spoons and bass

[Mr.Sheephead]

what is the difference between a casting spoon and a jigging spoon and how do you fish them?

some guy was landing big bass with some cheapo clearence sale spoons that were the size of a pike lure

[RoLo]

A true' spoon looks like an actual spoon, a cupped metal lure

like the Johnson Silver Minnow or Eppinger Dardevle.

Spoons can be buzzed across the surface, known as skittering,

they can be fished just below the surface, called bulging' and waking',

retrieved at middepth with a constant rocking action, pumped with a lift & drop retrieve,

or slow-rolled near the bottom. Every angler has his or her pet spoon,

mine is the Johnson Silver Minnow which can be fished where buzzbaits fear to tread

For vertical jigging, which is most popular during the winter, a bladebait is generally used

like the Reef Runner Cicada or Manns Little George.

Roger

[SirSnookalot]

No wrong way to fish a spoon, Rolo covered them well.  We all have are favorites, for freshwater I like Wahoo Redfish spoon, Mepps cyclops and J-spoon.  Saltwater I like a Tsunami and my favorite is a plain generic spoon for $2.50.  I like to jig them all and catch most of my fish on the drop, 75% of my fishing is done with spoon.  Contrary to what many believe spoons are a great night time bait, we kill the fish in the middle of the night on spoons.

[RoLo]

Sir Snook, if this forum weren't freshwater oriented, you & I would be rapping about

Drone Spoons, Pet Spoons, Clark Spoons, Hopkins Spoons & AVA Diamond Jigs ;D ;D

Roger

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

No wrong way to fish a spoon, Rolo covered them well. We all have are favorites, for freshwater I like Wahoo Redfish spoon, Mepps cyclops and J-spoon. Saltwater I like a Tsunami and my favorite is a plain generic spoon for $2.50. I like to jig them all and catch most of my fish on the drop, 75% of my fishing is done with spoon. Contrary to what many believe spoons are a great night time bait, we kill the fish in the middle of the night on spoons.

Nice to know that. I wasn't aware that spoons would put off enough vibration for night fishing.Thanks for the info.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Anybody ever get into gluing rattles inside their spoons? I know about the nemire spoon thats has a rattle, but I don't like that spoon.

[Carrington]

If you are looking for a spoon to catch bass i would seriously look at a fluttering spoon.  I will let it sink to the bottom and then i will almost set the hook to make the lure pop 2-4 feet off the bottem, then let it rest again and do the proceder all over again.

[backwater4]

1/4 and 1/2 Hopkins fished over deep structure go hand in hand with blade baits. By alternating, it sometimes adds a few more fish. I like both of these baits this time of year when the fish move to deeper water.

[gobig]

Wow its been a while since I have heard someone mention a pet spoon. I have caught more stripers on a pet spoon than any other artificial. Used to use the diamond jigs for lingcod a lot back in the day also.

[5bass]

We fish Sutton and Hopkins spoons the most around here but anything that will flutter on the fall and puts off a good flash will suffice a lot of the time.

Fished vertically, it's best to put them and keep them in the zone, so it pays to pinpoint the depth of the fish first, then drop the spoon and count it down into the zone.

I hardly ever throw a spoon and retrieve it horizontally.

[fishfordollars]

We fish Sutton and Hopkins spoons the most around here but anything that will flutter on the fall and puts off a good flash will suffice a lot of the time.

Fished vertically, it's best to put them and keep them in the zone, so it pays to pinpoint the depth of the fish first, then drop the spoon and count it down into the zone.

I hardly ever throw a spoon and retrieve it horizontally.

X2, up and down, all you need to know. Put it at the right depth and it will outfish just about anything.

[RoLo]

I ran into a good article on spoons today and immediately thought of this post.

The article did not get into bladebaits or flat metals, but dealt only with

true spoons. In fact, it's the best read I've ever seen on the Johnson Spoon,

and I tip my hat to the author. The article is entitled "Johnson Silver Minnows"

and the search words include: "Weedless Wonder" & Splashdown

While on the subject of spoons, Roland Martin boated the two heaviest bass stringers

of his life while cranking Johnson Spoons through salad. He accomplished this many years ago

when the daily limit was 10 bass on Santee Cooper. On separate occasions,

Roland bagged an 87 lb stringer (8.7 lb avg.) and a 79 lb stringer (7.9 lb avg.)

every bass fell for a 1/2 oz Black Johnson Spoon! Not surprisingly, the J-Spoon is Rolands

favorite Big-Bass lure. The story is in Roland's book on page 213:

http://books.google.com/books?id=3btYCspbBUUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=101+secrets+roland+martin&source=bl&ots=tGQMFGc1bU&sig=Fku6SukV9854iJLb0V8Tdf91tXs&hl=en&ei=Qp_PTMa-BIaKlwf11tzHBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Roger

[Jigfishn10]

I've been experimenting with a Deadly Dick #3/4 lately with good results on LMB.

I use the Deadly Dick on saltwater stripers and really like the action to it. I got off work early one day and had one in my truck so I tried it in fresh water. I caught a couple on it that day and decided to try it out a couple more times. So far so good.

The manufacturer claims it can be used for both horizontal & vertical presentations.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I've had success on Northland's weedless jawbreaker spoons fished horizontally

[5bass]

I ran into a good article on spoons today and immediately thought of this post.

The article did not get into bladebaits or flat metals, but dealt only with

true spoons. In fact, it's the best read I've ever seen on the Johnson Spoon,

and I tip my hat to the author. The article is entitled "Johnson Silver Minnows"

and the search words include: "Weedless Wonder" & Splashdown

While on the subject of spoons, Roland Martin boated the two heaviest bass stringers

of his life while cranking Johnson Spoons through salad. He accomplished this many years ago

when the daily limit was 10 bass on Santee Cooper. On separate occasions,

Roland bagged an 87 lb stringer (8.7 lb avg.) and a 79 lb stringer (7.9 lb avg.)

every bass fell for a 1/2 oz Black Johnson Spoon! Not surprisingly, the J-Spoon is Rolands

favorite Big-Bass lure. The story is in Roland's book on page 213:

http://books.google.com/books?id=3btYCspbBUUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=101+secrets+roland+martin&source=bl&ots=tGQMFGc1bU&sig=Fku6SukV9854iJLb0V8Tdf91tXs&hl=en&ei=Qp_PTMa-BIaKlwf11tzHBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Roger

You Floridians are lucky to have grass, pads, reeds etc. I'd be more inclined to throw a 'spoon' horizontally if there was any salad to fish up here. It's straight up vertical jigging suspended fish around here.

[bilgerat]

I ran into a good article on spoons today and immediately thought of this post.

The article did not get into bladebaits or flat metals, but dealt only with

true spoons. In fact, it's the best read I've ever seen on the Johnson Spoon,

and I tip my hat to the author. The article is entitled "Johnson Silver Minnows"

and the search words include: "Weedless Wonder" & Splashdown

While on the subject of spoons, Roland Martin boated the two heaviest bass stringers

of his life while cranking Johnson Spoons through salad. He accomplished this many years ago

when the daily limit was 10 bass on Santee Cooper. On separate occasions,

Roland bagged an 87 lb stringer (8.7 lb avg.) and a 79 lb stringer (7.9 lb avg.)

every bass fell for a 1/2 oz Black Johnson Spoon! Not surprisingly, the J-Spoon is Rolands

favorite Big-Bass lure. The story is in Roland's book on page 213:

http://books.google.com/books?id=3btYCspbBUUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=101+secrets+roland+martin&source=bl&ots=tGQMFGc1bU&sig=Fku6SukV9854iJLb0V8Tdf91tXs&hl=en&ei=Qp_PTMa-BIaKlwf11tzHBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Roger

You Floridians are lucky to have grass, pads, reeds etc. I'd be more inclined to throw a 'spoon' horizontally if there was any salad to fish up here. It's straight up vertical jigging suspended fish around here.

Tie direct to a Johnson Spoon or use a snap ?

[RoLo]

I'd be more inclined to throw a 'spoon' horizontally if there was any salad to fish up here.

I'm sure you would Scott.

I think the main difference between your situation and mine are the differences between

manmade reservoirs and natural lakes. In a deep impoundment, "depth control"

provided by metal slabs is highly important, especially during the wintertime.

But in shallow weedy natural lakes the importance of depth control is bumped by

the importance of "weedlessness". For this reason, bladebaits are bumped by weedless spoons.

The J-spoon can negotiate matted vegetation that would bog-down a buzzbait.

IMO, that single fact is why the Johnson spoon has earned its reputation as a Big-Bass lure.

The J-spoon is able to reach inaccessible bass that will probably die of old age.

Roger

[RoLo]

Tie direct to a Johnson Spoon or use a snap ?

I'll always begin with a snap, but since the J-spoon has to deal with

the weediest of all weedy situations, the snap will occasionally cause a problem.

If scum or snotweed cling to the snap I'll eliminate the snap without hesitation

and tie direct to the spoon. In hindsight though, that is very rarely the case

because the Johnson spoon is normally gliding through spatterdock (bonnets),

milfoil, pondweed (peppergrass) and/or maidencane (Kissimmee grass).

Roger

[BobP]

I fish mostly jigging spoons, 95% of the time with a snap-it-off-the-bottom vertical presentation.  The Hopkins Shorty spoons are popular but my personal favorites are the Cabelas Livin Image and a similar low cost model from Jann's Netcraft in 1/2 and 3/4 oz.  I strongly prefer jigging spoons with wire line ties because you can get rid of the extra hardware and tie direct to the spoon.  If you fish deep water, especially in winter, and are half way adept at using your sonar to find bait schools, there is no presentation that will catch more fish faster than a jigging spoon.

[FIAB]

Two spoons that I have started using this year fishing ledges on Pickwick and Kentucky lake are the Lake Fork Flutter Spoon (size 6 inches) and Strike Kings Sexy Spoon. I have done very well this year jigging these spoons in 25 to 35 foot of water on steep ledges. Like five.bass.limit said it is really the best way to keep a lure in the zone. Especially on steep ledges.

The down side is that these two spoons are not cheap, get hung up easily, and there is alot of lure hanging out of the fishes mouth for him/her to throw the lure.