Spoon'n

[Wiskers]

I want to start off saying that since I have joined this little community my Crappie IQ has increased considerably! Reading the posts is an everyday thing for me. Heck before I got on here I just thought I knew how to Crappie Fish! Well suprize, suprize!

Now I want to expand my knowledge base a little. I have never, and I mean never tied on a spoon to fish for Crappie or any other fish for that matter.

I would like some input from some of you "Spooners."

What type, weight, color, applications; basicly where, when and how. Typical tackle setup. You know, just a short novel will do.:D I would really like to try spoon'n if it works.
Thanks in advance.

[guest01]

well I love to use spoons as well as jigs. I use spoons in every way that you would use a jig, jiggin, casting trolling, they give a nice action while useing them for jiggin. I just lift the rod and let them fall. I like useing small spoons and small jigs because I seem to get more hits on a bait with a smaller profile. sometimes the fish just dont seem to want a large bait but the will take a small bait without hesitation.I fish spoons plain, with crappie nibbles and with minnows

[Wiskers]

I know from what I've read that spoones tend to twist your line. do you use a swivel or tie right to the main line?

[guest01]

I do use a swivel when casting and trolling. If I am trolling a jig with a spoon tied to the hook of the jig then I dont use a swivel. Most of the time the spoons I make just sort of rock back and forth and dont twist much but I put a swivel on just to make sure.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Wiskers:

A spoon is possibly one of the most versatile fishing lures ever invented. As you probably know you can fish a spoon basically topwater by casting and then starting your retrieve before the spoon hits the water so when it lands your line is tight and you can real just fast enough so the spoon wags back and forth on or very near the surface. This is a very effective tactic for breaking whites, hybrids, stripers and black bass around here.

You can also cast a spoon and count it down to the depth you want to fish and then either use a slow, steady retrieve so it wags back and forth or a stop-and-go retrieve so it flutters downward every few seconds. We sometimes find that the bigger fish are 8 to 10-feet deep under the smaller fish we see working over the shad on the surface.

Spoons are also very effective for vertical jigging. I generally use 1/4-ounce Kastmasters in either gold or silver for casting and jigging and try to purchase them without the extra tassel. That saves a little money and the tassels get torn up pretty fast anyway and don't seem to be a benefit. I use 6 and 6.5-foot spinning rods spooled with 8-pound Berkley XT so we can cast or jig. I think 1/4-ounce or larger spoons are probably a little heavy for most long jig poles.

If we are fishing heavy cover we mark our lines with permanent marker at 15 or 20-feet so we know how deep we are fishing. With a mark on the line at a known depth we can then add or subtract one to several feet of line to determine our depth. You can also note how much line your reel takes up with each turn of the handle by measuring that distance on your pole. Then either back-reel down to the depth you want to fish or drop the spoon to the bottom and reel up while counting the turns of the reel handle to calculate your depth. I prefer having the line marked so we know exactly how deep we are fishing and reduce hang-ups by not going down in the cover any farther than we have to.

Once the spoon is at the desired depth we just lift our rod tips anywhere from a few inches to a couple feet and then drop the rod tip and let the spoon flutter straight back down. We vary how fast we lift and drop the rod tip depending on the species we're hoping to catch and until we find out what is most effective. It can be anywhere from a very, very slow lift and fall of just a few inches to a quick 2 or 3-foot upward snap and then a quick drop of the rod tip to let the spoon fall as fast as it will.

If we don't get any bites within a few minutes we either raise or drop the jig a foot or so by letting out or reeling in some line depending on what we are seeing on our graph.

Apparently this rising and falling action looks to the fish like an injured and/or dying minnow or shad that struggles upwards and then falls back down and they react accordingly. You'll be very surprised how hard a crappie will hit a spoon. It doesn't seem like they ever just tap or bump it like they do a jig or we just don't feel it. When they hit it they inhale it and for a while you'll be certain you've hooked a green carp on every bite.

Hang-ups are the biggest downside to using spoons since they have a treble hook. The Kastmasters have a fairly small hook, which doesn't hang up as much as a larger hook would.

The trick is to learn to tell the difference between bumping brush and a bite, which doesn't take much because the bites are so ferocious. When you feel resistance while your lifting the spoon or your line goes slack on the fall don't set the hook unless you're sure you have a bite.

I still like to "cross their eyes" when I know I have a bite to make sure the hook is set and to turn the fish towards the surface before it wraps me up in the cover but with a treble hook and the aggressive way they usually hit a spoon it's not that important.

If you don't set the hook when you get hung up you can usually work the spoon free. Just drop your rod tip until you have some slack in your line and let the weight of the spoon pull the hook downward.

If the spoon doesn't fall off the cover, GENTLY twitch the tip of the rod up and down letting a little slack in your line with each twitch and that will usually work the hook loose. Of course it all depends on the cover you are fishing. Bamboo is very forgiving - cedar trees are NOT!

I don't use swivels but if we're casting we let the spoon unwind a few seconds between each cast. Usually if we're getting a lot of twist in the line we figure we're reeling too fast and slow down our retrieve - unless of course we're catching fish.

There's nothing wrong with using swivels though if you wish. I've also used Little Cleos for crappie and they don't have a split-ring - just a hole so a snap-swivel works well on them.

You can fish spoons from the surface to the bottom and anywhere in-between. They are effective for a wide variety of species and fishing conditions and they are a LOT of fun to fish with.

[Wiskers]

Jerry thats 2 goooood little "artical" you've written. I'm waiting on your first book, autographed of course! Thanks to you & Crappieday.:D I cut, past & print this stuff so I can study when I'm on the boat. :D

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Wiskers:

Hope I didn't bore you with the details. These long dark evenings give me way too much time on my hands since I can't seem to get interested in anything on TV anymore.

[papasage]

on those long dayes put artickles like that togather and form a book of how toos . :D . or just write a book . my winter times are buisier than the summer .to hot to git out and do much of anything . the water lice has got so bad and the skiers along with the heat . i just wait till fall to start much fishing

[skiptomylu]

Nice write up Jerry!

I fish spoons for bass deep, like 30' of water or so and usually over a hump or on a tree line, edge of the grass. I also use one casting in pretty shallow water, like 3' deep. For this I cast out and as soon as it touches the water I start reeling and jerking using different speeds depending on what make them hit at that time. As I jerk the spoon I try to let it fall a little each time to make it give that flutter it needs. I mostly use a 1/4oz Kastmaster as well or I have found some that are made just like them, but cost less. Cabela's has some that are a little less, but not a lot less.

I have a couple of old Mr. Champ spoons that were made the same as the Kastmasters and they have a imprint of a jumping fish near the name.

I have also used very small Kastmasters (not totally sure of the weight, but tiny & probably 1/12oz.) and use them to catch Bream and Bass around the dock.

I also have some of Crappieday's micro spoons and am looking forward to giving them a try this coming spring. They look really nice as well!

Hope this helps a little,

Skip

[Wiskers]

Hey Wiskers:

Hope I didn't bore you with the details. These long dark evenings give me way too much time on my hands since I can't seem to get interested in anything on TV anymore.

Heck no Jerry the more the better. As a matter of fact I used a spoon yesterday. They quit hitting jigs so I put on a spoon & fished like you suggested. Caught 19 in about 30 minutes right before dark. Wound up with 24. Oh Yeah, I'm waiting on the book.:D