Spoons...where have you been my whole life?

[Knotty]

Went out with the Daiwa Presso AGS 54XUL-S area rod on northern NJ stocked trout stream. Started with my usual Trout Magnets and was pulling up small redbreasts and rock bass like crazy but what I really wanted was to start using spoons.

I hate losing lures to snags, which of course is where the fish are, so I bought a 20 pack of single hook, 1.8 g, 2.5 cm spoons from overseas for about $10. Had low expectations for them but at least I'd be willing to take more chances and learn.

Much to my surprise, the spoons performed quite well. The hook is nice and fine, with a small barb, and small enough that sunfish had no problems hooking up. I went from catching redbreasts on the small size to nice chunkier ones. Same with the rock bass. Unlike spoons with trebles, these spoons came through most snags with ease. I also quartered them downstream and let them swing, producing a few stocker rainbows. The ever abundant pickerel liked them as well and none bit me off (miracle of miracles).

This section or river flows slowly, which was good as these spoons would rise too much on faster retrieves or flows. With a 2.5 g upper lure weight limit, it might be tough to find deeper fishing spoons for this rod. Suggestions?

I see now why so many people are gaga for spoons.

[Houndfish]

I am right there with you. I got into spoons this winter and I have almost totally neglected my beloved inline spinners since.

I do have worse hookup rations with a single hook spoon vs a single hook inline, but I am going to play with hooks a little and see what I can do to tune it.

[Dalleinf]

I am right there with you. I got into spoons this winter and I have almost totally neglected my beloved inline spinners since.

I do have worse hookup rations with a single hook spoon vs a single hook inline, but I am going to play with hooks a little and see what I can do to tune it.

That is my big gripe with spoons - the poor hookup ratio compared with inline spinners. I have not found a way around it. Let me know if you do. Spoons are very fun to throw around.

I have purchased many JDM spoons (mainly from Amazon.co.jp) and quite a number of Aliexpress spoons this past year. Especially among the JDM spoons you can find some compact 2-2.5 gram spoons that will go a little deeper...I shall try and find the name of those spoons.

[DirtyD64]

Ever since I bought my first UL casting setup I began enjoying spoons. Normally just the basic cheap ones you get from walmart but with better trebles, normally Decoy's best offerings. Catches a ton of small fish, walleye like them too; just very hard to get them unhooked at times.

[slipperybob]

Ah spoons!

You can just KISS keep it simple slow and you will catch fish.

[CM_Stewart]

I don't think changing hooks will help the hook-up ratio. Changing to a treble hook may help some, but it also will lead to more spoons lost to snags and a harder time unhooking fish that manage to get all three hook points firmly embedded. When fish hit a spoon from the side, which they will, they tend to miss the hook. However, you may find that you get enough more strikes that it more than makes up for the reduced hook-up ratio, at least compared to a jig. I don't fish spinners much because of line twist.

Spoons are not the best lure for fishing downstream in a fast current. They will come to the surface. The heavier, narrower ones are a little better, but still not ideal. Cast upstream, up and across, or downstream through eddies or the slower water along the banks. If you want to fish straight downstream or downstream on a swing, a sinking minnow plug will stay down, and because of its inherent action will probably draw strikes better than a jig. Also fishing spoons downstream will cause them to spin rather than wobble. They are best fished relatively slowly, so that they wobble but don't spin much.

[CM_Stewart]

Ever since I bought my first UL casting setup I began enjoying spoons. Normally just the basic cheap ones you get from walmart but with better trebles, normally Decoy's best offerings. Catches a ton of small fish, walleye like them too; just very hard to get them unhooked at times.

There are single barbless replacement hooks. They hold pretty well and it is very easy to unhook the fish. If you use a net, they usually come out by themselves once you get the fish in the net.

[Dalleinf]

I don't think changing hooks will help the hook-up ratio. Changing to a treble hook may help some, but it also will lead to more spoons lost to snags and a harder time unhooking fish that manage to get all three hook points firmly embedded. When fish hit a spoon from the side, which they will, they tend to miss the hook. However, you may find that you get enough more strikes that it more than makes up for the reduced hook-up ratio, at least compared to a jig. I don't fish spinners much because of line twist.

Spoons are not the best lure for fishing downstream in a fast current. They will come to the surface. The heavier, narrower ones are a little better, but still not ideal. Cast upstream, up and across, or downstream through eddies or the slower water along the banks. If you want to fish straight downstream or downstream on a swing, a sinking minnow plug will stay down, and because of its inherent action will probably draw strikes better than a jig. Also fishing spoons downstream will cause them to spin rather than wobble. They are best fished relatively slowly, so that they wobble but don't spin much.

I think, believe, trust, but cannot know, that I get more or less the same amount of hits on inline spinners, spoons and minnows/crankbaits. And that the fish are of the same size. Some local anglers think, believe, trust, but cannot know, that bigger fish hit spoons more than spinners. I doubt it.
Inline spinners have the best hook-up ratio in my experience, so I use those the most. I do not find that line twist is an issue with baitcasting gear - God bless BFS - but still use a Owner double barrel swivel snap, which certainly has meant no noticeable line twist for me the past 5 years or so.
Spinners are also better upstream than downstream, at least for my local searun brown trout, so I tend to walk and throw upstream with spinners first and then swap to spoons or minnows if little happens.
It all comes down to personal preference and beliefs I guess...

Edit: I did experience line twist with WFT Gliss, but not with x4 and x8 braid.

[Houndfish]

The only presentation I fish downstream in any current is a wacky rigged trout or finesse worm. I rarely do it and am still tinkering with the best way to rig and fish it. In any case, both spoons and spinners are upstream and quartering pretensions only for me. But, I also do a good bit of brackish water finesse fishing so most of the time I am using either of those lures are in relevantly current-less water in any case.

I use the C'ultiva SBL-55M hooks to replace the trebles on my inline spinners and these are the hooks I am planning on trying on the spoons once I find the motivation. My stock of spoons was heavily depleted on my last wading trip and I need to restock soon at any rate, so I am going to switch half of the new spoons over to the Cultivas and see how they compare head to head.

I am also interested in hunting down some small barbless trebles to try as well. I feel like for sunfish, small bass, and white perch they would be very easy to quickly remove due to the relatively larger mouths they all have.