Spoons

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

When is the right time and what is the right rig for using spoons..

mac

[elfish16]

I always look around and see what the fish are doing. If the deep bait is around and fish are schooling I will either cast a Lake Fork spoon into the area and rip the spoon and/or get on top of the fish and drop an ice jig on them to get them to eat. Either way is incredibly effective.

Another way to fish the ice jig is on isolated spots; trees, bushes, rocks, etc. Fish is very slow and they will pounce on it.

My favorite is the giant spoons casting to schools of fish in 20ft plus. You can get some truly big bass on it!

[sky88s]

spoon fishing is truly incredible!..

what i found is that a spoon is sorta like a crankbait..due to the fact that you are literally rippin the spoon (depending)..try thinking about it as if you were to rip a crank out from the bass' mouth and in turn you miss the hit..after literally growin to love spoon fishing this past season ive been really testing out different spoons and set ups..this is what i learn and what i use..

a glass rod is a must (i use a 7 medhvy s rod for this) spoon fishing without a glass rod is not spoon fishing having one hit on a glass rod is tuly incredible and really fun!..u want the bass to load up before you set the hook..

high speed reel (i use a HS Zillion) this is really important due to the fact that majority of the time the bite will come on the fall..getting all the slack line and setting the hook is the next best thing about spooning..plus..most of the time most spoon fishes will probably be deep..you want something that will get line in fast!

as for the spoons themselves..size does matter!..color plays once in awhile..design is key in how the spoon is fished!..

as for time..i dont bother with it much during the warmer season..im thinking i should start though as im writing this..usually fall transition to winter months..deep points..flats especially!!..look for schooling bait..like the post above ^^..find em and drop it on their heads..when i do this i usually use any type of spoon..a fluttering spoon sorta like a Krocodile is what i prefer most of the time though..this can be dropped or cast out to a deep point and slow rolled..

one other thing i do is i count the depth..this is what brings me most of my success when spooling..

I start off by dropping the spoon all the way to the bottom..after the line has stopped..i reel all the slack line 'til my rod tip is pointed down to the surface of the water..for those who know me im not a real tall guy..depending on where i want my spoon to be..i measure myself..so if i want it to be about 6ft off the bottom then i measure my height once..12ft then twice..18..24..etc..that way i always know how deep my spoon is..

hope this helps. because this has certainly tuned up my spoon game..

tight lines,

Kong Moua

[Andy Giannini]

I farted around with spoons on the Delta trying to learn them and typically at the "wrong times" when you listened to the experts. I was just couldn't wait till the "right times". I needed to learn about it right now, and not just read crap in magazines etc.

My findings were, you can catch fish at ANY times with a spoon, and big ones. Best one on the Delta, just over 7 lbs. You can also catch random fish, even though you may not pattern them like on a lake around shad etc.

You can also catch many different species of fish or figure out, "what the heck are those fish on the sonar?"

Spoon fishing, can quickly indentify fish holding contours or structures, and put not just keeper sized fish, but toads in the boat.

Fart around with them. Spend some time jigging/fluttering/swimming, and just fiddling around.

.02 A.G.

(Mac, send me your mailing address in a PM and I will send you some spoons free of charge to go experimenting with. Regards, A.G.)