation, or perhaps over the top." "When you're fishing the edges, you can use a slow, rise-and-fall and stop-and-go presentation in which the lure continually changes direction, but when you're slow-rolling over the top of vegetation, you need to try to keep your lure just barely above the top of the grass, and this takes practice and a good sense of feel with your rod."

Eaker believes the most critical aspect of spinnerbait fishing is being able to feel the lure's blades vibrating. That way when a fisherman feels the blades stop vibrating, it means a bass has the lure and he can set the hook. "Not being able to feel blades vibrate is usually caused by two things, either the lure is poorly designed and the blades are not turning, or your rod action is much too heavy and you've lost sensitivity," he explains. "I use either a 6 or 6 1/2-foot medium or medium-heavy action rod, depending on the weight of the spinnerbaits. The rods have very sensitive tips that actually vibrate as I retrieve the lure, so even if I don't feel an actual strike, I can tell something has happened when the rod tip stops vibrating."

In addition to feeling blade vibrations, straight cast and wind back to the boat. He has developed the habit of changing every retrieve he makes until he determines what triggers a bass into striking. Surprisingly, in extreme clear water, a very fast retrieve near the surface often works much better than a slow, deep one. Eaker has done this several times on Alabama's Lake Martin, as well as on other impoundments across the nation. "What you're targeting in these lakes are suspended bass around the steep bluff banks," he explains. "Even though the water may be 20 to 30 feet deep, the bass are frequently holding just five to 10 feet down. When you buzz a spinnerbait just under the surface a couple of feet out from the bank, the bass come up for an instinctive strike."

"This type of fishing is some of the most exciting, and the most fun, you can have with a spinnerbait in colder weather."