Best Day Yet on the Spoon

[Jim Gronaw]

Got to slip away for a few hours this evening at a 'new' pond. Started using the 1/8 oz RF blue neon spoon and picked up a few big gills but was missing alot of strikes. Scaled down to the 1/16 oz gold RF spoon and tipped it with a piece of Gulp earthworm on the single hook.

Gills and bass were actively feeding on an insect hatch at the surface. I caught most of my 18 gills within 3 feet of the surface as I would let the spoon fall on a tight line then give periodic, small 'lifts' of the rod tip. Missed many more than I hooked, but was happy with the 18 gills and 8 bass that took the spoon.

Despite the heavy feeding on the surface, the fish were not so selective as to ignore the spoon. I would often cast to a swirl. and get a strike from a fish almost as soon as it hit the water. Great fun and a great way to learn how to do the spoon thing with active, co-operative fish!

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Jim, I realize that this post goes way back....(don't know how I missed it)...this was just a few months after I first revealed this methodology....you were the first heavy hitter to ever successfully implement it, and I don't think I can thank you enough for that...

Thanks,

Bill

Great Pics!

[Jim Gronaw]

Hey, Bill...I'm the one who needs to thank you! Whenever I see a new or cutting edge tactic...something from the norm...on putting big gills in the boat/on the bank, I am sure gonna give it a try! I now have a fair assortment of spoons and I have this in my bag of tricks, thanks to you!

That 11 3/4 inch hybrid sunfish in my profile pic is a victim of the spoon gig. And I think your channel catfish tactics for big fish in those Great lakes tributaries are worth a feature in the In Fisherman...stuff that most folks just don't do.

thanks again...we need to fish together one day!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Whats an "RF" spoon?

[John Sheehan]

Rattlin Flash Spoon made by Blue Fox .Some of the Blue fox spoons come without rattles and you can glue your own rattles to them .They are thin profile spoons similar  to a Swedish Pimple or Acme Fiord spoon .Jim has a Gold one in the first pic above hanging from the Bluegills mouth .

[Craig DuShane]

Hey Jim,

In your IMG 1039.JPG pic with the gold  spoon, it looks like the hook is facing down. I was under the impression that it should be facing up the other way...assuming the spoon falls with the convex painted side down and the concave side with the rattle facing up (Is this correct Mod?). Could this be part of why you were missing some strikes?

[Jim Gronaw]

Hey Craig...good observation. I believe that Bill reccommended that the hook point of the single hook be aimed away from the rattle, or, opposite the rattle, as the single hook would sometimes actually 'catch' and hangup on the rattle appendage itself, if facing the same direction as the rattle.

However, in closer observation, it may be that I still have the treble hook on this spoon, and had not replaced it with the provided 'single' hook that comes with the spoon. Hard to tell, as this was very early on in my spoon efforts and I might have not changed the hook to a single.

Sorry for the confusion...let's refer to the spoon guru himself...help us out, Bill! I could be wrong...

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

The single hook placement on a concave/convex spoon such as the RF should have the hook point facing up(rattle side)...if untipped, the hook can and will hook the rattle and foul....I always tip with plastics and live bait, and never experience fouling when hook is tipped.

[Jim Gronaw]

Thanks for clearing this up, Bill. Looks like I nee to do a little changing!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Thanks for the clarification on "RF" - I love the first pic. Its my new desktop pic!