Feed Them With A Spoon
by Bassin' Bob Smith
Bass anglers seek their quarry with a staggering
array of colors, bait styles, and sizes. Spinnerbaits, jigs,
buzzbaits, crankbaits and soft plastics probably cover your usual
choices, and you most likely don’t stray far from these. Pretty
much any condition you come across can be fished effectively
utilizing at least one of the above-mentioned bait selections.
Before I go a lot further, let me relate a
short story. One day, my partner and I were fishing on the
Escambia River. We were having minimal success throwing plastic
worms and spinnerbaits. It seemed almost futile.
We fished along one bank, while watching
another boat fishing the opposite one – and they were catching
fish!
While careful observation revealed that what
they were catching were speckled trout (this is brackish tidal
water), they also managed a few largemouth bass mixed in. What
were they doing that we were not? They were fishing with spoons!
A proven bass catching bait, spoons are often
overlooked by most bass anglers. It could be a safe assumption
that a good number of bass fishermen don’t even own a spoon
other than those that live in their kitchen.
Rummaging through my tackle I found a ½ ounce,
gold, Johnson’s Silver Minnow spoon. Quickly dug up a white
Allen Lures Baby Fat Grub and super glued it in place on the
hook. My first cast along the eel grass produced a strike from a
large fish (I swatched it hit and miss the spoon). My partner had
similar results.
Spoons are as versatile as spinnerbaits in
where you can fish them, and how you can employ them to enhance
your bass catching capabilities. From slowly probing deep water
(this is very hard with a spoon as it wants to ride up towards
the top unless you can reel painfully slow) to skittering across
the surface. Spoons can even be jigged vertically, a method not
very productive for a spinnerbait. Anywhere you would throw a
spinnerbait, the spoon is a viable option.
The slow side-to-side wobble of a spoon is
enticing to any fish. Flash? Well, few blade baits put off as
much as a large silver or gold spoon. The addition of a plastic
trailer or pork trailer makes this a deadly bait in a lot of
situations.
With your rod tip held high you can scoot a big
spoon fairly slow over matted grass or lily pads. Most are
weedless (relatively) so there are not a lot of hang-ups in the
grass. Additionally, and possibly the most important point to
throwing a spoon is in a tournament, the numbers of people who
fish these baits for bass (at least in my part of the country –
Northwest Florida) is very low. Therefore you can be using a bait
that the fish don’t see day in and day out, which can equate to
more bites.
When fishing gets bad and you have almost
exhausted every option you can think of, try feeding them with a
spoon. - Bassin' Bob Smith
Bob, thank you so much on behalf of the
Bassdozer visitors who have enjoyed reading your fine article. It
sounds like there's high potential to rig and fish a spoon as you
suggest! I think you are right that not a lot of anglers use them
nor have many bass ever seen them! Please feel welcome to click
here and visit Bassin' Bob's Bass Fishing Site.
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