VierStromen
(Fly)Fishing the lowlands

Spinner D.I.Y.

The humble spinner. A lure for kids. Straightforward, cheap and... effective.
The spinner is probably the most effective lure in murky water because it makes itself well heard. Asp loves them. And because they are easy to make and relatively inexpensive you can afford to loose a few, which means that you are willing to take a risk and place one right next to an anchor-chain or bollard, where the fish are.
On this page I will show you how to create a single spinner that works well and that can be created in minutes. It is light, both in weight and in drag in the water and can be fished with almost any rod that will throw it (a heavy rod might need more weight).

It is a slightly weighted (6 grams) with an Olivetti weight I borrowed from coarse fishing. There are beautiful spinner bodies on the market, and I do use them on more elaborate spinner models, but this spinner is about expendability.
The weight is needed on the one hand to be able to cast the spinner a fair distance and on the other hand to keep it a good 75 centimetres below the surface when retrieved, even in a current.
I use a willow leaf blade but feel free to use a Colorado or an Indiana blade. It is a size 4 blade. This is a medium size blade: not too small, not too big, perfect to start with.
The wire is 0.6 mm diameter stainless steel. Use a wire between 0.5 and 1 mm diameter. A thin wire is easy to use but will bend more easily in use.

I use three pliers: round-nose pliers, needle-nose pliers and a pair of carpenter's pincers. I use the pincers because I found that I could nip thicker wire with more precision using those than using side cutters.
One word of advice, buy the best pliers you can afford and never stray from their intended use.

List of materials:

Wire:	Stainless steel, 0.6 mm in diameter.
Blade:	Willow leaf no 4.
Body:	Olivetti weight no 15, 6 grams.
Clevis:	Clevis no 3.
Beads:	Plastic beads in any colour you like. Make sure they don't shatter, choose soft-ish plastic.
Bearing:	A metal bead, 4 mm in diameter.
Hook:	A treble hook like Gamakatsu 13NS, no 6. (This is a relatively small hook. If you expect more pike than perch a 4, 2 or even a 1 might be better.)

	All you need in one shot: wire, blade, clevis, bearing bead (gold), body, beads, hook and three pliers.
	If, like mine, your wire comes from a coil it needs to be straightened. The technique to do this is shown in the picture. Take a length of about 20 to 30 cm from the coil and place it over the index and middle finger of your favourite hand. Spread your fingers and place the thumb between them on the wire, press lightly until you see the wire flex. Repeat several times. Move your fingers a couple of centimetres and repeat. Please note that it will not be straight in one go. The idea here to press lightly often. Not really bending the wire but persuading it to straighten. Keep your patience otherwise you will end up with a wire with lots of small bends instead of a straight one.
	The next step is the creation of an eye. This is not set in stone; it is also possible to measure the length of the wire needed first by threading all components on the wire, cutting it and then creating the eye. It's simply my style to create the eye first and work ‘up‘ as it were. Start the creation of the eye with a contra-bend. In the picture the eye will be bent away from me but the first bend is towards me. In a later stage this bend will form an anchor point for the closing turns of wire. It also insures that the eye will end more or less in the middle instead of to one side of the wire. Take the round-nose pliers and place them about 4 cm from the end of the wire. Take a firm grip and rotate the pliers a quarter of a turn towards you. Let go. The wire will slightly recoil but the result will be a slight bend towards you.
	The eye is formed by bending the wire away from you around the nose of the pliers. Because the nose of most round-nose pliers is tapered the location of the wire in the nose will determine the width of the eye. Close to the handle, the eye will be big. At the tip, the eye will be small. Choose somewhere in the middle. Because the wire we use it not too heavy this bend can be made with your fingers. Should you use thicker wire it is better to use pliers to prevent injuries.
	The last step is closing the eye. Keep the round-nose pliers nose in the eye and hold firm. Turn the loose end of the wire around the stem of the eye. Two or three turns are ample. Note how the first turn falls neatly into the contra bend we made in step 1. Inevitable the eye will lean towards one side. To correct this, keep the nose of the round-nose pliers in the eye and hold firm. While holding the eye use the needle nose pliers to bend the stem until the eye is straight.
	Next: threading the parts on the wire. In the picture some parts are already on the wire. I use two small plastic beads behind the eye to give the clevis some room. The blade is on the clevis, convex side up. The golden bead is a metal bead that functions as a bearing for the clevis. It ensures that the blade will spin freely.
	The body and the last (spacer) beads are in place. The Olivetti weight has nice shape and functions well as a body. The colour of the beads is up to you. I like contrast and red as a signal colour. That is why I chose these beads.
	The last step, closing the eye. I want to be able to change the hook so I will make a closing eye that resembles a split ring. As before the first step is a contra bend. Most important is to leave room on the wire for the spinner parts to move. Don't start the bend directly behind the beads, leave a 0.5 to 1 cm gap.
	Make two turns away from you around the nose of the pliers. Make sure the turns are right next to each other. The result must look like a split ring. End the last turn with the loose end crossing the stem.
	Bend the loose end around the stem while holding the eye firmly with the round-nose pliers. The result is a hook around the stem.
	Snip the loose end off fairly short. Leave just enough to form a hook around the stem that will not unhook on its own.
	Take a hold of the eye with the pliers and unhook it. Wiggle the hook over the end and push it along until it hangs in the eye then de-hook the eye.
	And this is it: the spinner is ready.

VierStromen (Fly)Fishing the lowlands

Spinner D.I.Y.

VierStromen
(Fly)Fishing the lowlands