The spinnerbait bite is just plain fun when it’s on. Sometimes however, just like any other genre of lures, the fish can turn off to a particular size of blade configuration, vibration, color or action which requires you to change it up.
One of the ways you can do that is carry different profiles including some that are smaller. The Nichols Elite Lo-Pro Double Willow Spinnerbait is one that we’ve been using a lot this season because it’s been catching a lot of fish for us and matches the forage in the early part of the year.
The Elite Lo-Pro does indeed have a smaller profile than the average spinnerbait but doesn’t sacrifice castability. You can get them in either 3/8 or 1/2 in the double willowleaf configuration in a variety of colors.
Not only can you get several skirt colors but different blade color combinations as well so that you’re throwing something that not everybody else has. This can be the edge you need to pick up fish while other anglers are struggling.
The Lo-Pro comes with blades that are perfectly matched to the smaller wire and head so that you don’t have one blade that is oversized making for an unnatural presentation. On the contrary, it all works in unison to imitate smaller prey when that is what the situation calls for.
The components are quality throughout and feature 3D eyes as well as a hand painted finish. There is nothing you have to do to tweak or alter this blade. Just take it out of the package, tie it on and get to work.
The Skinny on the Lo-Pro
The blades spin with ease and helicopter nicely on a dead drop. Pick it back up and start your retrieve and the blades come back to life without having to snap your rod tip. A little bit of of a start and stop retrieve makes the skirt come alive flaring and contracting to add to the attraction provided by the blades.
The blades are positioned nicely on the wire with the top blade extending only to the back of the head of the bait. This makes your hook-up percentage far above average for a spinnerbait. It also translates to not having to use a trailer hook if you’re averse to that.
We haven’t had to use one at all with this bait and have an excellent hook-up percentage.
One of the habits that we’ve gotten into is using a new bait straight out of the package without making any modifications to it. That includes, in the case of wire baits, not adding a trailer to them for at least some period of time to see how they perform entirely on their own.
In the case of the Nichol’s Lo-Pro we didn’t bother with a trailer of any kind for several trips because it generated strikes so consistently. That is a good problem to have when you’re dealing with a wire bait.
In our time with this bait, we have caught several species which we weren’t intentionally targeting. Trout, catfish, even large crappie have been seduced into biting the Lo-Pro.
Durability
While we’ve been throwing the Nichol’s, durability has been above average. The wire can and has been bent by some particularly hard fighting fish, however, we’ve always been able to bend it back so that it runs true. We have yet to break one although with any spinnerbait, it is bound to happen at some point.
This spinnerbait comes through sparse cover better than average. It isn’t particularly prone to picking up grass. The blades continue to spin even when you get a little bit of cabbage on them unlike many blades out there.
The Lo-Pro also glances off of cover better than the average bear. This allows you to put this bait in places that you might shy away from with other spinners. We’ve had no issues putting this blade deep in areas of emerging buggy whips, banging it off of the stalks as we retrieve it. Some of the hardest strikes have come doing just this.
It seems that in recent years the spinnerbait has been set aside in favor of newer, more “sexy” offerings like the A-rig. The interesting part is that the spinnerbait is the original A-rig.
It’s built to mimic a small schools of fleeing baitfish while providing a well defined target for fish to strike. It’s been around for a long, long time and we have no doubt that it will continue to be a staple in the bass fishing world as long as there are fish who prey on smaller fish.
The Nichol’s Elite Lo-Pro Double Willow Spinnerbait is a wonderful tool for targeting bass, and other species, when you need to downsize your offering to match the hatch. If you’ve never tried one, you really don’t know what your missing … or how many!
| Nichol's Elite Lo-Pro Double Willow Spinnerbait | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| A dynamite small profile spinnerbait | |
See ya’ on the water …