I’ve spent a lot of time fishing with spinnerbaits throughout the years. My local climate allows me to fish shallow water throughout most of the year, so that has allowed me to test a bunch of different spinnerbaits. Ironically, I’ve actually started fishing spinnerbaits even more lately because for whatever reason, I feel like they’ve been largely forgotten in the angling community. With the emergence of bladed jigs, hardly anyone throws a spinnerbait anymore around here.
I have spent a lot of time fishing with the Advantage Double Willow Spinnerbait in recent months. Ever since the bass started moving shallow back in the spring, I’ve had this particular spinnerbait on my front deck. I’ll quickly run through its most noteworthy characteristics and share with you what I’ve learned about it.
The most flash I’ve ever seen
To be quite honest, I do everything I can to avoid making definitive statements like that in my reviews. But I couldn’t really get around it with this one. The Advantage Double Willow Spinnerbait blades emit the most flash I have ever seen in a spinnerbait; not by a little bit, either. The difference is significant.
You’ll notice their unique appearance right when you remove it from the package. The blades are made with what Advantage calls EFT (Extreme Flash Technology). These blades produce a holographic flash under water and from first-hand experience, I can attest to their drawing power. I love fishing the bluegill color around shallow grass and you can see the bass waking towards the spinnerbait from several feet away.
They’re not hammered blades; they’re much brighter than that. But they almost have a jewelry-like clarity to them and I would assume they’re laser-etched to create that insane flash. But that’s pure speculation. Whatever Advantage has figured out with these blades is something incredibly special.
Nice wire diameter
I’m very particular about my spinnerbait wires. I don’t like a big diameter because I feel like it restricts both the pulse of the lure and my ability to feel the blades turn. If a wire is too small, however, it’ll break after a handful of fish catches.
In my opinion, the Advantage Double Willow Spinnerbait is a happy medium of the two extremes. It has an excellent pulse in the water and I can easily feel the blades turn on a medium-heavy casting rod. But it has also proven to be quite durable. Both Sealock (our publisher) and I have been catching some really nice bass on these spinnerbaits this year and we haven’t had any issues with durability.
If you have to really lay the wood to a 5- or 6-pounder in heavy cover, the wire will bend and the spinnerbait will open up a little bit. But what spinnerbait doesn’t do that? A quick adjustment with pliers is all it takes to get back to fishing.
Impressive details
I’ve seen a bunch of funky-looking spinnerbaits over the years. For whatever reason, I think people try to do too much with the aesthetics at times and they lose sight of making them look simple and realistic. I want my spinnerbait to look as much like a bluegill or a shad as possible. I fish spinnerbaits a lot in the summer when we don’t get much rain, so I have to deal with a bunch of clear water. I don’t need a bunch of crazy stuff going on with my spinnerbait aesthetics. Keep it simple.
The Advantage Double Willow Spinnerbait does a great job at toeing that line. It’s simple looking, but also features small, realistic details that fool a bunch of clearwater bass. The heads are all hand painted, each one has flared gill highlights and ultra-realistic 3D eyes.
Beautiful and durable skirts
I’m really digging these skirts. I’ve never liked it when spinnerbaits skirts are held on by a cheap rubber band. They’ll either shred after a few fish or that rubber band will quickly dry rot in your tackle box. You’ll find this with a lot of the bargain bin spinnerbaits you see at tackle shops.
These skirts, however, look awesome and stay intact without any issues. The color patterns are very realistic and I like the two elongated strands on each skirt as well; they add a little more “flow” underwater and add to the forage profile in my opinion. The skirts are attached to the spinnerbaits with a heavy-duty band that doesn’t slide down and it keeps all of the 90-strand silicone skirt in the perfect position.
Final impressions
This is a great-looking spinnerbait for sure, but it performs even better. The blades spin freely at low speeds, the Mustad hook is an absolute tank and the blades will blow your mind when you see ’em in the water. If you’re a serious shallow-water angler, I’d definitely consider trying one out.
The Advantage Double Willow Spinnerbait is available at TackleWarehouse.com.
