Bass fishing with spinnerbaits is one of the few techniques that works year round. No matter the season, water temperature or fishery, there’s almost always an area you can run to in order to get bit on a spinnerbait. It’s in a class with only a few other baits in that regard. It just so happens that it’s one of my favorite baits to fish.
So anytime I get to review a spinnerbait, I get a little excited. Since I have fished a spinnerbait a lot over the years, there are certain things I look for in a bait and the bar is set pretty high for what qualifies as a good spinnerbait. Here are my thoughts on the Terminator P1 Pro Series Double Willow Spinnerbait.
Wire
For those unfamiliar with Terminator, they have produced several spinnerbaits in the past. Most, to my knowledge, have had a titanium wire. The value of using titanium for the wire is that it’s nearly impossible to bend or break. Well it will bend, but it snaps right back into place as soon as you let it go.
The wire in the P1 Pro Series, however, is made with 17-7 stainless steel. I was kind of bummed when I first heard about that before actually getting the bait because the titanium wire is what has kind of always set Terminator spinnerbaits apart in my mind; the arms of a lot of other spinnerbaits have bent and broken on me over the years.
Well after having fished with the bait now, I can tell you I don’t know the difference between 17-7 stainless steel and titanium. If you’d have asked me without my prior knowledge if they had changed the wire in this spinnerbait, I would have said no. Even when I tried to bend it, it still pops right back to its original form like the old titanium arms. So I was pleased with that.
Hook
I’ve gotten to where I really like an O’Shaughnessy-style hook, which is what I’d say this spinnerbait has. At first glance, it just kind of looks like a round-bend hook. But the hook isn’t really a true round bend, where it would kind of loop out in a near perfect semicircle.
Instead, the hook shaft comes down into the bend and gradually makes its way around only to sharply turn back up to for the point. I don’t really know the science of why this works better, but it does seem to work better for me. I have a few jigs and other baits with this style hook on them now that I really like and it seems to me that I lose fewer fish on them.
Trailer keeper
This spinnerbait has a bit of a unique trailer keeper, or a different one at least. There are probably a few other baits out there with a similar one but none come to mind. Where most spinnerbaits have a trailer keeper with one big barb sticking up, this spinnerbait has sort of a ribbed keeper.
I like jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits with the big barb keeper most of the time but when using a thin soft plastic as a trailer for a spinnerbait as I will do at times, those big barb keepers will often tear the thin plastic really easily and you have to replace your trailer a lot more. With this ribbed-style trailer keeper, you run into a lot less of that.
Hand-tied skirt
This spinnerbait has a hand-tied skirt, which is a pretty cool feature. We’re starting to see this more and more with skirted baits but it’s still pretty rare in the grand scheme with probably only one bait in a dozen that’s done this way. The reason I like it is because the more popular option of using a rubber band to hold the skirt together doesn’t hold up over time.
The bands used now do last a little longer than the older ones, but there have been times where I’d stock up on a dozen spinnerbaits that I really like, only to find the skirts had fallen off by the time I got down to the last few in my stockpile. The rubber bands would deteriorate and the skirts would just fall off. Not something you have to worry about with a hand-tied skirt.
Color, size and blade combos
This particular spinnerbait obviously has a double willow leaf blade combo but there are a few other options as well. Terminator also offers the P1 Pro Series series in Double Colorado, Colorado/Willow and Painted Double Willow. In addition to all the different blade combos, the baits are available in a wide variety of skirt colors and come in two sizes: 3/8-ounce and 1/2-ounce.
With all the different combinations, there’s a spinnerbait in this lineup for nearly any need. If you’re wanting to burn a 3/8-ounce spinnerbait with double willow leaf blades and a natural shad pattern in clear water, they’ve got you covered. If you’re wanting to slow roll a 1/2-ounce double Colorado spinnerbait with a white skirt in 3 feet of muddy water, they’ve got you there, too… and anything in between.
Final thoughts
There are plenty of options in the Terminator P1 Pro Series to give you an alternative for every outing. With the hand-tied skirt and impressively durable 17-7 stainless steel wire frame, this spinnerbait was built to hold up to both time and abuse. Throw in the well designed VMC hook and trailer keeper and you’ve got yourself one fine spinnerbait.
Coming in at under $8, the P1 Pro Series hits a sweet spot in the market with a top-of-the-line design and a midrange price point. All these things make it a great bait to try out in my opinion.
You can buy the P1 Pro Series Spinnerbaits here:
