In an angling world laden with technically enhanced offerings, the continued popularity of the straight-shaft spinner is a testimony to its effectiveness. In many situations, spinners catch numerous species of fish.

Regardless of the fish being sought, spinners have certain inherent qualities that have allowed them to stand the test of time.

At the foundation of their many attributes is the combination of flash and vibration the lure presents.

As the spinner blade revolves around the shaft of the lure, it provides flash, the level of which is dependent on the style of the blade, clarity of the water and brightness of the day.

The thrumming vibration the angler feels through the rod as the blade bites the water undoubtedly sends waves that a fish can detect by way of its lateral line.

By choosing a certain weight of lure and style of spinner blade, one can determine the depths at which the lure will run.

The three common spinner shapes are the Colorado, Indiana and willow-leaf blades.

Colorados are roundish and have a lot of lift. Spinners adorned with these rounder blades tend to run higher in the water column.

By contrast, the thin, narrow willow-leaf blade provides lots of flash but little lift. Spinners so equipped run deeper.

The Indiana, blade-, shape- and action-wise, falls between these two extremes.

While spinners catch fish in stillwater environments, they are particularly effective in current situations. A retrieved spinner will dart and flutter when fished in a stream or river.

Hair and soft trailers can be incorporated in a spinner. Such trailers can be useful in adding additional triggering mechanisms, furnishing additional bulk to the lure so that it rides higher and providing a means of adding scent to the lure.

It's likely many of us made the progression from natural bait to artificials by catching a stocked stream trout on a spinner. Spinners continue to catch stream trout, from cold opening days when water temperatures may be down in the 40s until the heat of summer elevates things to the upper 70s.

The most popular spinner sizes for stream trout run from 0 to a No. 2. In general, when the water is clear, lean toward the smaller sizes within this range. In darker water situations, where a larger profile and more flash would be advantageous, tilt things to the larger sizes.

Most folks targeting trout use spinners with Indiana, willow- leaf or a French blade, which is a bit fatter than a willow leaf, but not as much as an Indiana. Most spinner blades are affixed to the spinner shaft by way of a metal clevis.

Another design puts the spinner shaft directly through the blade at a point where the blade has a concave indentation. I've found such spinners to be especially effective on stocked trout.

While opening-day crowds sometimes limit an angler's ability to walk the creek, hitting the high percentage areas, once things thin a bit, a spinner angler really can cover some water.

Similar to a bass fisherman chucking a spinnerbait along the bank, looking for active fish, a trout angler can kick things into high gear, working pools and runs relatively quickly.

A cross-stream presentation most often is the appropriate one for targeting creek trout with a spinner. Cast slightly upstream, allowing the lure to drift downstream as it is retrieved.

The use of polarized glasses allows one to visually pick out feeding lies — current-deflecting rocks, pool edges, sunken logs — and guide the spinner around such places.

By working the creek in an upstream direction you are less likely to spook fish when you cast and when you play a hooked fish.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.