I would appreciate advice from Bob La Londe, John Kerr, Calif Bill, or any
others who are knowledgeable about fishing spinnerbaits for bass in Southern
California reservoirs.

A father wants to buy a special Christmas present for his 15-year-old son
who has developed a passion for fishing. The dad is originally from New York
City and never fished growing up. Today they live near Los Angeles. A few
years ago the family took a vacation to Maine and stayed at a beach
community where there was a stream or tidal inlet with big striped bass. The
son had never seen fish like that and wanted to catch one, so the dad took
him to Wal-Mart and bought him a rod and some gear. They spent the next ten
days trying to catch one of those stripers. Although they never landed a
fish, the boy did have one memorable hookup. From that point on, he was
hooked on fishing.

Nowadays, the father and son go fishing together as often as they can. Over
Labor Day weekend, they drove up to Santa Barbara and fished Lake Cachuma,
catching mostly some small bass and trout. They've also fished Laguna Niguel
Lake and have caught some nice Alpers Rainbow Trout there. (See
http://www.lagunaniguellake.com/.)

The son devours a ton of fishing magazines, many of which are devoted to
bass fishing. Since so many trophy bass come out of southern California, the
son is itching to hang into one of those big trout-eating bass. For
Christmas, he requested his dad get him a couple of Secret Weapon Master
Pack 500s. He explained to his dad about the different patterns and has his
own ideas on weights (he suggested 5/16-ounce stained-water and 9/16-ounce
clear-water (naturals) Master Pack 500s.

So... what spinnerbait combinations (size, patterns, blade combinations)
would you recommend for this young fishing fanatic?

Incidentally, the father loves going fishing with him because it is such a
nice time together for them, including talking on the drive to and from
whatever lake they fish. He says it is generally so relaxing for him to be
fishing that he doesn't even really care if he catches anything, but his son
sure would like to catch a lunker.

Thanks for your help.

Joe