If you’ve ever been fishing for trout with spinning gear, chances are you’ve thrown a spinner a time or two. The Trout Spinner is one of the most time-tested and proved to be lethal trout lures in the world. While there are an infinite amount of ways to design or create spinners, certain brands have been creating and innovating proven trout spinners for decades.
What is a Trout Spinner?
Trout Spinner are a small casting bait made up of a blade, bodies and one or more hooks attached to a wire shaft. Two loops are formed at either end of a short wire shaft; one to tie your line onto and one to attach a hook. The two most popular styles of spinners for Trout Fishing are inline and french blade spinners.
Regardless of where you might be fishing, whether its a cold Appalachian mountain stream or on the Banks of a roaring rapid in Big Sky Country, these are the 5 most iconic trout spinner designs of all-time.
- Panther Martin
- Mepps Spinners
- Blue Fox Vibrax
- Worden’s Rooster Tail
- Joes Flies
In this post, I’m going to break down each type of spinner from its origin to how to fish it.
Panther Martin Spinners
The most iconic inline spinners belong to a company named Panther Martin, whose lures find themselves in nearly every trout fisherman’s tackle boxes at least once.
Inline trout spinners have an oval-shaped blade that attaches right onto the wire shaft. An inline spinner has a unique feature that separates it from most other spinners. Rather than attaching to the wire shaft, the blade is mounted directly to the wire body.
Panther Martin’s are comprised of four main components. A wire shaft, an inline blade, a lure body, and a hook. Panther Martin does manufacture several other fish-catching styles with dressed trebles and different style blades.
This particular bait is the Panther Martin classic Red Hook design, which features a black and yellow body with a Size 6 gold blade.
This style of spinnerbait has been known to fish better than other spinners with clevises to attach the blade. That’s why Panther Martin’s are a great choice for faster water areas or very small streams where casting straight upstream is the only option.
Panther Martin Spinner Sizes
The most common sized Panther Martin’s for trout fishing are sized four (1/8oz.), six (1/4oz.), and nine (3/8oz.). They also make Sizes 1 and 2 which are excellent choices for small streams or tricky presentations. Additionally, the largest size is Size 15 (1/2oz.)
| Number | Weight |
| 1 | 1/32 oz. |
| 2 | 1/16 oz. |
| 4 | 1/8 oz. |
| 6 | 1/4 oz. |
| 9 | 3/8 oz. |
| 15 | 1/2 oz. |
| 20 | 3/4 oz. |
| 28 | 1 oz. |
Mepps Spinners
French-style trout spinners have a small metal blade that is attached to the shaft with a wire clevis. The blades can vary in shape and style, such as Indiana or French Blade, but the most common is the French Blade Spinner made famous by Mepps Lures.
Mepps lures is perhaps the most well-known name in the Spinnerbait world. Known around the globe for their classic squirrel tail Aglia French Blade Spinner, Mepps produces spinnerbaits of many shapes and sizes (over 4,000 different styles to be exact).
Unlike the Inline blades used on Panther Martin’s, Mepps uses a French blade that is attached to the wire body via a small clevice. The lure body varies depending on the weight and style chosen.
When casting Mepps spinners for stream or river trout, the predominant method is to cast roughly 45 degrees upstream and reel the bait back towards you, letting the current drift the bait downstream. A combination of the lure colors and the vibration created by the blade is what causes the aggressive trout below to leave cover and strike. Mepps lures also perform very well in lakes and ponds.
One important thing to keep in mind when fishing for trout with spinnerbaits is to keep the lure as close to the bottom as possible. Trout rarely suspend in the water collum in a river or stream, rather they lay on the bottom behind or in cover waiting for the current to bring small invertebrates to them. Using a properly weighted spinner is essential to get the bait as close to the bottom as possible.
Best Mepps Spinner Sizes for Trout
Because Mepps creates so many different variations of lures, the sizing can be a bit difficult. For the purpose of this article, let’s use the Aglia (pictured above) for sizing reference. For Panfish, or for a small creek or stream trout, sizes double zero (1/18oz.), zero (1/12oz.), or one (1/8oz.) would be excellent options.
Mepps Sizes two (1/6oz.), and three (1/4oz.) are very common sizes for trout fishing across the country. These two weights are perfect for Light to Medium action rods, which are common An appropriately sized spinner is very important for casting accuracy and to ensure the spinnerbait works properly when being retrieved.
Sizes four (1/3oz.), and five (1/2oz) are common choices for Salmon and Steelhead anglers. These are very large baits that are usually only fished in fast-flowing or very deep water.
| Size # | Weight |
| #0 | 1/12 oz. |
| #1 | 1/8 oz. |
| #2 | 1/6 oz. |
| #3 | 1/4 oz. |
| #4 | 1/3 oz. |
| #5 | 1/2 oz. |
Blue Fox Vibrax Spinners
Another one of the most commonly used lures for trout is the Bell Body style spinner. The concept is the same as a french spinner, where a blade spins on a clevice placed above the body. Instead of a solid metal or plastic body, Bell Body spinners have an outer metal shell or “bell” that wraps around another piece of metal that it “rings” against.
The most commonly known bell body spinners are the Blue Fox Vibrax spinners. Now owned by Rapala, the Blue Fox line of spinners has been around for quite a long time. The classic design features a French blade (as shown below) but the Vibrax line also includes the VIbrax Bullet, which features an inline blade design.
Vibrax lures are very common in areas where larger trout and salmon are fished, and they are one of the top choices for Steelhead fishermen. The compact lure design with the additional weight of the bell body design allows fishermen to get a good presentation, even in a strong current or deep pools.
Blue Fox Vibrax Sizes
The classic Blue Fox Vibrax spinner is available from size 0 to size 6. Sizes zero (7/64 oz.) and one (1/8 oz.) make for a good presentation on small streams, creeks or rivers. Sizes two (3/16 oz.) three (1/4oz.) and four (3/8 oz.) will be a perfect size and weight for most inland trout fishing scenarios. A general rule of thumb is to use a lure that matches the size of the stream your fishing. The bigger size 5 (7/16 oz.) and size 6 (5/8oz.) are popular patterns for steelhead and salmon fisherman. They can also be effective on trout in deep or fast-moving water.
| Blade Size | Weight |
| 0 | 7/64 oz. |
| 1 | 1/8 oz. |
| 2 | 3/16 oz. |
| 3 | 1/4 oz. |
| 4 | 3/8 oz. |
| 5 | 7/16 oz. |
| 6 | 5/8 oz. |
Worden’s Rooster Tail Spinners
Worden’s Rooster Tail, also known as “The Rooster Tail” has been a proven fish catcher for over 60 years. Since it’s an introduction, the Roostertail now comes in 10 different sizes and 135 different patterns. The classic style (shown above) includes an inline style blade on a clevice, a weighted lure body, and a dressed hackle treble hook. The larger painted body on the Rooster Tail gives this bait a tremendous profile in the water, and the hackle pulsates as it swims through the current, enticing lurking trout to bite.
Howard Worden invented the RoosterTail back in the 1950s, and since then it has been one of the most productive fish catchers for warm and coldwater fish alike. The Rooster Tail was created by Howard Worden, whose father started the Yakima Bait Company in 1929.
The Rooster Tail design is comprised of a hackle-dressed treble hook attached to the wire shaft. The inline lure blade used is more narrow than on similar lures from other brands. Rooster Tail’s have a painted lure body that is painted in a variety of different colors and patterns.
One of the most amazing things about fishing with Rooster Tails (and inline spinners) is their versatility. Trout of all shapes and sizes will eat many different patterns of Rooster Tail spinners. Presenting patterns that imitate native or local forage such as creek chubs and shiner minnows will be good options to start. In murky water conditions, using brighter colors such as blue, pink, and chartreuse can be an effective strategy.
Best Rooster Tail Sizes for Trout
Worden’s size’s their lures based on weight, without a corresponding number for size. Sizes 1/32 oz, 1/24 oz, and 1/16 oz are great choices for smaller streams or creeks. Sizes 1/8 oz, 1/6 oz, and 1/4 oz are good options for medium-sized streams or rivers. Sizes 3/8 oz, 1/2 oz, 3/4 oz, and 1 oz are great choices for bigger rivers or lakes. Remember, with any lure you choose the most important thing to remember is trout are typically lying close to the bottom, which means that presentation is everything. Making sure you choose a lure that allows you to present that bait near the bottom during your retrieves will always help you find more success.
| Weight |
| 1/32 oz. |
| 1/24 oz. |
| 1/16 oz. |
| 1/8 oz. |
| 1/4 oz. |
| 3/8 oz. |
| 1/2 oz. |
Casting upstream at a 45-degree angle in streams and rivers is a good way to start fishing Rooster Tails for trout. In lakes or ponds, trout frequent all levels of the water column, so just make sure to present your bait at all levels to find the fish, then consistently target the trout at that depth when you start to catch them. Fish baits high by reeling faster, and present baits lower by waiting a few seconds after the spinner hits the water to start reeling.
Joes Flies Spinner Baits
The Joes Flies concept is a hybrid between a minnow imitation and a fly imitation. Unlike some of the other lures mentioned in this post, Joes flies uses a Colorado-style blade. This allows you to work the bait slower during your retrieve. Joes Flies are excellent spinners for trout, especially if you’re having trouble with fish following your bait but not committing. By slowing down your presentation can be a great way to trick the most finicky fish. This bait won’t spin as well in very fast-moving water due to the angle the colorado blade spins at.
Joes Flies was founded in 1961 by Joe Steffick and has since been taken over by his son Mike. The company is based out of the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia, where the concepts for these lures have been tested and proven for over 60 years. The unique “spin” on the inline spinner combined with many different sizes and patterns guarantees that there is a Joe’s Flies pattern or two that are sure to help you put more trout in the net.
The design is similar to other inline spinners, however, the body of the lure looks very similar to large dry flies used by fly fishermen. The hook is a single treble hook with an extra stinger hook facing forward. Because of their aggressive nature, trout will often swipe at a lure with a sideways motion, and the forward-facing stinger hook will help with hookup ratios.
Best Joe Flies Sizes for Trout
The most common of all the Joes Flies is the Size 8 Short Striker. The size and weight of this lure make it versatile in many different stream scenarios. The size 10 short striker is a slightly smaller spinner and can be hard to cast without an ultralight or long light action rod.
The Super Striker lures are very similar to the Short Striker but feature a solid weighted lure body and a slightly larger profile. These can be effective lures for small to medium size rivers. 1/4 ounce may have trouble finding the bottom of larger bodies, so letting the lure sink before starting to retrieve can help you make a good presentation.
The Wolly Bugger design is a “spin” (pun intended) on the very popular fly fishing pattern. It’s a sure-fire way to catch trout all year round, and Joe’s Flies have several Wolly Bugger Spinner designs in a Size 8 for your trout fishing pleasure.
| Weight |
| 1/16 oz. |
| 1/8 oz. |
| 1/4 oz. |