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Posts: 43
| Anybody use spoons, or are they just outdated vintage collectibles? |
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Posts: 1168
| Spoons don't work. That's why I never ever have them in my boat. Nope, never...  |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | I don't use them often, but my take on it is that the fish don't know they were popular for our fathers and grandfathers. Yeah, there's been advances in baits and techniques, but they worked then, they'll work now.
Edited by esoxfly 5/4/2010 8:32 PM
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Posts: 2361
| IMO there are better lures to use for musky and you will decrease your efficiency by using spoons. I do not see them producing on an equal basis with most of the lures I currently use, nor most of the lures others currently use. Think about things like this before you tie one on.
I can tell you one guy who can flat out testify that spoons, and in fact small spoons, have accounted for musky in his boat. Fella by the name of Doug Johnson. Ask him what percentage of the time he threw spoons himself last season?
I used to throw black and white spoons in the WI River for northern pike, and they bit them, and I have no doubt that these days I could throw them and catch northerns and an occassional musky also. But I wouldn't throw them. |
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Posts: 536
| remember them big red eyes I have a big gold one, never could catch anything on it! caught some smaller northerns on a white red eye with a red stripe. |
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Posts: 1286
Location: WI | I caught one on a Daredevil (red/wht) 7 years ago, and had a huge ski follow one. I trolled one last year for a while but never got a bite on it.
They work, but I'd rather throw something else. |
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Posts: 1168
| firstsixfeet - 5/4/2010 9:42 PM
I do not see them producing on an equal basis with most of the lures I currently use, nor most of the lures others currently use.
Have you given spoons the same amount of time on equally as good of water as you have with other baits?
Simply put, the reason why they don't produce as much as other baits is because very few people are throwing them. If you throw a double ten about 90% of the time and a spoon only 1% of the time of course the spoon isn't going to produce as much as the other more popular baits will. Very few people use them compared to other baits...it doesn't take a mathematical whiz to see that if 1000 guys are throwing a double 10 and only 1 guy is throwing a spoon that the double 10 will produce more fish. |
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Posts: 2361
| The great thing about musky fishing is that you can throw whatever you like ulbian.
The reason they don't get that time is spoons don't function well in many of the places I fish. Those places often have a cover component, frequently wood or weeds in my case. It is easy for myself, and others to see that a bait that is hung on wood, or non functional because of a hanging weed that kills the action, that bait is NOT GOING TO BE EFFICIENT when it comes to covering water and catching fish. Bucktails, pull baits and surface lures are much more capable of completing a hangup free path back to the boat.
It doesn't take a mathematical whiz to see that if the guy throwing the spoon is only completing 50% of his casts problem free, and is frequently tramping on his spots to get a hung bait back, he will probably be somewhat challenged to catch as many fish as an angler that is completing a much higher percentage of their casts, and is not stepping on his cover to unsnag a bait.
And though I think the problem addressed above is more than enough reason not to use a spoon under most circumstances I will add that in many conditions I fish, which include some component of colored water and sometimes turbidity, a spoon does not lend itself to sending positive messages to the fishes lateral line under visually challenging
water conditions for the musky. And those bursts of water pressure, whatever they tell the fish, make certain baits more effective than others(most of the time in the conditions I fish, I believe) and also are the reason that for much of the year, I throw pull baits and twitch baits rather than gliders.
Now, you can espouse the glory of the spoon if you want, but I would hope that newbies would think twice before they get sucked into using a bait that imo is a limited and inefficient option. |
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| useless for me.for 1 reason most of them dont old speed |
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Posts: 52
| I have 4 spoons in the boat at all times. Not my first choice but one that gets used quite a bit through the season. I've noticed the bigger spoons see the most action. |
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| I think it would take a whole season of expert musky fishers trolling and casting spoons to get a true verdict on their worth as a musky lure. |
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| You have hundresds of whole seasons, ask the old guys and they will tell you! Or maby they won't...... some things are worth keeping to your self. Me, I have seen them produce first hand and right about the same time as I was saying "that stupid thing won't get bit" then dad yelled "fish on"........ of course he had the only one..... now I have one and it's always in my boat........ that and a red and white jitterbug. Old guys know things thats all I am saying.
Jacob |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | Obsolete IMO. Especially when they make lures called "jerkbaits" now days...:-) |
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| No one remembered to tell a new musky fisherman down here in Missouri that spoons aren't productive so he tied one on and caught five muskies in two weekends. Even with that success I don't think anyone else ties one on. No confidence. |
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Posts: 633
| I read an article many years ago recalling the day the MN state record was caught. It was a medium red & white that caught that fish. Throw them if you want. The state record is 57" and weighed 54#. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | I used an old red and white daredevil and caught my first 3 (short) muskies on a little river. I've pulled that spoon out from time to time but haven't enjoyed using it for several reasons. Even with a good swivel they twist the crap out your braid, tough to cast in the wind, tough to run them over weeds w/o hooking weeds or blowing out of the water, low hooking percentage, inconsistent depths. But they'll always have a spot in the back of my tackle box. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | They're a tool, no more, no less. They do what they do great, namely flash, flutter, trigger and hold a reasonable 7 foot depth trolling for me. The big ones suck in weeds with those grappling hooks on the back and no buoyancy. All in all I think there are other lures that work better most of the time, but spoons do catch fish and can be a good option in some situations. I do OK with them trolling rocky shorelines, kind of snap jigging the spoon every couple hundred feet or so to trigger followers. Sometimes you can actually feel them tick the spoon, maybe butt it with a closed mouth or something like that. Then the jigging action will sometimes get them to hit. I've used them as kind of a surface bait too but only because that's what was handy when I saw a fish. It wouldn't be my first choice usually. For pike that's a different matter. For some reason they seem to prefer an erratic stop and flutter move during a retrieve and will tie themselves in knots trying to whack a spoon jigged boatside. Muskies, not so much jigging boatside, but more interested in an 8 type move. |
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Posts: 10
| I have had success with spoons it may be a personal thing but I find the nickel/chrome backs on Daredevils are more productive then the copper backed lures.
One way I work them is to toss the lure into a heavy weedbed start cranking before it hits the water and pull the rod to keep the spoon on the surface, when the lure reaches the edge of the weed bed I let is flutter down into the water and finish the retrieve |
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Posts: 67
| yeah you bet, ad a piece of porkrind on the hook for some awesome action, either work it like a jerkbait or straight crank with a pop and pause once and a while. Actually caught a fish in my DVD "River Muskies" on a spoon.
Good luck,
Tanner Wildes |
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Posts: 3
Location: Stevens Point, WI | My grandpa taught me a trick with spoons years ago, he attaches them in front of his leader when casting bulldogs or other soft style baits. Generally the spoons that he uses are about 4-5 inches long. Any jerking motion creates flash in front of your bait imitating your bait chasing after smaller bait. I can't say it is a go to type of bait as I don't fish much with those soft baits, but it is something different to throw. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | I have done the same with a small Rapala with no hooks. Works good for pike. |
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