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. That's a pretty big jump in price for what are, at least on the surface, essentially the same lures. All three were the same basic color and blade pattern, although they weren't exactly the same size. The Rooster Tail weighed about 1/4 ounce, the Ozark Trail was 1/16 ounce, and the Ready2Fish was approximately 1/6 ounce. The differences in size were mostly a result of what was actually available on the shelves. Both Walmart and Academy were surprisingly picked over, with most of the fishing selection sold out. Part of that may have been because I was shopping around Father's Day.
The goal of the test was simple: Which one catches more fish, and which one performs better in the water?
The First Test: How Well Do They Spin?
Since all three lures had similar colors and blade designs, I figured the biggest differences would come down to how well the blades actually spun and the quality of the hooks. I started with the Worden's Rooster Tail.
The Rooster Tail spun extremely well, even at slow retrieve speeds. I could let it sink close to the bottom and slowly retrieve it while the blade continued spinning. That's important with an inline spinner because sometimes you want to fish it slowly and keep it deeper in the water column.
The Ready2Fish was a different story. It did spin, but it required a considerably faster retrieve. When I slowed it down enough to get the lure toward the bottom, the blade would stop spinning and the lure would start moving more like a spoon. And that wasn't just a minor inconvenience.
When an inline spinner doesn't spin properly, the entire lure can rotate instead. That's a problem because it creates line twist. An inline spinner is supposed to have the body remain relatively stable while the blade rotates around it. Without that stability, the whole lure can start spinning and twisting the fishing line.
The Ozark Trail was already showing signs of the same problem.
Ironically, before I could even properly test the Ozark Trail's swimming action, it caught a fish. The lure hit the water and almost immediately got a bite and landed a fish. So, after only a few casts, the Ozark Trail was ahead of the Rooster Tail in the most important category: actually catching something. It also got another solid bite shortly afterward, although the fish didn't get hooked.
At one point, the Ozark Trail had produced one landed fish and multiple bites while the Rooster Tail was still looking for its first bite.
There was also another interesting advantage to the cheap lure: losing one isn't nearly as painful. At roughly a dollar apiece, you can lose several Ozark Trail spinners for the price of one $4 Rooster Tail. That's worth considering if you're fishing around heavy cover where snags and break-offs are common.
After moving to another spot, the Rooster Tail finally started producing. It got several bites, although hooking the fish proved to be surprisingly difficult. I had multiple fish come off right at the surface or just before I could get them landed. Eventually, I got one into my hands, a nice sunfish. Later, I “landed” another one after a fish slipped off and landed at my feet. That gave the Rooster Tail two fish for five bites or attempted hookups. It wasn't exactly an impressive performance for a lure that I already knew could do much better, but the conditions were becoming increasingly difficult.
The water was high and muddy, with very little visibility. In some areas, there was essentially zero visibility. That made it difficult to judge the lures purely by their fishing performance.
Rather than continue fighting the muddy water, I moved downtown to the flood-control inlet area to finish the test. The water there was still brown, but there was considerably more visibility. I could actually see the bottom without polarized sunglasses, which made it much more promising for fishing a spinner. The Rooster Tail immediately got another bite, but the fish came off. Eventually, I landed another sunfish, giving the Rooster Tail its first successful fish of the new location.
I landed another shortly afterward, although it slipped off after reaching the bank and I counted it again as it hit the ground at my feet before bouncing back into the water. The final Rooster Tail tally was two fish landed from five bites or hookup attempts during the test. Not spectacular, but enough to demonstrate that the lure was still capable of producing in difficult conditions.
Next up was the Ready2Fish inline spinner.
The Ready2Fish had a feather arrangement more similar to the Rooster Tail than the Ozark Trail. Both used relatively straight feather strands, while the Ozark Trail had a softer, fluffier feather that was more reminiscent of marabou. Unfortunately, the Ready2Fish immediately showed the same basic weakness as the Ozark Trail. It didn't want to spin at slow speeds. To keep the blade spinning, I had to retrieve it faster. That meant the lure stayed higher in the water column instead of allowing me to slowly work it closer to the bottom. That was a major advantage for the Rooster Tail.
With the Rooster Tail, I could retrieve extremely slowly and still get the blade spinning. That gave me much more control over the depth of the lure. The Ready2Fish simply couldn't match it.
The Hook Difference
Another potential difference was the hook. The Ready2Fish had a smaller hook than the Rooster Tail. That might actually be beneficial when targeting smaller panfish because a smaller hook can be easier for a fish to get into its mouth. But it could also contribute to missed hookups depending on the situation. Unfortunately, I never got a fish to bite the Ready2Fish during this test, so there wasn't enough evidence to determine whether the smaller hook was actually an advantage.
The lure itself seemed to perform better than the Ozark Trail, but without any fish to verify that performance, it's difficult to draw a conclusion about its effectiveness. The more I fished the Ozark Trail and Ready2Fish spinners, the more obvious the biggest problem became.
They simply didn't continue spinning consistently.
Initially, they appeared to work, but after some use, the blade would stop spinning properly and the lure would essentially turn into a small spoon, or the entire lure body would spin. That created significant line twist. Every time I brought the lure out of the water, I often had to let the line unwind. Eventually, I started getting knots and tangles that had to be cut out. This got even worse after getting snagged and having the lure bent. Once the lure became bent, its ability to spin properly deteriorated.
The difference was that the Ozark Trail eventually started having the problem even without being noticeably bent. Both of the Ozark Trail spinners I tested eventually stopped working properly after only a relatively short period.
So, Which Inline Spinner Wins?
Despite the fact that the Rooster Tail was the most expensive lure in the test, it was the clear winner in terms of performance. The Rooster Tail consistently spun at slow speeds, produced less line twist, and allowed me to fish deeper and more slowly. It also continued working properly even after getting bent and worn. The Ozark Trail was the surprise fish catcher early in the test, landing a fish almost immediately and producing additional bites. But its spinning performance deteriorated quickly, and the resulting line twist became a major problem. The Ready2Fish appeared to perform better than the Ozark Trail, but it still couldn't get a bite or match the Rooster Tail when it came to slow retrieves and fishing deeper in the water column.
And then there's the price.
The Ozark Trail was only about 96 cents. The Ready2Fish was roughly $1.30. The Rooster Tail was around $4. So, while the Rooster Tail costs several times more, you're getting a lure that simply works better. In this case, you really do get what you pay for.
There's one important caveat to this conclusion.
Even though the Rooster Tail won this particular comparison, most people still wouldn't consider it the best inline spinner on the market. I've used Mepps spinners extensively, and despite their reputation, I personally prefer the Worden's Rooster Tail. I find that the Rooster Tail performs better for the way I fish, and it's also generally cheaper than the comparable Mepps options.
So while the Rooster Tail won this battle against the Walmart alternatives, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the undisputed champion of inline spinners.
It's also important not to put too much weight on the number of fish caught during this particular test. The fishing was simply tough. After throwing three different inline spinners in difficult water conditions, I only managed to land three fish, and all three were sunfish. That's not representative of what these lures can normally do.
I've personally caught 70 white bass in a single day on a Rooster Tail, so I already know what the lure is capable of. Catching only two fish on it during this test doesn't suddenly mean the lure isn't effective. If anything, the difficult conditions probably had a much greater impact on the results than the differences between the lures.
The Ozark Trail landed one fish and produced three bites, while the Ready2Fish didn't produce any bites during the test. But that doesn't necessarily mean the Ready2Fish is incapable of catching fish.
The Verdict
If you're looking for the cheapest possible inline spinner and don't mind replacing them frequently, the Ozark Trail is hard to argue with at less than a dollar.
You can buy several of them for the price of one Rooster Tail, making them a reasonable option for fishing areas where you're constantly losing lures.
The Ready2Fish appears to be a step up from the Ozark Trail, but it still doesn't perform as well as the Rooster Tail at slower speeds.
For me, though, the Worden's Rooster Tail is the clear winner.
It's more expensive, but the blade spins reliably at slow speeds, it can be fished deeper, and it doesn't create nearly as much of the line-twist headache I experienced with the cheaper alternatives.
The results weren't necessarily about which lure caught the most fish on this particular day. They were about which lure performed the best, and in that category, the Rooster Tail was the clear winner.
Sometimes, the cheap option really is good enough.
This just wasn't one of those times.