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The
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Fishing Spoons with Guide Cal Stocking |
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What type of rod/reel/line combo do you like for fishing spoons? Well since the braided lines came about they are Ideal for spoon fishing. I like the power pro 50 pound test for my spoon rods. As far as rods any good medium to medium heavy rod will work well. I like a 9 or 10 foot rod with a sensitive tip and allot of back bone for a good bone jarring hook set. A couple of my favorites are the Loomis STR1086C or the Lamiglas Certified Pro Bill Herzog spoon edition. What type of spoons do you fish and why? My favorite when you can get them are the Pen tac or Mor tac spoons or little Cleos. The elongated style of spoon allows you to keep it near the bottom where you want to be...Spoons are designed to rise in the water as you apply pressure to them, so I will fish the steelier style, or tear drop shaped spoon in water that is 4 feet or less. These spoons have allot of surface area and will rise and fish shallow than the longer thinner spoons. As far as colors go I use the silver on cloudy days and in water with 3 or more feet of visibility. I will use Gold on days that are clearer and water that has more visibility. The silver offers the most flash of all the colors out there. Copper can also be a very productive color to have in your arsenal. You can take any of the spoons and paint or add tape to change and vary the colors as needed. Another neat spoon for low water clear conditions are the black spoons you can add white or green dots to make these very very productive. How would you present a spoon from shore? The best way to present a spoon from shore is to find holding water that is not too fast and about 4 to 8 feet deep. Fishing a spoon in moving water that is deeper than 8 feet is tough to do. You want to try to cast either straight out or down stream just a bit. As soon as the spoon hits the water mend your line up river to get the spoon swimming with the head up river. Now let the spoon fall to the bottom until you feel it "tick tick" a few times. Begin to slowly reel and I mean slowly to where you see the line and rod tip just begin to "thump thump thump". Every few feet let the spoon fall and touch bottom again so you know your in the zone. Another key point to fishing spoons is people like to reel as soon as it hits the water. Again spoons and spinners are designed to rise in water as pressure is applied to it. You will get more flash and vibration from your spoon when it thumps or wobbles than when it spins fast. How would you present a spoon from the boat? This is a method that I perfected years ago and not allot of people use it. It can be a very, very affective way to catch steelhead in areas that have seen a lot of pressure. Not many boaters think of using spoons for steelhead unless nothing else works or it is the last lure they have in their box that day. The best way to fish them from the boat is to set up at the top of a drift. Cast straight out or down stream just a bit. Now get on the kicker motor and keep the boat drifting slower than the current. Again let the spoon fall to the bottom and let it drift along. Try to keep the line at about a 45 degree angle down stream to give the fish the best view of the spoon as it wobbles back and fourth. You won't have to reel as much as when fishing off shore because the boat and kicker do the work for you. The great thing of fishing from the boat is you can keep the spoon in the zone for 40 or 50 foot stretches instead of 10 feet when fishing from the bank. What's the take like when a steelhead picks up a spoon? Well there are 3 ways they pick it up.... They freight train it and it's a no brain'er, they pick it up and swim up stream, or most often they just stop it... any time that spoon gets heavy or stops... set the hook hard! What type of water conditions are best for spoons? Also, what type of water do spoons work best in? (i.e. flats, rock gardens, bars, etc.) I like to fish spoons in all sorts of water. But the reason they work so well is that you can cover a ton of water with them and all sorts of water to boot. Their awesome fished in rock gardens and flats that you would usually toss the kitchen sink into drift fishing. They work great in slow water as you can allow them to sink and reel them through or even vertically jig them. Water clarity from 3 feet to unlimited are the best conditions to fish spoons. Aside from steelead, will spoons catch any other kind of fish that might also be in the river? We all know that coho love spoons and spinners of all sorts. From the small Dick Nites to the large wobblers. Chinook will also hammer a well presented spoon. Along with trout and Dolly Varden. Is it true that spoons work well for taking trophy class steelhead? Yes they do... Two of my largest steelead have been taken on spoons. When both these fish took the spoon they just stopped it and it felt as though you had just hung it in a tree. And they are a fantastic method to use during restricted catch and release seasons. Put something flashy and annoying in front of a 20 pound steelhead and they will usually pounce on it. I have seen them move up to 15 feet to hit a spoon. For more information
call Cal Stocking
Steelhead University
is a division of
Salmon University. |
