Do Bass Strike Skirtless Spinnerbaits?

Of course! Because bass bust anything they can (somewhat selectively) suck into their maw--which ultimately is anything with animal protein that will fit, although anglers do make a difference by what they present to these marauders, based on fishing conditions. A mouse is a mouse and the same nutritional value in summer or winter. But a suitable sized bass will devour it swimming on the surface during summer--and will not even sense it swimming the surface during winter (supposing that a mouse is released to swim from a boat to shore). 

As I usually do fishing my neighborhood pond, I took one lure and went with that. But tonight the skirt came off the little 1/8th-ounce spinnerbait my second cast, and a few casts later I had trouble with a short striking bass. That's when I second guessed myself and wished I had taken along that Senko.

But I walked on a few steps and hooked a smallish bass of about 11 inches. Then another came to my thumb just over a pound, two bass smaller than I'm used to here. But I only came out for a 20-minute spree before dark. This little pond is certainly quaint, but not nearly so exciting as the larger waters I've recently fished. I ended up catching four more bass, six total, two of them close to a pound-and-a half, but all spawned out, the other two over a pound by as many as three or four ounces. Most threw up a nice wake and took the little spinnerbait whole as it made a much smaller wake on the surface. Sure, bass will hit spinnerbaits without a skirt, and certainly a spinnerbait with a plastic bait in place of a skirt. Perhaps at a place like Manasquan Reservoir where all sorts of skirted spinnerbaits churn past bass that deny them, a skirtless spinnerbait would be an advantage.