TackleTour's 2010 Spinnerbait Shootout! (continued)

Introducing the War Eagle Twin Spin.

The Twin Spin features a silicone skirt held in place by a thick, rubber band...

The Skirt: The Twin Spin features a quality silicone skirt held in place by a band and it's available in one of nine colors with a split between traditional jig and spinnerbait patterns: black/blue/purple/chart, blue pearl shad, brown/purple, firetiger, peanut butter and jelly, pond scum, sexy shad, speckled white/chart, and white/chart/blue.

... a Mustad Ultra Point hook ...

The Hook: War Eagle makes use of a Mustad Ultra Point hook bringing the tally to 4 baits with Gamakatsu, 3 with Mustad, and two proprietary branded hooks.

... and a side by side, twin spin configured set of double Colorado blades served up off of a football head!

The Head: Earlier in our introduction to this article we discussed how head designs are more diverse than ever with some spinnerbaits now available with a football head. The War Eagle Twin Spin is the bait we were referring to. It's obvious this spinnerbait was built to be fished more like a jig than a traditional spinner but that's what intrigued me about this bait.

Ratings: (We've re-calibrated our ratings standard for 2008 and have included a key at the bottom of the following matrix as a guide):

Pluses and Minuses:

Effectiveness: The War Eagle Twin Spin is a departure from your standard spinnerbait and really is more of a jig with twin blades rather than a spinnerbait with a football head. I say this because it is best fished slow. Crawl it along the bottom or make short hops on your retrieve - even pitch it out and let it fall. It's just a little different look for a traditional jig and really a fun bait to fish. It doesn't even feel right when you bring it back on a steady retrieve, but it can be fished this way as well.

Fish this spinner like a jig and be ready to get thumped!

Availability: All the products listed in this shootout are readily available at any number of online shops or direct from the manufacturer websites. Color combinations and sizes may vary depending upon your source, but in general, the sizes, colors, and prices listed are those we found via a quick online search for each individual product.

Time to get back to our Search For One ...

Conclusion: Blades, blades, and more blades, if given the choice of one bait to fish on any given bass fishing trip and one bait only, my choice would very likely be a spinnerbait. To me, this bait represents the essence of bass fishing. Slow roll it, cast it out, count it down and bring it back at any depth, burn it, hop it or fish it like a yo yo, bring it back steady and kill it, whenever I receive a new spinnerbait, I can’t wait to fish it because it can be fished in so many different ways. The headshaking strikes are a true adrenaline rush and it doesn’t matter what size the fish is at the other end of the line, when they head for the surface and tail walk with a blade in the corner of their mouth, well, that’s what it’s all about – even if the end up throwing the blade right back you!

Looking at the scores above, it's pretty obvious what I look for in a spinnerbait. Give me an interesting looking head, a quality skirt, fastened securely aboard a name brand hook in a good variety of sizes. Round this out with quality swivels, spacers, wire, and blades, all at a price that won't break the bank unnecessarily and once I tie that bait on, I may never cut it off. Life is too short not to fish with quality products so it's no surprise that the three, relatively small, specialty skirted bait product manufacturers fared the best in our shootout. The absolute highest score statistically? Gann's Performance Tackle's Stilleto Spinnerbait, but give me any of the top few baits here, and I don't have to fish another spinnerbait until our next shootout.