Like most fishermen my age I originally learned about spinnerbait fishing for largemouth bass with my Dad. My class room was the back of an aluminum rental boat drifting the brush flats and rocky points of Irvine Lake in Orange County and Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara, CA. Both lakes were renowned southern California bass fisheries in the 1960's and 70's. Later I refined my techniques from the business end of a Nitro bass boat fishing team tournaments in the waters of the mid west for Smallmouth bass and Muskie.

In the last 30 years I have managed to refined my spinnerbait technique quite a bit. I now do most of my fishing from my kayak or a float tube but the target fish is still a bass albeit a distant saltwater cousin, the Spotted Bay Bass. The proving grounds are now Newport Harbor, the LA Breakwall and Mission Bay, San Diego. Most of the large harbors of Southern California's coast are filled with hungry spotted bass or sand bass that are just waiting to try this tasty treat.

Keep your tackle choices simple

I fish a 7' IM7 graphite baitcasting rod from Infinity Fishing Products, nothing fancy $49.95 retail. The rod is rated 8-15# test and has a 11" cork butt with a trigger grip and 4" cork fore grip. It's built with 1 foot Fugi SIC guides. I use an inexpensive Daiwa, low profile baitcasting reel. Basically the same setup you would use to throw spinnerbaits for largemouth bass with maybe slightly heavier line.

Spotted bass have very sharp teeth and side plates on their heads. With a spinnerbait you don't have to worry about the teeth but you do have to worry about their head platting. Spots have a tendency to trash and roll on the bait. For this reason the money you spend on line is more important than any other expenditure. I use 10# P-line. I like its overall characteristics, stretch, knot strength, visibility and its tuff! Sometimes if I am going outside to fish the breakers or kelp beds for Calicos I will step up to 12# test. Other good lines i've tried include Stren, Trilene XT and the new Cuda line.

Check your line and Re-Tie your spinnerbaits often! I can not stress this enough. At $6 a pop for quality saltwater spinnerbaits one mistake is to many.

For bait colors, I choose the basics. In most cases it