I was watching an Iaconelli video on what he calls the bait chaser rig & it looked interesting enough that I thought I would try it. I went yesterday & caught 8 bass & 2 crappie on a 4" swimbait using this method. Would I have caught the same fish without the blade? I don't know but i will prolly continue to use it. I was getting hit on the blade itself so I moved it back down closer to the swimbait. I may try it with a rattle trap or some other baits soon.

https://youtu.be/yN0O4FhLo_k

That's a pretty cool idea. I have used quite a few double rigs before but it's always been equal sized baits. Instead of a spinner bait blade, I'd use a Foley spoon on the front. That way the blade has a hook.

He got all Virgil Ward there at the end, with the tank demo.
I may have to give that a try.

I like that idea. I'm definitely going to try it sometime.

Did you have any hit the blade? I have always heard from people who have fished a preadator prey setup say that they often have the fish hit the prey/bait that's being chased.

Yes I had several felt like they hit the blade, I foul hooked a couple because of it.

if you've fished a spinnerbait much, at times you will catch several that are hooked under their lip, outside the mouth. if you raise the spinnerbait arm, you'll see that the blade goes right in their mouth. That rig is basically like a double fluke rig with a smaller fluke up front too. Old trollers used to often put a wet fly in front of a hellbender.

Kinda like FF said, a Foley spoon or a small crappie jig works great and has a hook in case the front one gets ate. White Bass and Stripers/hybrids can't resist. Stripers and Hybrids rarely hit the little one though. I use a double BG Baby Shad about 18-24" apart for Crappie pretty often too. Every now and then I'll reel in 2 crappie at once. I tried 3 BGs on one line but casting is a nightmare. It could possibly work ok for trolling if you just ease it into the water, but I haven't tried that.