The Stan's Spin

More About Stan Stan's Archive

Part 1

I’m one of the luckiest old guys who ever picked up a rod.

Why do I say that? Well, that’s a story that takes some telling. For starters let’s just ask how many anglers you know who’ve had the rare good fortune to fish for a wondrous variety of sport fishing’s favorite species in lakes and rivers over a large chunk of the world?

And that’s just scratching the surface. There have so been so many different high spots that it’s a tad difficult sometimes to single out those I remember the most. Certainly one of them was having a lure maker ask if his company could put my name on a new spinnerbait he wanted to bring to market.

The man who asked that question was Ray McPherson, the founder of Mack’s Lure. It was Ray’s family, of course, that had already achieved world-wide recognition with its trout catching sensation the “Wedding Ring.”

When Ray, one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, asked that question I didn’t have an immediate answer. I’d never fished with the spinnerbait he wanted to sell as the “Stan’s Spin” spinnerbait.

My favorite spinnerbait is one that has my name on it. Here I display the Mack's Lure "Stan's Spin." Among other things, this uniquely designed lure put the second largest bass I've ever caught in a lifetime of bass fishing in the boat for me. I couldn’t answer because I knew I had to be satisfied that this new spinnerbait, different from any other spinnerbaits I’d ever seen, was really something I’d be happy to have my name on. McPherson had no trouble understanding that. He gave me several to try.

I was living in Florence on the central Oregon Coast at the time. I was keeping my bass boat in Siltcoos Lake, just one of a dozen or so fair to good bass lakes in that area. At one time Siltcoos had been one of the best of the bunch but in recent years had really dropped off.

The very first day I hit Siltcoos with the newly designed Mack’s Lure spinnerbait turned out to be one of the most productive days I’d had at the lake in recent years. The lure also got more fish for me than any of my other spinnerbaits on other lakes in the area. Ten Mile Lake was another of them.

When I got home from that first trip to Siltcoos with Ray’s new lure I made arrangements to meet with him. If you’ve followed things where Mack’s Lure is concerned you’re aware the Stan’s Spin has been available to anglers ever since.

Today it pleases the heck out of me to be able to tell any angler who chooses to listen just what the Stan’s Spin spinnerbait proved to my everlasting satisfaction. That is just how effective it can be when presented as it should be in situations where it works best.

This transpired late one evening at Mexico’s Lake El Salto. The Stan’s Spin nailed the second largest I’ve ever put in the boat. This one, weighed on a Boga Grip scale, a scale that’s accepted by the American Sports Fishing Association, hit 10-pounds, 4- ounces.

Smallmouth bass smack a Stan's Spin as readily as a largemouth. I've found this to be especially true on those rivers that have drifts of fairly fast water. This one came out of Oregon's Umpqua River. Just before I’d boated that lunker I had hooked another monster that I know darn well would have been even larger than the one I eventually caught but it threw the hook.

I’m equally convinced there’s another major reason the Stan’s Spin has gotten the results it has for me and other bass anglers. We’re showing those bass something they’ve never seen before. And that, my friends, can make one heck of a difference.

I’ve seen the results of studies of experiments done with bass under controlled environments. Some of those studies involved how a largemouth reacted when shown a lure it hadn’t been seen before and others that it had already been caught on.

The experiments proved those old bass aren’t all over stupid. They proved again and again that those fish weren’t about to grab something that they got in trouble by grabbing before.

Now I’m sure as heck not saying bass darn near everywhere haven’t seen a swarm of spinnerbaits. We all know they are one of the all time favorite baits for putting bass in the boat. But what I am saying is that they’ve not seen one built the way the Stan’s Spin is.

You can see this for yourself if you get a couple of ‘em and see what these lures do when they are dropped in the water. Those Flash Lite blades the Stan’s Spin comes with are something special. You’ll need to see it yourself to know what I’m talking about. For sure watch how the Flash Lite Blade has an action that looks like a miniature helicopter prop as it drops down next to cover.

Now and then I've had excellent success getting my Stan's Spin into openings in a pad field like the one shown here. The lure's Flash Lite prop spins as it drops. My hits usually come when I twitch my rod tip and cause the lure to jump forward. Hang into one like I have here and you'll have your hands pleasantly full for awhile. This action is one that lets you employ a variety of presentations and retrieves you may not have used before. Watch for my next “Stan’s Corner.” Among other things I’ll share details on how these retrieves have helped some bass anglers walk away the winner while using the Stan’s Spin under tournament conditions.

-To Be Continued-