Island Breeze
October 26th, 2009, 07:15 AM
This is an attempt to explain the art of spooning as I see it. These are just my opinons and the way I do it, not necessarily the right way.
First of all I think that the first thing most of us do wrong is to not do it enough. My first couple of times I'd try for 15-20 minutes then give up and pick up a jig. The next most important thing is good electronics and knowing how to use them. I generally use spoons in the winter when the bait and bass go deep. Using my electronics I'll locate schools of shad around deep structure ie. underwater humps, river channels etc.. In my experience if I find the bait the bass are usaually there even if I can't see them on the screen.Now that we found them then what.
I use mostly one spoon, a hopkins 1/2 or 3/4 oz. solid hammered chrome. I'll occasionally use a flat sided chrome kastmaster as well. The most common way to use them is by vertically jigging them. If your finder is dialed in right you can watch your spoon on its way down almost like a video game. Position your self right over the school of bait and drop the spon straight down when it hits bottom give a small gentle lift of the rod tip, then lower it quickly so you can keep in contact with the spoon. I find if I get too aggressive with lifting the rod I don't get bite just slow 10-12 inch gentle pops. Other times I'll stay in contact with the bottom and using short 4-6 inches pulls and drops of the rod tip so the bait kind of flip flops on the bottom. This really works well when the water is cold and the bass and not very active. Most of the time the bite is very soft you may just feel a little weight as you lift the rod, or see your line stop before it hits bottom either way take up as much slack as possible and set the hook. I like to use a 7'6'' med/heavy rod. I feel the spoon better and the long rod makes it easy to take up slack and get a good hook set. Here I generally fish in 20-60+ feet when spooning so the long stiff rod is very important in feeling and getting those fish.
The other times I may use a spoon is when the bass are busting on the shad on the top.I can cast these guys a mile which allows me to stay way back and not spook the school. I'll cast past the school and with fast short jerks I'll pull the spoon right through all the area where the bass are pushing the shad to the surface. The trick is a fast retrieve to keep the spoon at or slightly below the surface. I'll try this when they refuse to hit a fluke or rip bait etc. A fast reel also helps here.
I always add a split ring to the front of every spoon and change out the stock trebels for a sure set trebel dressed with a feather and mylar .
I also only use 10-12 lb. flourocarbon line.
I think the best way to learn any bait is to go out and fish for a day or two using nothing else It may get frustrating at first but if you stick with it you'll usually get the hang of it.
There are other ways to spoon and other types of spoons but this is what I use and do. I hope this was informative for some of you.
First of all I think that the first thing most of us do wrong is to not do it enough. My first couple of times I'd try for 15-20 minutes then give up and pick up a jig. The next most important thing is good electronics and knowing how to use them. I generally use spoons in the winter when the bait and bass go deep. Using my electronics I'll locate schools of shad around deep structure ie. underwater humps, river channels etc.. In my experience if I find the bait the bass are usaually there even if I can't see them on the screen.Now that we found them then what.
I use mostly one spoon, a hopkins 1/2 or 3/4 oz. solid hammered chrome. I'll occasionally use a flat sided chrome kastmaster as well. The most common way to use them is by vertically jigging them. If your finder is dialed in right you can watch your spoon on its way down almost like a video game. Position your self right over the school of bait and drop the spon straight down when it hits bottom give a small gentle lift of the rod tip, then lower it quickly so you can keep in contact with the spoon. I find if I get too aggressive with lifting the rod I don't get bite just slow 10-12 inch gentle pops. Other times I'll stay in contact with the bottom and using short 4-6 inches pulls and drops of the rod tip so the bait kind of flip flops on the bottom. This really works well when the water is cold and the bass and not very active. Most of the time the bite is very soft you may just feel a little weight as you lift the rod, or see your line stop before it hits bottom either way take up as much slack as possible and set the hook. I like to use a 7'6'' med/heavy rod. I feel the spoon better and the long rod makes it easy to take up slack and get a good hook set. Here I generally fish in 20-60+ feet when spooning so the long stiff rod is very important in feeling and getting those fish.
The other times I may use a spoon is when the bass are busting on the shad on the top.I can cast these guys a mile which allows me to stay way back and not spook the school. I'll cast past the school and with fast short jerks I'll pull the spoon right through all the area where the bass are pushing the shad to the surface. The trick is a fast retrieve to keep the spoon at or slightly below the surface. I'll try this when they refuse to hit a fluke or rip bait etc. A fast reel also helps here.
I always add a split ring to the front of every spoon and change out the stock trebels for a sure set trebel dressed with a feather and mylar .
I also only use 10-12 lb. flourocarbon line.
I think the best way to learn any bait is to go out and fish for a day or two using nothing else It may get frustrating at first but if you stick with it you'll usually get the hang of it.
There are other ways to spoon and other types of spoons but this is what I use and do. I hope this was informative for some of you.