Jigging spoons

[WRB]

I know we have covered this topic before and thought updating a few new spoons may help those fall and early winter bass anglers fishing Shad schools. You need a boat to fish deep structure spoons because it's a vertical presentation requiring sonar to locate deep Shad schools. You can use diving birds like grebes to help you find Shad schools.

My preference is 3/4 oz spoons in baitfish colors or chrome and gold. I also add white or white with charteuse feather to size 2 treble hooks, for 3/4 oz and size 4 for 1/2 oz spoons. This about flutter spoons although the horizontal casting presentations is the same, different heavier tackle.

P-Line has reintroduced the Megabait jigging spoon, a favorite of mine. Kastmaster now has baitfish series spoons that should be good. Old stand bye's are Bomber Slab spoon and Jensen Crippled Herring spoons. Smaller 1/2 oz the Kastmaster and Little Cleo are good choices.

I use a medium crankbait rod ( Loomis PR845C popping rod) with 10 to 12 lb mono or FC line on bait casting reels. You can add a small premium Spro swivel to the split ring.

There are 2 basic presentations, vertical drop and horizontal cast with pendulum fall.

The vertical drop using a sonar unit to the depth you see baitfish and/bass, let the spoon fall through the fish and set the hook and reel if stops falling. If no strike occurs you use the rod to lift and control slack line fall jigging up and down about 3' to 5'.

The horizontal cast and pendulum fall is the same as vertical except count down the depth, then start you rods lift and fall taking up line to keep the spoon at the depth you want until it's vertical, then jig the spoon a few time. When you find the bass casting, move nearer and fish more vertical.

Easy, fast and very productive on bass feeding on deep Shad.Hook sets; lift the rod sharply to set the hook and keep reeling to control the bass, they usually lightly hooked so be ready when they come up. Remember if the bass are deeper than 35' be ready to release them quickly or fizz them.

Good luck,

Tom

 

[frogflogger]

And a worthy addition is the tried and true DIXIE JET spoon.

[Bluebasser86]

I like the War Eagle spoons in white and chrome. I fish mine on 17lb copolymer to help slow the drop a little and get back a few more of those snagged spoons. Spoons are extremely effective on deep fish at times and can be a lot of fun to fish and a good multi-species bait.

[riverbasser]

Good info tom. Its a fun day when they are eating the flutter spoon. 

 

I normally use 4 and 5" spoons. Either BPS brand or strike King have worked well for me. Most important thing you said and people should remember is to add a quality swivel. Nothing twist your line more than a spoon

[Dwight Hottle]

I like using good old hopkins spoons. 

[WRB]

The large size lake Fork style flutter spoons made by several co's now can be effective. I like to use these more of a transition post spawn to summer than a fall lure. You also a lake with larger bait fish like gizzard shad. Herring or trout in ie of Threadfin Shad.

Inuse the same longer casting presentation and reel with rod pumps more then jigging these spoons. Tackle is different debase these big flutter spoons need heavier line, alerted capacity reels and longer rods like 7'6" to 8' medium heavy Swimbait or heavy deep cranking rods with 20lb to 25lb mono or FC. I use Irod IRG754F Freds Magic rod with 300 series Cardfiff reel for big flutter spoons.

There are several old school jigging spoons and Hopkins spoons fished with the hook normal or reversed with the hook on the wide end. Another favorite are the coffin shaped spoons by Haddock and Mr. champ by Ward, both no longer in production.

Tom

[scaleface]

I have never caught a bass on jigging spoons in cold water but have had good luck in hot water .That  may be  due to the stained water  color  around here . I used the Cordell CC   and a homemade spoon .

[BobP]

The lake I fish has threadfin shad schools that sit usually 50-60 ft deep on the bottom in late fall.  If you want to catch bass, the important thing is to locate a Shad school that is being actively attacked by bass, which is a matter of sonar interpretation.  My favorite spoon is a lurepartsonline.com 3/4 oz Jigging Minnow that closely resembles a threadfin shad.  I brush on 3-4 heavy coats of latex acrylic glow in the dark greenish white paint and topcoat it with moisture cured urethane, adding a #4 feathered treble hook.  This has been a killer combo for me. Largemouths, stripers, and white bass love it.

[J Francho]

On 10/23/2017 at 10:40 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

I like using good old hopkins spoons. 

Me too.  3/4 shorty in silver and gold.  On Erie and Ontario, I find that ripping the spoon back up almost as soon as it hits bottom is key.  Often, I dont't feel the strike until the next lift.  Big fish feel like a hang up or snag.  Use sharp hooks, and they generally set themselves on the rip, though I usually give them a couple more pumps to ensure they are hooked up well.  Those lake smallies have very strong jaws, and I want to be sure, I've moved the bait and gotten hooks in them.

[BrackishBassin]

On 10/22/2017 at 3:27 PM, WRB said:

I know we have covered this topic before and thought updating a few new spoons may help those fall and early winter bass anglers fishing Shad schools. You need a boat to fish deep structure spoons because it's a vertical presentation requiring sonar to locate deep Shad schools. You can use diving birds like grebes to help you find Shad schools.

My preference is 3/4 oz spoons in baitfish colors or chrome and gold. I also add white or white with charteuse feather to size 2 treble hooks, for 3/4 oz and size 4 for 1/2 oz spoons. This about flutter spoons although the horizontal casting presentations is the same, different heavier tackle.

P-Line has reintroduced the Megabait jigging spoon, a favorite of mine. Kastmaster now has baitfish series spoons that should be good. Old stand bye's are Bomber Slab spoon and Jensen Crippled Herring spoons. Smaller 1/2 oz the Kastmaster and Little Cleo are good choices.

I use a medium crankbait rod ( Loomis PR845C popping rod) with 10 to 12 lb mono or FC line on bait casting reels. You can add a small premium Spro swivel to the split ring.

There are 2 basic presentations, vertical drop and horizontal cast with pendulum fall.

The vertical drop using a sonar unit to the depth you see baitfish and/bass, let the spoon fall through the fish and set the hook and reel if stops falling. If no strike occurs you use the rod to lift and control slack line fall jigging up and down about 3' to 5'.

The horizontal cast and pendulum fall is the same as vertical except count down the depth, then start you rods lift and fall taking up line to keep the spoon at the depth you want until it's vertical, then jig the spoon a few time. When you find the bass casting, move nearer and fish more vertical.

Easy, fast and very productive on bass feeding on deep Shad.Hook sets; lift the rod sharply to set the hook and keep reeling to control the bass, they usually lightly hooked so be ready when they come up. Remember if the bass are deeper than 35' be ready to release them quickly or fizz them.

Good luck,

Tom

 

 

Believe it or not, I use ‘spoons’ quite a bit from the bank. The little Kastmasters are great for trout, perch, and sunfish. I lose them occasionally, but they still work. 

[J Francho]

17 minutes ago, BrackishBassin said:

Believe it or not, I use ‘spoons’ quite a bit from the bank.

jigging?

[BrackishBassin]

5 hours ago, J Francho said:

jigging?

Are Kastmasters jigging spoons?

[J Francho]

They can be jigged.  I'm just asking, because the thread is about vertically jigging spoons.  I can't think of many places I could fish a spoon vertically from shore.  Fishing wobble spoons horizontally from shore is bread and butter fishing up here.  Very effective for many species.

[WRB]

18 hours ago, BrackishBassin said:

Are Kastmasters jigging spoons?

Yes Kastmaster spoons can be cast and retrieved from shore as you can with several of the spoons I talked about. If you read the 1st paragraph of this thread I stated you need a boat to fish deep structure because it's a vertical presentation. Unless you are standing on top of a cliff, bridge or pier or standing on ice over a hole you can't drop the spoon straight down or cast it and let it fall deep down without snagging the spoon.

Spoons are one of the most productive lures and overlooked by most bass anglers today.

Tom

[J Francho]

25 minutes ago, WRB said:

Spoons are one of the most productive lures and overlooked by most bass anglers today.

 

Agreed!

[BrackishBassin]

3 hours ago, WRB said:

Yes Kastmaster spoons can be cast and retrieved from shore as you can with several of the spoons I talked about. If you read the 1st paragraph of this thread I stated you need a boat to fish deep structure because it's a vertical presentation. Unless you are standing on top of a cliff, bridge or pier or standing on ice over a hole you can't drop the spoon straight down or cast it and let it fall deep down without snagging the spoon.

Spoons are one of the most productive lures and overlooked by most bass anglers today.

Tom

 

I’ve actually used the Kastmasters from piers much like you described doing from a boat. Guess I should have read more closely. It seemed like you were suggesting that their usage was limited to people with boats, but I’ve had plenty of success using them without. Didn’t want people to get the impression that they’re useles lures without a boat. They’re actually one of the most productive lures I’ve ever fished, if you’re counting all the species I’ve caught with them. 

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

They can be jigged.  I'm just asking, because the thread is about vertically jigging spoons.  I can't think of many places I could fish a spoon vertically from shore.  Fishing wobble spoons horizontally from shore is bread and butter fishing up here.  Very effective for many species.

 

Ah, understood. I thought you were referring to the lure itself as a jigging spoon (which is technically correct), not the way in which it’s fished. I’ve actually used them both ways (casting and jigging) and both were very effective. 

[J Francho]

Kastmasters are pretty versatile. Hopkins Shorty spoons are a little more purpose built for jogging, but can be retrieved horizontally. I prefer Cleo, KO Wobbler, Red Devils, Phoebes, and similar for horizontal. 

[BrackishBassin]

43 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Kastmasters are pretty versatile. Hopkins Shorty spoons are a little more purpose built for jogging, but can be retrieved horizontally. I prefer Cleo, KO Wobbler, Red Devils, Phoebes, and similar for horizontal. 

 

Not familiar with any of those lures, but I’ll keep an eye out. I’m bank bound for the foreseeable future. Kastmasters were a gift from my dad. They worked so well that I replace them every time I lose one. 

 

Went fishing for stocked trout one day this past spring. Everyone around me was using a split shot rig with dough. They had a couple in their buckets when I got there. I was there maybe 20 minutes. Threw a pink Kastmaster and had my limit in 15 minutes. Ended up giving another guy the lure before I left because he couldn’t believe it worked like that. 

[WRB]

Right now is the seasonal period when jigging spoons shine. Lakes that have threadfin Shad or similar baitfish school up and migrate. Threadfin are school fish that tend to hide in cover at night ant feed on phytoplankton during sunlight periods. As the sunlight time reduces and night time increase the Shad leave cover to feed on plankton being pushed by winds into coves, the bass stage on deeper structure and wait for the big migrating shad schools.

I am not talking about the summer school size bass that chase Shad schools, in fall big bass are feeding on Shad.

A few years ago I wa fun fishing a local lake during a TOC tournament by mistake, I try to avoid tournament anglers. The tournament anglers were weighing in at the marina dock as I approach and noticed a big Shad school balled up at the log boom entrance and stopped to fish this bait ball. I am about 200 yards from the weigh in dock and start catching big bass between 7 lbs to 9 lbs*,  hard to keep a low profile fighting big bass that close to 50 other anglers! The bite lasted about 20 minutes and several boats came out to watch and join in. None of the anglers had any spoons and couldn't get bit. 

The spoon was Megabait 3/4 oz black back Shad, still my favorite all time big bass spoon. I believe P-Lines Laser Minnow looks like a remake and will buy a few to determine it's the same spoon.

My point is these bass were on the 30' thermocline feeding on Shad all day, I was looking for a Shad school when approaching the marina because this was the success pattern and not a single tournament angler was on this. Don't over look structure spoons in the fall and winter.

Tom

* the 9 lb bass is my largest ever on a spoon and had a lot of witnesses. 

[Catt]

Biggest mistake I see anglers make when fishing spoons is they don't fish em during summer!

 

Joe Spaits's Big Joe Flutter Spoon, 6" 1 1/2 oz, silver chartreuse stripe 

[Crappiebasser]

My favorite is the Cabelas Real Image spoon in glow color. The glow in the dark seems gimmicky but spots around here tear them up. The factory hooks are garbage but I swap a mustad with a flashabou wrap. The 1/2 and 3/4 oz are my favorites.