Bantam 9/08 and 9/11 Custom Spinnerbaits by Josh Rayner

In the weeks following Joe and Larry's epic day at Bantam Lake, Joe and I have re-visited the "hot spot" a handful of times in an effort to duplicate the experience with little success. Granted the pike are just starting to actively feed after a long summer, we've been anxious to get on some big fish even if it turns out to be a slow day.




Saturday we hit the water around 11. It was a short-lived outing, but before the monsoon we would soon endure, we each boated 2 pike and I got a bonus smallmouth on the way up to the north side of the lake which was way too windy to fish effectively. All 4 pike were taken by way of the 9/16oz. Booyah Top Secret spinnerbait in 4 feet or less in South Bay. I was throwing a sort of firetiger rendition with a chartreuse blade which seemed to be great with clear skies above. Joe was throwing his modified one with a hot pink blade and some red added to the skirt (details/photos below), which seemed to work well when the weather moved in. Both of the smaller pike we caught short struck and within a second hit again. The rogue smallie liked a white super fluke, who must have been suspending off of the sudden drop off Joe had noticed on the Humminbird. It was incredibly windy on the north end, and the rain chased us off not to mention soaked us to the bone.





The water was still very stained from the weed kill, but improved upon since our last visit. This however forced us to make some changes to our gear. As far as we could tell, gold and silver willow leaf blades and natural colored spinnerbait skirts were simply not cutting the mustard. We had to adapt. We took matters into our own hands and made quite possibly the ugliest spinnerbaits imaginable. Prior to these outings, I had purchased a War Eagle spinnerbait with white willow leaf blades. The glow that those blades put off is nothing short of shocking. It almost gives off a glow around the entire bait. We figured the brighter and more obnoxious the color of the blade, the more "glow" it will give off, especially in murky water on overcast days. So we purchased some hot pink and chartreuse spraypaint along with some gaudy replacement skirts and we had at it. We also threw a few trollers and jerkbaits into the mix. Using a Sharpie we added some subtle detail to our blades, and Dip-n-Glo markers to add some extra ugly to the skirts. I personally like a treble trailer hook on my pike spinnerbaits. Joe prefers a single. A spinnerbait is a very modifiable lure and the possibilities are endless.












a few of my bright ideas haha



Joe's spinnerbaits are already missing paint from teeth



Back to the lake again today, this time in our waders along the banks of South Bay, rigged up with more terrible looking spinnerbaits. I started off with this clown colored thing, then after about 3 casts I quickly realized that the water clarity had improved even more since Saturday. So I decided to throw a different spinner, with only half of the big willow painted chartreuse with polka dots, a white/chartreuse skirt and a chartreuse fluke trailer. I believe Joe was throwing white/chartreuse as well. In any event, we each missed a few strikes, Joe lost a nice one at his feet by the Morris launch, and I ended up landing one around 30".







Our success has been minimal but consistent, and any action from pike is exhilarating even if its just the flash of a short strike or a glimpse of a giant follower. As we learn more of the lake, it can only give us more options for times when there aren't 20 trophy sized pike stacked on one shallow flat. I'm still kicking myself for wanting to sleep in that day. - Josh