Bob Smith
bob@bassinbobs.com
"BOBS LOCAL RIVER REPORTS"
Local Reports and Fishing Articles
Feed Them With A Spoon
Bass anglers seek their quarry 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. My partner and I were fishing on 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 specks, they also managed a few 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 seen it 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 situation.
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 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.
Good Fishing!!
Bob
