Gary Dobyns, the West's leading tournament money leader, turns to spinnerbaits to match a variety of fishing conditions. Photo by Chris Shaffer

Gary Dobyns lives every bass angler's dream: He quit his job to become a full-time professional bass angler. Rather than wearing business suits to work, he hops aboard a Ranger bass boat and fishes as much as he can to tune up his skills, learn and invent new techniques and to better understand the tendencies of the fish he's trying to catch.

While bass fishing for a living hasn't been easy, Dobyns has done well. Having amassed more than $1.5 million in winnings, he's the all-time leading money winner in the West, and much of his success has come from fishing spinnerbaits.

"It's a highly efficient big-fish tournament bait," Dobyns said. "You catch a lot of big fish on it and you don't lose many of them. It's got a big single hook, which gives you great hook penetration, and you can use a stout line. It's a reaction bait. You get a lot of strikes."

Anglers have a misconception of how versatile spinnerbaits are. The lure isn't just a shallow-running bait. It can be fished in all conditions. Whether it is near the surface or down more than 30 feet, a spinnerbait is designed to run through grass, in timber, on rocks, under docks and near other structure.

"You can use it as a fast-cranking reaction bait or you can slow roll it deep if fish aren't active. You can use small blades on it if you are trying to mimic the baitfish in the lake or put big blades on it trying to get a big bite to imitate a big shad or a big baitfish," Dobyns said. "A spinnerbait can be used in any condition. I throw them in the dead of winter on Clear Lake for big bass and in the sweltering heat in the summer at Lake Mead. There isn't a place where they won't work."

Spinnerbaits are user friendly. They are the ideal bait for a beginner to feel comfortable throwing them, just as they are perfect for a bass pro looking for that one last sticker fish on which to win a tournament. Learning when and where to fish a spinnerbait can maximize angler success. Fishing a spinnerbait isn't rocket science, but there are certain techniques that can yield increased success.

"You can honestly just chuck and wind it. As long as the blades are spinning you can catch fish. As long as the blades are turning it's in a fish-catching mode," says Dobyns, a Northern California resident who fishes exclusively with Revenge spinnerbaits. "Spinnerbaits are easy to fish. There really isn't a wrong place to throw them."

FISHING RESERVOIRS
One of a spinnerbait's best attributes is that it can be fished in natural lakes, reservoirs, ponds, river channels and tidal systems. Regardless of where bass live, they'll take spinnerbaits. Reservoirs are ideal spots to fish spinnerbaits for bass. Nearly every reservoir in the West harbors bass. While reservoirs, with their fluctuating water levels, require far different tactics than rivers or lakes, they too are ideal waters in which to use spinnerbaits.

"It's a body of water that fluctuates a lot so you don't have a lot of grass it in. Our western impoundments that are big and fluctuate a lot don't have grass, so you want to look for ambush points," says Dobyns. Rock walls, trees, docks, creek channels -- any structure is an ideal target for the spinnerbait angler. One thing is always certain: Bass will be on points.

"I'd fish it 10 feet deep and shallower," says Dobyns. "You have to fish all the way around the point, because you never know where the bass will be. Points are highways that always hold fish."