Select the Proper Spinnerbait Every Time

Wallet, keys, cell phone — we all have that short list of must-have items that we mentally check before leaving home. Jason Christie adds spinnerbaits to that list every time he departs for a tournament.

Are some times better than others for this reaction bait? Sure, but short of ice fishing, there aren’t many scenarios where a spinnerbait does not make the trip.

“It’s the versatility. I’ve caught fish on spinnerbaits from 1 foot to as deep as 20-25 feet,” Christie said. “Also, it’s a weedless bait that you can reel through cover; you can change the blades to make it slower or faster. You can do about anything with it.”

Noting how that versatility extends nationwide, Christie said it’s rare for him to go to an event without a box full of spinnerbaits. The Bassmaster Elite Series has offered multiple examples of this broad appeal.

“You can pretty much check the box if we’re going to a river system like the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, the Red River, or the Arkansas River,” Christie said. “But we’ve seen it play in Florida, we’ve seen it play at Lake Hartwell, we’ve seen it play up north, burning a spinnerbait for smallmouth.

“It plays a lot of times, but if you get into those scenarios where the water’s dirty, especially around springtime, they’re gonna catch some bass on it.”

In 2019, under Christie’s direction, BOOYAH introduced the incredibly diverse Covert Spinnerbait lineup. With so many models when you account for sizes, blade configurations and color options, BOOYAH created the Covert Heat Map — an online interactive resource that allows anglers to input their water temperature and water color details to determine Christie’s suggestions for specific Covert Spinnerbait models.

“Whenever we built the Covert Series, we tried to match the conditions with baits,” Christie said. “Even for me, it was shockingly easy to build that Heat Map and see how accurate it is. I look at it today just to make sure that I have the right bait for the conditions.”

"Water color and water temperature are the two main considerations. If I go to a lake and you give me water temp and water clarity, I can have my baits laid out before I make a cast.”

Without question, the subject of spinnerbait variables, sub-strategies and personal preferences could fill a book. For anglers who just want to understand why certain spinnerbait elements excel in certain scenarios, Christie offers these pointers.

Water Color

Christie pointed out that bass hunt as much with their motion-detecting lateral line as with their eyes. Knowing this, Christie plays more toward that sense of feel in dirtier water by increasing his blade size and profile size. This, he said, typically means a slower presentation that gives fish time to detect the bait.

“In dirtier water, that’s a single Colorado blade, or a single big willow,” Christie said. “In that mid-range clarity, that’s where you go with those tandem blades — double Colorado, Colorado/willow. Just something where you can move it fast.

“As the water gets clear, I want to move the bait even faster, so that’s when you see a lot of double willow, and smaller profiles, such as the BOOYAH Covert Finesse. The clearer the water, the more I want to appeal to their sight.”

The key here is resistance. Colorado and Indiana blades have more; slender willow-leaf blades have less (more so with smaller blades). And in the case of tandem blades, Christie pointed out that the first blade cuts the water for the second to decrease vibration and increase speed.

Water Temperature

For simplicity, Christie applies water temperature to his spinnerbait blade selection in a similar manner as clarity — slow in cold, faster in warm. That said, Christie suggested an open-mined approach.

“I’ve had instances where the water temperature was in the upper 40s, but the water was clear and I still want to move the bait fast,” he said. “These fish in the 40s are a lot more aggressive than people give them credit for.

“Water clarity kinda trumps water temperature a little, but it’s pretty much the same guidelines.”

On any given fishing day, Christie’s spinnerbait collection, and the definable strategy for each, would likely dwarf what most consider sufficient. But he’s basing his selection on a lifetime of use and refinement.

When pressed to identify a trio of go-to spinnerbait configurations that would reasonably equip the average angler for most of what they’d face, Christie offers this starting lineup:

• Dirty water — Single Colorado blade (size 4 1/2)
• Midrange clarity — Double Colorado (3 1/2, 4 1/2)
• Clear water — Double Willow

“That tandem Colorado overlaps with dirty water,” Christie said. “That double willow overlaps, as well. I can catch bass in midrange clarity, but it’s primarily gonna be really effective when that water is clear.

“That’s the thing with spinnerbait fishing is that there is a lot of overlap. I can take a double willow probably and catch bass in dirty water. But I’m gonna catch a lot more if I have the right spinnerbait.”

Size

Four years after the Covert line’s debut, BOOYAH released the Covert Finesse Series. While this compact option came along after the Heat Map was created, Christie said many of the blade combination rules made for the full-size spinnerbaits also apply.

“If I go to lake that’s heavily pressured, I’ll lean toward the Covert Finesse. It’s a smaller profile, and I feel like I can get more bites,” Christie said. “Also, the size of fish, or size of the bait may determine which spinnerbait I use. “So, if I go to the Sabine River, I’m probably going to be throwing a Covert Finesse, but if I go to Toledo Bend, I’m probably going to throw the regular one.”

Christie also points out that one of his initial thoughts for the creating the Covert Finesse was matching the tiny baitfish common to late summer-fall. That being said, he’ll also use this more modest profile as a clean-up bait.

“This year, I had a Covert Finesse spinnerbait rigged up at the Bassmaster Elite at the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway,” Christie said. “If I feel like somebody’s fished this stretch, or if I’ve already fished it and I want to go through with a different bait, then I may pick up the Finesse.”

Noting that white and JC Special (green/white) are his most common spinnerbait head colors, Christie said the orange or red options perform best in dirtier water. This concept, he said, evolved from a problem-solution narrative.

“We throw a lot of red kicker blades in Oklahoma, but you have to have a tandem (blade setup),” Christie said. “So, if we were only using one blade, we started painting the heads red or orange.”

Now, BOOYAH offers color options to fit any scenario.

“For my spinnerbait skirt, the water color is what determines that,” Christie said. “The clearer the water, the more I like a natural color like JC Special. In dirtier water, I like some bright color mixed with dark, like chart/white/blue. That’s what I used when I won on the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway.”

As for blade color, Christie offers these general guidelines. Gold for dirty water, tandem silver/gold for midrange clarity, silver for clear, and copper for low light.

The newest element of the Covert family, the YUM Covert Spinnerbait Trailer, came from Christie’s vision for a one-size-fits-all design. Made with a seam marking an easy pinch point, this slender twin-tail trailer quickly converts from full size to a shorter version 2/3 of the original length.

“The full size fits the Covert spinnerbait; pinched down, it fits the finesse,” Christie said. “I didn’t want trailers for the finesse and trailers for the Covert.”

It’s doubtful that anyone who knows Jason Christie would question his spinnerbait expertise, but despite his decorated professional fishing career, he anchors his beliefs in a larger heritage.

“Most of all it’s confidence; it just comes from hours and hours of throwing these baits,” he said. “It’s not only my experience, but a lot of that confidence comes from what was passed down by my father and my uncle and my buddies.”