Rooster Tails - love em or hate em?

[GungasUncle]

Rooster Tails are my #1 spinner choice. The older rooster tails did spin easier, most of the time. I found the reason for this. All my old rooster tails had a perfectly formed U shaped clevis. Sometime in the last few years, they either changed sources for clevises or they changed the design, most have the U opened up so it's more like a V with a round bottom. This causes the clevis to bite around the shaft, and doesn't let the blade spin freely. 30 seconds with some needle nose pliars to bend the two ends of the clevis so that they're parallel solves the no-spin problem. Also, they do require a twitch to get the blade moving most of the time, but once you do that, the blades spin just fine.

The newer rooster tails with the offset body and sonic blade are nice, as are the ones with the colorado style blade (which are meant to be fished slower). I won half a dozen of the new lures on a contest over on iFish. I like them all, but the original rooster tail design is still my favorite. I also have a write up over there on rooster tail fishing - If I get some time soon, I'll rework it a little and post it up over here.

 

[Burl Swift]

Black/Dark grey bodied RoosterTails with silver blades have ALWAYS work for my wife and I while creek fishing.

This has been the case in California and Utah, and I'll be trying it here in Oregon this year. I love Roostertails, and have never had an issue with the blades not spinning unless I've beat the lure up in the rocks too much. Pliers have always got me back up and spinning though. I generally chip off the finish on the body and toss in the trash before the blade stops spinning.

 

[GungasUncle]

Burl - you don't need to chuck the lures - you can give them to me instead Or you can simply refinish them with the enamel hobby paint. The lead bodies are easily repainted, and new hackles are easily tied onto the old hooks if the hackles are gone.

 

[UGLYSTICKER]

I enjoy both roostertails and panther martins. I agree that you need to give a good tug on the roosters but I love em. They have brought many a dinner home.

agreed,
i love roostertails and even the ones i used in the 60s required a good tug, it's called setting the blade. sometimes if the blade is not set the treble will get caught on the line near the swivel.
whenever i use any kind of spinner i always set the blade. some brands spin better than others.

 

[PNW Sam]

I love em, but sometimes they have real trouble spinning unless they are moving FAST, so I usually only use them in streams.

 

[alseaalumaweld]

hate them there junk

 

[Drew9870]

Blue Fox is about the only brand I use, French blades seem to have a vibration like no other, plus, not only do you rarely/barely have to kick-start the lure, but you can actually feel it working 100%, oh, and they can be casted with 12+lb line, even a size 3.

Roostertail, needs a kickstart or three, you generally have to pay very close attention to know if your lure is working or not, I can't begin to tell you how many times I've reeled one in to find out it was never working, don't get how that is quality, one can tell they are a cheaply/poorly designed product by the packaging, it's gotta have a pretty label to catch this fisherman lol, I say, if a company can afford to market a fancy label, they can afford decent quality product components most of the time.

Everyone in todays world, should own atleast one Blue Fox of each size .

P.S. Anyone would find me purchasing a Mepps before a Roostertail, I give Roostertails away when I find them.

 

[juggernaut506]

I wouldn't like them so much if I hadn't caught so many fish on them. I've caught several salmon on the big black ones, hundreds of smallmouth on the medium red ones, and lots of trout on the small black/white ones.

 

[natro]

I wouldn't necessarily say I hate the Rooster Tail. It was the only spinner I used when I was a kid and did catch a heck of a lot of fish with them. And back then I never really noticed the non-spinning blade. But now that I'm older I have noticed it completely. Enough that I haven't bought a Rooster Tail in a few years now, but do still have a couple in my arsenal that were bought in the past. Now I use blue foxes. But, I never have tried bending the blade on the Rooster Tail. The next time I need to get some spinners I might just get some Rooster Tails and try bending the blade a bit just to see how well it works.

 

[TheFishingHex]

So, I've had some success using rooster tails in the past, and picked some up a couple days ago from the local BiMart. Bought four, but the blades wont spin on any of them. Have others noticed this happening, or am I doing something wrong? I grabbed a couple blue fox vibrax at the same time and they worked great...

Im a huge Roster tail fan, here is what iv noticed, first off if u dont buy the brand name roster tails and get the knock offs, ur screwed right off the bat, second is if they get bent at all, they dont work and iv seen so many people bend them trying to pull them out of the plastic, and i also noticed they work a bit better with thinner lower test line. but for some reason ill catch more fish with roster tails than any other brand, ie panther martins or blue fox. everyone has their likes and dislikes, but i love them. i wish that was all i needed was a roster tail.

 

[Born2Fish55]

Here are some of the easy fixes to make any Rooster Tail or Spinner work better...

Here are some of the easy fixes to make any Rooster Tail or Spinner work better...

1st - when you pull it from the package, test it by pulling it through the water... if it runs like a dead duck, fix it!

A couple of easy fixes...

• Tie directly to the eye and do not use a swivel.
• Use light lines and not cable.
• Tune the main wire to make it run true.
• Bend the blade to make it spin smoothly and correctly.
• Coat the existing paint with a little 'Sally Hansen Hard as Nails' for a little chip resistance.

Myself, I favor the Blue Fox for overall quality and performance, but ALL spinners will work if fished correctly.... and remember there is a big reason why 10% of Fisherman catch 90% of the fish. :think:

 

[spoonman]

I have a couple color combos of rooster tail that I always have success with. Keep themin my box at all timrs and on days where spoons arnt doing it, one of the two will usually produce a fish. Never had a problem with blades spinning, ever but I fish moving water so maybe that's why.

 

[Sparklemaker]

“Back in the day” I used Rooster Tails and Les Davis Bolo spinners exclusively and caught literally hundreds of trout and salmon. Never had a problem. The Bolo was hands down the best spinner I've ever used and now you can’t find one anywhere. Even then you’d have to give your rod tip a jerk to get those tails to spin.

 

[Aervax]

I remember a weekend of hammering big brook trout in a high mountain lake with rooster tails. It was the fluorescent orange body with bronze blade and brown hackle tail on it that did the trick. Mepps and Panther Martins, no go. My entire fly box, no go. Worms, Pautzke Balls of Fire and power bait, no go. Cast and let that Rooster Tail sink a couple seconds, then reel and twitch to get that flattened willow blade to start spinning. It was the only thing they were hitting at all that trip. Lake was in southern Utah with elevation at 10,500 feet. Nothing else we tried was working at all on those wild brookies. They were all running 14-18" long. About every 5th fish or so we caught was an Arctic Grayling of similar size. One of those trips we still rehash when we see each other 20 years after the fact. My spinner box carries 2 or 3 of those ever since, for that just in case case scenario where I am on a brook trout run and nuthin seems to be working. They have come in handy a couple times for brookies again, and once for tiger trout, too.

 

[Aervax]

@Sparklemaker I am sure there are a couple of those bolo spinners in one of my boxes. If I can remember to pull them out next time I come across them would be glad to send them your way.

 

[Sparklemaker]

@Sparklemaker I am sure there are a couple of those bolo spinners in one of my boxes. If I can remember to pull them out next time I come across them would be glad to send them your way.

I would happily take those Bolo’s off your hands! Keep me in mind if and when you run across them. Stan Fagerstrom turned me onto them years ago. He swore by them and so do I! Thanks!!

 

[Aervax]

Look what I found in the bed of my pickup while unloading. I forgot it was there. Back in early June I found it hanging from a low branch over one of my favorite spring smallmouth holes. I saw it when I started into the water that afternoon and left it hanging while I fished. Plucked from the tree on my way out, tossed it into the back of truck with rods, and forgot it was there. Haha.

 

[portlandrain]

Those ones are my favorite! As well as white, and watermelon. I have caught literally hundreds of native cutthroat on the Nehalem River with those three. There were days as a kid where we would float a couple miles in rubber rafts and catch 20 or so each in just a few hours. It's hard for me to tie on anything else.