Spoons

[Ted]

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I want to throw spoons but really never have for bass.

What are some your favorites?
Do you use different ones for deep, winter schooling bass as opposed to busting bass?
Is it a matter of letting them flutter down through the strike zone?
How do you avoid line tangle?

Thanks for any help!

[Ron C]

Rip (Kelly Ripa) is the resident spoon-meister around these parts. Perhaps he will jump in on this one.

For me, it's a Luhr-Jensen Crippled Herring and a Rapala Ice Jig. I also like one that Rip turned me on to a couple of years ago, but I'll let him tell you about that one (perhaps in a PM or e-mail), if he is so inclined. (Man I hate when that damn cat gets out of the bag).

Happy New Year!

Ron C

[Ted]

Rip (Kelly Ripa) is the resident spoon-meister around these parts. Perhaps he will jump in on this one.

For me, it's a Luhr-Jensen Crippled Herring and a Rapala Ice Jig. I also like one that Rip turned me on to a couple of years ago, but I'll let him tell you about that one (perhaps in a PM or e-mail), if he is so inclined. (Man I hate when that damn cat gets out of the bag).

Happy New Year!

Ron C

On the LJ what hook do you use?
Can you keep it relatively weedless?

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[Kelly Ripa]

Rather than rehash my same old take here I will send you a PM Ted and if you have more questions or want to talk tactics for particular lakes we can bring the questions back to this thread. Always happy to help.

[hippie]

You should call Pete him and Barry are master spooners or is that masterbaters

[Ron C]

On the LJ what hook do you use? Can you keep it relatively weedless?

I replace the stock hook with a Gamakatsu #4 round bend treble. Trust me, there is nothing weedless about spoons (at least the type that I use).

Ron C

[hippie]

try owner

[elfish16]

still to this day...one of the best spoons is a blue and silver kastmaster with a red treble hook. mix the sizes up and you can catch a ton of fish...

and of course the biggest attraction of the recent years...ice jigs are awesome too!

[mark poulson]

If you're spooning aroung wood, try putting red trebles on your spoons. For some reason, they seem to be softer and will open up or straighten out more easily if you get snagged.

[Oldschool]

Welcome to the site Ted.
As you learned quickly, detailed information is considered a secret on this site and not to be discussed openly for fear someone might learn something and catch your fish.
I'm not a spoon expert, however catch a few bass on them occasionly.
Spoons in SoCal are usually used for cold water period or deep structure fishing. You need a rod with a light fast tip that prevents the bass from tearing out skin hooked tissue to start with. Spinning or baitcasting both work OK for verticle spoons. 8 ot 10 lb FC line or 15 lb braid both work well.
You want to start with 1/2 oz and 3/4 oz chrome/shad color spoons for our local lakes.
Here a short list in no particular order; they all work.
Mr. Champ
Megabait shad
Kastmaster
Crippled Herring
Little Cleo
Bomber Slab
Johnson Sprite
Suggest changing the hook to a Owner size 2 or 4 chrome treble with white/chartreuse feathers. I'm not a fan of swivels, however use Berkley's clip to give the spoon freedom to flutter without snagging the main line.
You can cast to schooling bass or meter deep bass feeding on shad. You simply let the spoon fall through the baitfish on a controlled slack line unitl it reaches the deep the bass are feeding, then yo yo the spoon up and down about 6" to 12", no reason to rip it 3' to 4'. Watch the bait and keep on top them. Strikes can be slack line or a bump as the bass hits the spoons, lift and reel with the drag set about 2 lbs.
You be catching bass from deep water and need to learn how to release them quickly. I use a 8 oz torpedo sinker attached to another outfit and simple put the weight in the basses throat and lower the bass back down to the depth it was hooked, lift then reel up the weight.
Good luck.
Tom
Good luck

[Tony Lain]

Oldschool, great info!! You are right too, we need to share and exchange info more on this site. So far, this winter I've also caught a few fish with the Revenge spoons and the Revenge tail spinners. I work the spoon just like Oldschool described. I use the tail spinners the same way you slow roll a spinner bait. I also like to cast out really deep and work it up hill. Fast tip and softer rods work best, and reel set on the hook set. Shad and PMS are my favorite colors.

[Roboworm99]

Best part of Oldschools post:

You be catching bass from deep water and need to learn how to release them quickly. I use a 8 oz torpedo sinker attached to another outfit and simple put the weight in the basses throat and lower the bass back down to the depth it was hooked, lift then reel up the weight.
Good luck.
Tom
Good luck

So very important to release fish caught deep properly.

[tunaman]

You be catching bass from deep water and need to learn how to release them quickly.

Great info (as usual) Tom. Also, in addition to releasing them quickly, don't wind them up too fast or they'll suffer the bends much like a scuba diver... take your time bringing them up, and release them quickly to preserve the resource.

Also, don't forget to check out the Rapala ice jigs - deadly little buggers under those circumstances.

Roger

[Kelly Ripa]

Ummm. The reason I didn't post my information had nothing to do with it being sacred secret information. I wrote two articles on spooning and published one in Bass Angler Guide and the other on this site. I posted them both last year here on Western Bass and posted them both again just 2 months back. That's why I didn't want to rehash the same stuff for all to read and just cut copied and pasted the articles onto a PM and sent them to Ted who thanked me in a P.M.

If anyone wants to read them just send me a P.M. Or look up the one article here in the western Bass Library.

[some guy]

People are testy these days. Go hook a fish people. It's good for ya.

[Oldschool]

KR; is there a search tool to locate older threads on this site?
My tongue in check comment wasn't directed at you, as your are one angler who shares a lot of info.
Instead of using a PM, just post the links to information, that way several anglers can learn from your expertise.
I believe we met a Casitas a year ago Sept when I stumbled into a few big bass in the marina and spooned them.
Tom

[tunaman]

In case some aren't aware, there's a whole library of valuable information in the Library section:
http://www.westernbass.com/dotcom/library/

A great many pearls of wisdom and information for any angler, including the article that Kelly is speaking of... all for your point and click enjoyment and edification.

One of the many reasons that WB is separated from the rest of the pack, IMHO. If you haven't taken advantage of it, you should make this a part of your New Year's resolutions and make your way through the articles this year.

Roger

[wccjanel]

You should call Pete him and Barry are master spooners or is that masterbaters

Hmm, Pete, Barry, and hippie spooning -- that's not an image I want in my head.

[DeltaBound]

I say this site is lucky to have good people like Kelley Ripa and Tom (old school). Thanks guys for all your tips and techniques, it is apprecitated.

[Kelly Ripa]

Yes Tom that was me last year that you met after your spoon day in the parking lot at Casitas. I understand the comment was not totally directed at me and as you say some things are tough to come by. Detailed information like your post has become less the norm here as of late. When DougH and I informed you of the site in Sept. it was pre Quagga and much more about the fishing. I feel the nutcase membership had plenty of things to be unhappy about and very little to be thankful for and in general got grumpy. There are occasional threads that make up for this and I hope it has not detracted you from investing any more of your pearls of wisdom here. Believe me I think back to last year and you had Doug so close to making his own pork for his jigs that I had to remind him that your wife isn't his wife and she might not take it well watching him presserve and dye a bunch of pork in her kitchen . Roger is right about our library and I try to keep up with it but sometimes just brush up when I'm feeling needy.

[SoCalBassAssassin]

I read Kelly's article about spooning. It has been very helpful in understanding the technique. Thanks, Kelly...

[Marc]

You know, the funny thing about sharing information is that many simply don't believe what they read if the technique isn't something they already know how to do. I teach seminars all the time, and tell people what I catch my bass on after every tournament, and people assume you are really hiding the truth. I'll give you a good example...in 1979 when I moved to So. CA I found myself fishing deeper water than I was used to. I actually got onto the Rapala Ice Jig bite back then on Irvine Lake first. Throughout 1980 I really learned how to nail the bass on the ice jig while watching fish eat it on my Lowrance 1500 paper chart that I mounted on the bow of my bassboat (people thought I was crazy having a graph on the front of the boat back then also).

I actually did keep it quiet except for a few select friends in my bass club (San Fernando Valley Bassmasters). I won several tournaments on it and place well in others (Vail Lake, Piru, and Castaic in 1980 and 81). I began to speak about it openly in 1982, people flat out didn't believe me. You can verify this with Bob Taylor, the originator (owner) of this website when it was ncbf.com. He knew what I was doing, and others asked him all the time what I was "really" catching my ice jig fish with.

Finally in 1986 a few others started using the ice jig, and another person wrote about it (but didn't mention my name). Now, everyone is finally using ice jigs.

I really don't get why people are zipperlip about their secret technique. There aren't any magic bullets out there; successful anglers are those who learn how to fully develop the potential in any technique. That often takes many hours of investment in using a single lure and technique before it pays off. By the time you learn to perfect a technique, you might as well share it with others because they will be 6 months or more behind you in learning to perfect the technique. By then you should be learning a new secret technique.

There are a lot of good articles in the library section; you just need to pay close attention to the information that doesn't match your own experience, and then give that idea or technique an honest try before all your competition does.

ciao,
Marc

[Oldschool]

Dick Gaumer back in the late 70's did some seminars on spooning when he worked for Fenwick. Back then the deep water verticle spooning was fairly rare technique. Castaic at that time was producing lots of 4 to 6 lb bass for those who knew how to spoon structure.
Dick promoted the use of spinning tackle for spooning back then. Under hand casting the spoon out about the distance you wanted it flutter down and controlling the slack line as it fell through the water column, letting the spoon swinging down vertically until the it was striaght down, then a few yo yo's and repeat the process. Replacing the Hopkins or Kastmaster spoon treble hook with a size 4 chrome mustad was the hot ticket back then.
Rapala ice jigs were also being used back in the mid 70's. The problem with ice jigs; the nose and tail hooks tend to cause a lot of damage when the bass engulfs the jig. Changed to the air plane jig and resolved that problem.
Read Kelly's article, well written and informative. I'm not a advocate of the short rods for spooning, prefer the longer 6 1/2 to 7' rods with a more flexible upper 1/3 tip action to help prevent the bass from tearing off next to the boat. Never liked spinning tackle for spooning, too hard to control the fall and slower to set the hook verses a baitcasting reel, using your thumb, IMO.
Tom