So someday life is going to find me out of trout and salmon country and back where I came from. I've developed an affliction where I am drawn to and love fishing spoons. I like to troll them, cast them, jig them, buy them, and collect them. I have a monstrous assortment of every kind imaginable from teeny DickNites to giant Krocodiles and everything in between. I have heavy casting spoons, slab jigging spoons, thin flutter and trolling spoons all in a multitude of colors and shapes.

As a kid we used slabs for stripers but that was about the extent of our spoon usage. I don't want to get rid of them and have a hard time not buying more when I find a bargain. Do any of you see a use for them for bass, stripers, walleye, saugeye, sandbass, crappie, or any other warm freshwater species? Just a guess but I think some of the small flutter spoons and kokanee spoons like DickNites or TripleTeasers could be murderous on crappie if jigged in the right spots.

We'll probably take an annual 7-10 day trout fishing trip in the summer and I know they'll be good for that. Anyone ever use them for anything else?

Spoons are great for Pike, and a Johnsons weedless spoon with a 4 inch plastic worm on the back, run slow along the bottom can be VERY Good for walleyes...

When I was a kid, fishing our stock tanks, on the Ranch, or the neighbors tanks, and a few private lakes, I caught a ton of largemouth bass on the old Johnson's Silver Minnow spoon. Also, I've caught quit a few stripers and white bass on spoons like the original Daredevil.

Use them for pike, walleye, lake trout, grayling, yellow perch, and lake whitefish. Various sizes and colors of course, but Len Thompson spoons are my favorite. They seem to troll nicely, cast far, and come in a wide variety of colors. Plus they are made locally in Lacombe, Alberta.

SS

I like them myself. My favorites are Swedish pimples and kastmasters. I vertical jig bridge pillars for spotted bass but also catch a few smallmouth and largemouth doing it, and the occasional crappie too "bonus".

A guy named Bill Modica fishes tiny spoons horizontally for huge bluegills up north during the open water season and I have been wanting to try that. There are some videos on YouTube of him and also the in fisherman guy showing how to fish them. Very simple looking. Search musky mod and spoon feed bluegills.

I fish spoons certain times of the year but I do better on other things most of the year.

Yup. I've used tiny spoons with a 1" Gulp minnow for bluegill and yellow perch. Killer.

We jig Castmasters for freshwater stripers in Lake Powell.

A flutter spoon snapped off the bottom is deadly for smallmouth or walleye.

And, as several above have noted, the weedless Johnson Silver minnow for largemouth is a classic.

Me too! They work great when they're spawning in the rivers.

In freshwater, no, but in salt they'll take anything you can get them in front of.

I'm a huge fan of little cleos and krocodiles. To the point that if I ever see either on sale I'll buy everyone they have.

In the winter, quite a few guys use various spoons for Bass on Clearlake especially when they go to deeper water. Also jig rattle traps and LV 500's.

Spoons are for pike. Johnson silver minnow, as mentioned. Red &white daredevle for smaller pike. Five of diamonds, KO wobbler for lake trout.walleyes on spoons with orange. Sunfish, crappies and perch on anything with hooks small enough to hook them. Just depends on the situation. So a
Hang onto those spoons - hang them over the side!

Fortunately, and or unfortunately there aren't any pike where we'll be going.

I use kokanee spoons alot for jigging while ice fishing for trout and do well with the little ones. Figure since we used to jig little tubes and minnows around rock and brush piles for crappie that a little Schoff TripleTeaser should work just as well. Just never heard of anyone using them. In fact I'd wager there isn't a store within 25 miles of my hometown that sells spoons.

Always trolled plugs for walleye as a kid. Looking on the net it seems that spoons trolled slow can be dynamite on them up north. Figures they probably eat the same things down south so the spoons will be worth a try.

Muskie, white perch, landlocked salmon, lake trout, brook trout, smelt, and smallmouth bass

I remember many a story in the OUTdoor magazine way back when I was a kid and the red and white Daredevil played a part in many a fishing trip.

I have one that is probably 10 years old and has never been in the water.

Several mentions of the silver minnow. I fish those as a top water bait every once in a while if I'm somewhere where there is grass mats. I put a twin tail grub on the back and drag it across the mats. I only do this on occasion because frankly frogs catch more fish most of the time, the only exception is when they won't come up in the junk but a spoon drug then allowed to fall onto a opening in the mat and bam.

Caught a few smallmouth with spoons.

I don't go freshwater fishing without a 1oz red and white daredevil in the box. Best pike lure I've ever fished. Johnson silver minnows work great as well especially near reeds. Little Cleos when casting for steelhead and salmon.

I use spoons quite a bit through the ice. Developed a few with a painter friend - check out RJ Lures.

In summer months I'm more likely to troll spoons, although I do jig a new development we're working on a lot, with great success.

Trolling spoons, either behind a jet diver or a 3 way bell sinker is still challenging me quite a bit. I get hit tons, that's not a problem, but they don't get a hook in them to bring them to the boat. Not really sure how I can get hit so much and over 50% never get hooked up. When they work, they really work....

Most people would be amazed at the size of lures I jig through the ice, and rarely use any live bait. I run pretty fast and hard on the ice, will drill 70-100 holes most days. Aggressive jigging get's their attention, then love the flash of a falling spoon.

I've fished with spoons for a lot of years. To increase hooking success, especially with larger fish like trout and salmon, I replaced all my treble hooks on my spoons with a single barb Mustad hook. I've caught numerous trout and salmon where the single hook went right through the heavy jaw bone of the fish, something I never saw when using treble hooks. If you're having trouble hooking fish with treble hooks, consider swapping them for a single hook. I did and I'll never go back to treble hooks for larger fish.

+1

I use spoons for trout here and when Tiger muskie fishing the one local lake I rig a medium spoon on a spinning rod and a large lure on a casting rod. it's about 50/50 on which I get the most bites on. By medium I mean a 3/4 or 7/8 oz. daredevil or equivalant .

There aren't any pike down here on the Gulf Coast, but the stores sell spoons. I've used them with good success on largemouth bass, although there are better lures out there today.

A 4.5 coyote spoon in cookies and cream, with or without tail wagger, smeared with bloody tuna scent = big king salmon.

I've used spoons for many specie but anymore I fish mostly for lake trout and if I want a laker for dinner, I troll a Sutton Spoon #38....the ultimate flutter spoon. Almost as good is the Williams Whitefish spoon......The Williams is one of the few trolling spoons with the wide portion forward as a bait fish is shaped.....a great lake trout spoon.

Funny thing to me is that I have NEVER used spoons for trout,
gonna try that next time I am in trout country!

It's been some time back, but I've caught small perch on small red, and white daredevil spoons.

Wabigoon,

Try the smallest Williams Wabler you can get in a gold color for perch next time you are out. They are about 3/4" long and work really well.

SS

I don't, but a lot of guys that fish Lake Erie for big walleyes use them.
I have about 100 of them that have never been wet, but heck, they look so dang
Purdy, it's hard not to buy them



I use mostly Reef Runners, or Renosky stick baits...

Here's my grandson with his first limit on his first time walleye trip on Erie..

William's Wabblers #70 in silver for northern pike and black pentac spoons for large smallies. The deadliest spoon for me is the black Pentac spoon coated with clear irredescent paint (stripers, blues, smallmouth and pike).