Spoons

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In this era of Dawgs and Burts and Jakes it's easy to overlook the humble spoon but I'm a fan, favourite probably being the Tooth Critter Mr Musky. The downside is there's only one treble and a revolving one at that but spoons are versatile things, they work slow and fast and given the nerve - and a handy set of drain rods - you can get right among sunken trees and other features.

They seem to have fallen from fashion compared to other lures and people lack confidence in them but I've taken some good fish on spoons and they can be made to perform in ways other lures can't.

 

Any other keen spoon fishers?

[Anderoo]

In this era of Dawgs and Burts and Jakes it's easy to overlook the humble spoon but I'm a fan, favourite probably being the Tooth Critter Mr Musky. The downside is there's only one treble and a revolving one at that but spoons are versatile things, they work slow and fast and given the nerve - and a handy set of drain rods - you can get right among sunken trees and other features.

They seem to have fallen from fashion compared to other lures and people lack confidence in them but I've taken some good fish on spoons and they can be made to perform in ways other lures can't.

 

Any other keen spoon fishers?

 

Yes, me!

 

I don't do much lure fishing these days, but when I do (for pike) I almost always use a good old spoon. I love their simplicity and versatility. If I want to imitate a fish in a similar way to a soft plastic, I wobble deads. I do now own some soft plastics but I've only used them half-heartedly and haven't caught anything on them yet.

 

Must do more piking this year...

[noodle996]

and me

 

00 professor for me

[Andy Macfarlane]

It's funny but I can't buy a fish on a spoon but shads and jerkies etc.....no problems. Spoons should work too cos they look ace to me. Got some nice ones as well. Tobies, Abu Pike, Mister Musky, Winfields, Solvkroken Storaurens....all kinds of spoons but nowt to speak of.

 

Must try harder cos they work for the ever giggling Wilson OBE.

[Leon Roskilly]

I love abu atoms.

 

Take off the front treble, replace the rear treble with a circle hook (remember not to strike!)

 

So far every take I've had has resulted in a hook-up .

[Worms]

I wouldn't be seen out without a selection of Tobies and of course, still useful, the good old Colorado!

[Steve Burke]

I'm a huge fan of spoons, mainly because they're just so versatile. In fact I'm guilty of using spoons when other lures might be more effective. Indeed, if I could fish just one lure for the rest of my life it would be a spoon.

 

Like Leon my banker spoon is the Abu Atom. I too take the top treble off the largest size (90mm/40gm), and this is my most used size both for perch as well as pike.

 

I too rate the Masterline Mr Muskie. You can read my review at http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/Tackle-And-Bai...skie_spoon.html. I'd add that I ought to amend the review as although the Mr Muskie is the same shape as the classic Efgeeco Piker it's made from heavier gauge metal. When I wrote the review I didn't have a Piker to compare with the Mr Muskie.

 

One of the great attractions of a spoon is its versatility as each model is effective in a wide variety of depths and speeds. I particularly use them as "search lures" to find active fish. You can often cream these off with a spoon then switch to something like a soft plastic fished more slowly to entice the more negative fish. Having said that spoons are also effective at very low speeds, it's just that soft plastics are often even better then.

 

Like I suspect most I use the countdown technique to find the depth the fish are feeding at. For those who don't know what this is it's simply counting as the lure sinks. Each cast lasts a different amount of time until I find fish. From then on I count to the same number, so that each time the spoon works down to the depth where the fish are biting. In fact on a given day you'll often find some feeding fish at the same depth even in different swims. Or you will until the light conditions change, when you go deeper if it gets brighter and vice versa.

 

Having said count, in practice I hum a tune as I find the rhythm more accurate than counting. My counting tends to speed up if I get excited!

 

One point I do differ to many on though is that I engage the reel as soon as the lure hits the water. This is because many takes on spoons in particular come on the drop, and if you strike on a slack line you'll miss many of these.

 

Don't worry that engaging the reel means the lure reaches bottom closer to you - you aren't making shorter casts in practice. This is because if the spoon is on a tight line you you're also fishing effectively as it sinks. This more than makes up the lost distance - think about it!

[blockend]

Like any lure it's a matter of confidence and if the pike are having it, they're having it and a spoon is as good as anything IMO. I remember trolling with a mate behind his 20hp outboard at crazy speeds and catching on various spoons. A real red letter October day, he beat me with a selection of large lures with about 16 fish to my 13 (and he had the biggest pike by a long chalk but we'll ignore that) but he admitted he was surprised a spoon was still in the race.

 

I've also caught with them deep and almost stationary with the current barely turning the swivel. Oddly, never had much luck on Toby's or bar spoons.

[Dick Dastardly]

Whenever Im asked about lures I always say that if I was ever limited to one and had to catch a pike then I wouldnt think twice............. a 5" copper spoon.

[Dick Dastardly]

Oddly, never had much luck on Toby's or bar spoons.

 

 

Ive totally got my head around this buisness of why some lures "work" for some and not others.

 

My realisation of why came from a disscussion (and more importantly the later session on the bank) with a good friend who said Toby's were crap yet swore by spinners which I thought were crap! We both new each other had caught plenty of fish on eachs own preference and importantly on the same water at the same time of year.We agreed there had to be a reason.

 

Next day we both met up on the bank and the answer was clear! Without labouring it it was simply because we fished the lures in different ways.The way he worked the Toby was wrong and the way I did was right (well the fish thought so and they are the acid test!) and vice versa with the spinner.We had both just hit lucky on the way we worked one style of lure and as it caught we stuck to it,perfecting it and gaining more confidence in it.The other style not working for us had been ignored so never really sussed out.

 

Simple really and the reason that some like one lure and others another! Obvious secret is to learn to use all known fish catching lures properly!