Updated February 13, 2026
Updated February 6, 2025
Everyone has their favorite bait or lure for catching walleye, and for most people, it is the one that is catching fish for them right now. But when the bite stops on that favorite, it is time to switch up and change, maybe experiment a little.
For spinner rigs built on fishing line rather than wire, the components will include 1, 2 or 3 hooks, 1 or 2 spinner blades, folded or quick-change or Clip N Spin or Dutch Fork clevises and beads They also may include floats which also come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Consideration also needs to be given to how the spinner rig is tied both as to the type of knot used with the hooks and as to the leading end with either a loop or a swivel. This article presumes the audience is past the beginner stage in using rigs. You have a good idea of what you like and what works where you fish. But, if you are like me, you are always wondering “What’s new?” In this article, we’ll talk about five recent trends and the relative impact they are having on the industry in their early years.
HOOK COLOR
With the development of “slow death” hooks that roll with the worm, people have been debating whether they like them or not. They may have already reached their threshold of usage with no new large wave of adopters. However, even once you have decided upon the style or type, brand, size and number of hooks to be put on a spinner rig, you still have one more new factor to now consider. And that is the color of the hook. At first, we just had bronze hooks, then black and then red. Today on some popular makes and models, you have a dozen colors to choose from, both plain and fluorescent. Check with your local tackle shop to see if there are any reports on color of fish hook making a difference. Usually there will be none. Still today, I hear mostly about red and that seems to be the more popular color choice, but they are making those other colors of hooks for a reason. Somebody is buying them. If you go the new colored hook route, you will also have to consider whether you want your color choice to be fluorescent or not. If they are biting on fluorescent pink hooks, all else being equal, you may want to have a few handy. Time will tell if this is just a fad or a definite trend. Regardless of the other newer colors, I am pretty sure red hooks are here to stay.
SPINNER BLADE DESIGN
There are quite a few tried and true spinner blade designs and in all colors, shapes and sizes. A few years ago, we saw blades made from plastic being introduced, along with wing-shaped , hatchet (or tomahawk)-shaped, spiral-shaped, pear-shaped, v-shaped and frog-shaped. We still had our traditional propeller, Colorado (deep cup and regular), Indiana and Willow Leaf shaped blades to choose from as well. But what happened recently was three things – we saw an increase in the number of talented artists creating their own eye-catching awesome designs; we saw a huge increase in the popularity of purple as a color of choice from Lake of the Woods all the way over to Lake Ontario. And, thirdly, we saw the use of a color we never would have thought would have worked. That color is now commonly called “anti-freeze” in the spinner blade world. It has also been called “metallic chartreuse” and “candy chartreuse”. Ten years ago, it was more popular to use it on the back of spinner blades. But its popularity led to experimenting with it in designs on the front of blades. Artists have continued to develop variations in hues of antifreeze (there is a pink and a grape anti-freeze now) and various formulas for making it. So, keep a look-out for blades with an anti-freeze back or on both sides and give them a try. I now carry a lot of harnesses of all types with antifreeze on both sides or just the back. There are both UV and non-UV antifreezes out there to consider in making your choice, the UV ones being much brighter. Customers do very well with them.
Blue in all shades is making a gain in popularity and in particular robin’s egg blue.
Recently, I have seen an increase in sales of crawler harnesses made with size 4.5, 5 and 6 hatchet blades.
Most importantly, fishermen are more keen and discerning when it comes to UV paint on blades, whether it be fluorescent (highly-reflective like road construction signs) or phosphorescent (glow-in-the-dark). On my website, I now make sure I tag each harness with the appropriate paint properties.
BEAD STYLES
Bead choices for spinner rigs usually are based on round or faceted shapes and are plastic or glass. Some may be metallic. Sizes usually are 3 mm, 3.5, 4, 5, 6 and 8 mm and are usually chosen based upon the size of the accompanying blade. Now we are seeing three new bead styles that are being offered to the walleye spinner rig market. They are “eyeball” beads, “wedding ring” beads, and “minnow” beads. And just as their name indicates, they are designed to look like a small fish-eye, a small wedding ring and a small minnow respectively. With each there are color and size choices as well as design choices on the minnow beads. Kokanee fishermen swear by the wedding ring bead and they are also making inroads in walleye spinner rigs as well. I expect that one to stay. A large portion of the rigs I make have wedding rings in them simply because I like to add a touch of gold flash to the bead portion. Eyeball and minnow beads will be around for some time but the minnow bead in particular, is an expensive addition if you are producing a lot of spinner rigs. You also will need to rethink your spinner rig bead configuration if you are going to use a minnow bead. Where does it go and what is in front of it and behind it? I have tried them in a few different configuratons and settled on them as the main bead behind a size 3 gold willow leaf blade for now. I may try something else down the road. Stack beads are also a thing and I use them intermittently mostly beacuse I find their small end breaks easily and I can make a shorter version with one 4 mm, one 5mm and one or two 6mm beads that looks just as good and will last much longer. Also, you can look, but nobody anywhere makes a pure all-purple stack bead – yet.
SPINNER RIG CONFIGURATION – PROFILE SIZE
The incredible walleye fishery that is known as Lake Erie has had an enormous impact on the world of fishing tackle for walleye fishermen. Daily there are reports of full limits of jumbos. They are catching them on crankbaits, jigs and nightcrawler harnesses. A lot of the innovation in tackle and spinner design comes from the Lake Michigan to St. Lawrence River fishery especially from those in Ohio, MIchigan, Wisconsin and Ontario.
After marketing crawler harnesses for several years, I have learned that fishermen/fisherwomen have often very specific requirements for the crawler harnesses they will make or buy. As an assembler and marketer, I work with the client to make harnesses to their needs. Including, shortening the line, replaing the swivel with a loop, replacing the clevis with a different one of choice, adding a float and replacing hooks with a slow death hook.
There is one thing that has not changed. The magic number is still 30 inches. A 30-inch or greater walleye for anyone anywhere was, is and probably always will be considered a significant accomplishment.
We’ll keep watching the market and looking out for new trends. If we think they are more than just a thing, we’ll make some and bring them to you here on our site. Feel free to browse the rest of our site to see what spinner rigs / crawler harnesses we currently have in stock.
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