Bassdozer's Short Arm Spinnerbaits

by Russ Bassdozer

This shows and tells product photos, product descriptions and information for the lure models and colors that are (or have been) available at BassdozerStore.com. Not all models and colors shown are currently available, and exact specifications are subject to change.

Note: Some of the following configurations may not all be currently in stock. Some may be sold out at this time. Please check online at www.BassdozerStore.com for current availability of specific items below. Thank you for your business.

Bassdozer's Style F Short Arm Spinnerbaits ~ Thumper Blades

Style: F
Note: Thumper blades
Weight: 3/8 & 1/2 oz
Hook: Heavy duty long shank Mustad hook. 4/0 (1/4. 5/0 (3/8)
Wire: .040 diameter short arm
Premium Worth ball bearing swivel

Short arm Colorado spinnerbaits are often deployed in moderately deep water with a lift-and-drop technique. The spinnerbait is allowed to sink to bottom, lifted a few feet, then allowed to sink until bottom contact is made again. The Colorado blade helicopters above the bait, vibrates and slows the descent on the fall, which is often when strikes occur.

Short arm Colorados are also favored in shallow water that's chronically muddy such as river deltas, bayous or any other shallow, dark water conditions.

The short arm causes the vibration to be felt as a rapid, tight rattle, a shake or hard shiver as opposed to a throb or a thump. The short arm creates a lipless crankbait feeling in the rod tip. The short arm seems to hold the blade in one spot rather than gyrating all over. It creates quite a bit of flash concentrated in a small area.

A Lesson in Vibration. We often hear that spinnerbait blades create the vibration, thump or throb that we feel in the rod tip but that's not entirely true. Try this. Take a long arm single-bladed spinnerbait, cast it out, and you'll feel a relatively wide, pulsing throb in your rod tip. Now clip the long arm short, curl the end of the short arm in order to reattach the blade, and cast it. You'll feel a tighter, more rapid vibration. Next, clip the wire below your knot, so you have only the arm and blade tied on. Cast it out. You won't feel much of anything in your rod tip. What have we learned? Spinnerbait vibration depends not only on the blade used, but also the length (and spring) of the fulcrum (wire arm) being used and the payload (head weight and shape) that the blade (propeller) is trying to lift or support.

Thumper Blades. A little thicker, flatter and rounder, these create more pounding thump than other Colorado blades.

3/8 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Blue

3/8 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Blue

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Blue

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Blue

3/8 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Red

3/8 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Red

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Red

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Red

Lightweight Short Arm Spinnerbaits ~ Royal Blades

These lightweight short arm spinnerbaits are ideal for most any medium to heavy rod/reel/line,with spinning or baitcasting tackle, for 10 lb test line and above, anywhere you fish, on small waters or big impoundments, from the shore or by boat, shallow or deep.

They're at their best in shallow water, since they are light, and the blades are big, they'll "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

Although light in weight - they are balanced to be super stable, even on fast retrieves.

They'll come through shallow water or flutter past snaggy obstructions better than heavier, bulkier spinnerbaits.

Because of their compact size and the blades chosen, they don't have heavy flash nor heavy vibration. Their presence is designed to be relatively unalarming, making them good for alert, wary or spooky fish, especially in shallow water.

They have .040 wire arms, allowing them to be used with heavy tackle for big bass, but the rigidity of the wire makes for good hook sets on medium or medium/heavy tackle (down to 10 lb test) too.

These first few have Royal blades. This new blade style hit the market a couple years ago, but Royals remain relatively unknown and unused on spinnerbaits. Nevertheless, they are a great blade. Royal blades run true and they turn easily at any speed. These pointy, wedge shaped blades pass through and shed grass and snags with ease. Royal blades have exceptional helicopter rotation on the fall.

These can be retrieved slow or fast, have great action on the fall, and make great search baits, especially in shallow water or where emergent cover require you to keep a blade close to the surface above grass or obstructions. They're great for fishing from the shoreline, on small waters or big.

1/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Blue

1/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Red

3/8 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style D ~ White Shad

Lightweight Short Arm Spinnerbaits Continued ~ Deep Cup Colorado Blades

The next few lightweight short arm spinnerbaits have a big, wide Colorado blade. The blade's edge is deeply cupped, reducing a lot of the hard vibration you'd expect from a Colorado blade. So these are big blades, but have a subtle, relatively unalarming presence where spooky fish are acting cautious in shallow water.

Although it doesn't have heavy vibration, the blade has such a large surface area relative to these lightweight heads, that the blade is like a big paddle stirring the water, causing the entire spinnerbait head/skirt to to rock side to side on the retrieve, like a wavering path. Nevertheless, these configurations are very stable, and can even be waked across the surface or can leave a "bulge" barely below the surface, while running true (with that sideways waver). If you like, you can make the big blade flip attractively out of the water every ten feet or so during the retrieve. Fish go off on that at times. With a little practice, you'll be waking, bulging and flipping the blade out in no time. You'll have a spinnerbait that you can work on top like a waking buzzbait, like a bulging wakebait, barely subsurface like a super-shallow crankbait, or flip it like a spitting popper. Plus it has great helicopter action on the fall - and best of all, these 50/50 blades are half gold-plated and half silvery nickel-plated on both sides! So you get both gold and nickel flash in the same blade.

1/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Red #2

1/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style F ~ Black Blue #2

3/8 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style D ~ White Shad #2

These lightweight spinnerbaits can be used any time, anywhere on any body of water, big or small, with any kind of tackle, from medium to heavy (10 lb test and up), baitcasting or spinning, from boat or bank. They're at their very best in shallow water where bigger spinnerbaits would be too bulky or too alarming to fish. Keep one of these lightweights rigged on a rod, and whenever you get into range of water that's too shallow, or with grass or other cover emerging too close to the surface, where other spinnerbaits would be too big or too heavy, that's the place to throw these lightweight, short arm baits. Don't forget their great helicopter action on the fall, that also makes them super for dropping down bluffs, walls, sloping shorelines or with a lift-and-fall technique off bottom in deeper water.

Short Arm Spinnerbaits ~ Willow Blades

Style: C
Weight: 3/4 oz
Wire: .040 diameter short arm
Hook: 5/0 Mustad heavy duty long shank hook
Premium Worth ball bearing swivel

The Style C's stability makes it a superior choice for fishing deep water or moving water. It's streamlined head shape makes it popular for anglers fishing in grassy areas.

Make no mistake, this is a big bait for big bass using heavy tackle, with a massive #6 Willow blade.

With the short arm, the blade appears real close to the bait skirt and head, giving the package a real unified look to it from any angle of view. The big blade stays very close to the head and skirt, giving a big baitfish appearance. The particular model of blade used here was selected for its very narrow arc. It stays right above the skirt and head during the retrieve, but it's not just a mechanical motion. The blade can also be made to exhibit a little unpredictable dalliance or can't-make-up-your mind falter, which is a great strike trigger. It's kind of hard to describe that in writing, but that blade falter action is recognizable when you see it, and with a little practice, that action can be reproduced by an angler, and should be repeated while fishing it.

Since the blade spins in such a narrow arc, there's little water resistance, much less than most other spinnerbaits. That makes it very easy and effortless to reel all day. It makes a fantastic search bait, especially around grassy areas. You can really pick grass apart with this bait. It's also a very stable head design for fishing deep or moving water.

3/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style C ~ Shad-A-Delic

3/4 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style C ~ EZ White Shad w/Tail

Next is the 1/2 oz version of the same. Yes. you can use it on heavy tackle, since it has the same heavy duty hook and .040 wire as the 3/4 oz model. The difference is the 1/2 oz version has an ordinary blade size for a 1/2 oz bait. This makes it better-suited for average size bass and it can be used with medium-heavy rods, reels and lines. Otherwise, everything about it and how to use it is the same as above, it's just for average fishing situations.

Style: C
Weight: 1/2 oz
Wire: .040 diameter short arm
Hook: 5/0 Mustad heavy duty long shank hook
Premium Worth ball bearing swivel

1/2 oz Spinnerbait ~ Style C ~ EZ White Silver