The Beetle Spin is legendary. One of the funny things was that if one took the spinner off the packaged jig it did as good as with it on. In many instances I think the spinner helped while the bait did amazingly well as a do nothing bait on a jig just sitting there at certain times of the year.... like in the pre-spawn to actual spawn for crappies when just the body on a jig under a float allowed to drift over a crappie bed would immediately be grabbed and moved away from the bed. Right now, while water temps are doing a nosedive, is another time when a bait like the Beetle's body just hanging at a specific depth can make crappies murder themselves. We find forage sitting at specific water depths at this time of the year and under a float, doing nothing but drifting along, letting whatever action the wind, waves and current, gives the bait is the best of the best way to hammer big crappies. In these instances, the spinner itself would be a drawback.
Post spawn and into the summer months when the water is warmer, but not yet real warm, is when the crappies are willing to chase, and these safety-pin spinners can shine. They can be dressed up with everything from plastic to hair and fuzz. Something I have done while the water after the spawn is warming and the crappies have a serious feedbag on is to clip one of these spinners to a small, sinking, crankbait instead of a jig/plastic. A smaller Rapala original sinking stick bait makes a great combo with an appropriately sized, clip-on spinner. This gives flash, noise and the lure's swimming action all wrapped up in one small package and larger crappies are usually more than happy to put the crunch on this rig when they're hanging out over open water.
