It’s just fun to catch bass on a spinnerbait. If you polled anglers about all the different bass fishing lures based strictly on the “fun factor,” spinnerbaits would rank somewhere near the top, maybe just below a topwater bait or two.
Brandon Card is having some fun this week at the FXR Pro Fish Bassmaster Elite on the St. Johns River. He had more fun on Day 1, when he weighed 20 pounds even and was in 6th place. He followed that with 13-9 on Day 2 to finish in 10th place.
“(Thursday) afternoon I culled three or four times with quality fish,” Card said. “The afternoon bite (Friday) was non-existent.”
There have been times when a spinnerbait was non-existent among Card’s go-to lures. But he’s back on a spinnerbait kick, specifically a ½-ounce Advantage Bait Ultimate Shiner, a double-willow leaf lure with gold blades and a gold skirt. The blades have a hammered pattern on them, which gives them a different flash in the water, touted as “Extreme Flash Technology.”
“The deal with me and a spinnerbait is there’s times that I throw it a lot, and for some reason, there are times when I don’t throw it for a while,” said Card. “Then I’ll pick it back up.
“Last year I hardly threw it any. This year, since I’m catching them so good here on it, I’ll probably throw it a lot. It’s weird how certain baits just kind of cycle through with what you’re doing. One year I was crushing them on a jerkbait everywhere I went. Then last year I didn’t really catch many on a jerkbait at all. It was mostly soft plastics.”
Speaking of soft plastics, you may have noticed the 38-year-old Salisbury, N.C., pro was very specific about the spinnerbait he’s using, but not so much about the trailer he’s adding to it.
“I don’t want to talk about the trailer,” Card said. “It’s not crazy important, but there aren’t many guys fishing this on a spinnerbait. I do feel like there are a lot of guys who put those paddletail swimbaits on spinnerbaits. I totally got off that deal.
“The problem is whenever the blades are moving, it disturbs the water and the swimbait doesn’t swim right. If you see underwater footage of a spinnerbait with a paddletail swimbait on the back, it looks like garbage.”
This is Card’s 14th season on the Elite Series, after becoming the first to qualify for it from the Bassmaster College Series. He’s finished as high as 22nd – twice – in the Angler of the Year rankings. He’s approaching $1 million in B.A.S.S. earnings, currently at $930,548. He’s qualified for seven Bassmaster Classics.
Card has been through a learning curve at the St. Johns River. His first time here in 2012 he finished 21st. Then came disasters of 100th place in 2014 and 101st in 2016.
“I used to sight-fish here, and the results were terrible,” Card said. “But once I said I’m never going to sight-fish on the St. Johns anymore, then I started doing good here. All the shallow cover suits me.”
Only once in the five St. Johns Elite Series tournaments since 2016 has Card failed to make the Day 2/Top 50 cut. He’s never made it to Day 4, finishing as high as 18th in 2022. But after two days this week, Card has given himself a chance to post a Top 10 finish today.
