Inline spinners are about as simple as fishing lures get, but that doesn't mean all inline spinners perform the same. For this test, I put two inexpensive Walmart options, the Ready2Fish and Ozark Trail inline spinners, up against the name-brand Worden's Rooster Tail to see whether spending more money actually gets you a better lure.
The price difference was significant. The Ozark Trail spinner cost just 96 cents, while the Ready2Fish was around $1.20–$1.30. The Worden's Rooster Tail, meanwhile, cost about $4. A big jump for what are, on the surface, similar lures.
All three shared basic colors and blade patterns, though sizes varied based on what was in stock: Rooster Tail ~1/4 oz, Ozark Trail 1/16 oz, Ready2Fish ~1/6 oz. With Father’s Day shopping, shelves at Walmart and Academy were surprisingly picked over.
I expected the biggest differences to come from blade startup and sustained spin, plus hook quality.
Rooster Tail: Spun extremely well, even at very slow retrieve speeds. I could crawl it near bottom and the blade kept turning, huge for fishing deeper without racing the lure.
Ready2Fish: Needed a noticeably faster retrieve to keep the blade spinning. Slow it down and it would behave more like a spoon.
Ozark Trail: Showed early signs of another problem—when the blade wouldn’t spin, the whole lure tended to rotate, creating line twist.
Ironically, the Ozark Trail caught the first fish almost immediately, and it produced more bites shortly after. Early scoreboard: Ozark Trail ahead of Rooster Tail in the only category that ultimately matters, getting bites.
There’s also a real advantage to a $1 lure around heavy cover: losing one hurts less than losing a $4 Rooster Tail.
After moving spots, the Rooster Tail finally produced. It got multiple bites but had trouble keeping fish pinned, with several coming off near the bank. I eventually landed two sunfish on five total bites/hookups.
Conditions were tough. High, muddy water with almost no visibility, so it wasn’t a clean test of fish-catching so much as lure performance.
I shifted to a downtown flood-control inlet with better visibility. The Rooster Tail quickly got another bite and then a landed fish, followed shortly by another. Final Rooster Tail tally for the day: two fish from five bites at the test locations.
The Ready2Fish’s feathers were more like the Rooster Tail’s than the Ozark Trail’s fluffier marabou-style. But it shared the same weakness as the Ozark Trail: poor slow-speed blade spin. To keep the blade turning, I had to speed up, which kept the lure shallower and limited depth control—an area where the Rooster Tail excelled.
The Ready2Fish used a smaller hook than the Rooster Tail. That could help with small panfish, but I didn’t get a bite on it during this test, so I couldn’t confirm whether it improved hookups.
After more casts, the cheap spinners’ biggest issue became obvious: they stop spinning consistently. When the blade stalls, the body spins and twists line badly. Snags and slight bends made performance deteriorate even faster. Both Ozark Trail spinners I tested quit working properly after a relatively short time—sometimes even without obvious bends.
Rooster Tail wins on performance. It starts and keeps spinning at slow speeds, produces less line twist, and lets you fish deeper more deliberately. It kept working even after getting bent and worn.
The Ozark Trail was the surprise early fish-catcher, but its spinning performance fell off fast. Ready2Fish seemed a bit better than Ozark Trail, but it still couldn’t match the Rooster Tail for slow retrieves and depth control.
Even though Rooster Tail won this comparison, that doesn’t mean it’s the ultimate inline spinner for everyone. I’ve used Mepps a lot, and despite the reputation, I personally still prefer the Rooster Tail for how I fish—and it’s usually cheaper than comparable Mepps.
The fishing was just tough. I’ve caught 70+ white bass in a day on a Rooster Tail before. Landing only a few sunfish here doesn’t change what the lure can do under normal conditions. The Ozark Trail landed one fish and had three bites; Ready2Fish had none this day, but that doesn’t mean it can’t catch fish.
On a budget and likely to lose lures? Ozark Trail at $1 each is hard to beat for disposable use. Ready2Fish is a slight step up, but still lags the Rooster Tail when you need slow, controlled retrieves.
My pick: Worden’s Rooster Tail. It costs more, but it just works, reliably spinning slow, fishing deeper, and creating far less line twist. In this test, you really do get what you pay for.