Spoons

[Centerpin]

Do you guys use spoons down there for steelhead and salmon. If so what type of spoons do you use? We use spoons up here a lot. Mainly because you can cover water easily and effectively. Usually the more water you cover the more fish you catch. Isn't that what it all about.

[smilesforu]

I fish spoons but not as much as I do my drift gear. I can cover water more effectively with drift gear. There is some water that is more effectively fished with spoons. The spoons I use are the Pen-tac BC steel, krocodile, steelie spoons and little cleos. Different types for different water.
tight Lines

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Marty M
Steelheader.net

CP, I agree somewhat with both you and Marty about spoons. I agree that water can be covered well without spoons. At the same time I also believe that both spoons and spinners are underused down here in our region. They are very effective! I brought up some Pixies to B.C. this summer, in silver w/ pink egg inlay and brass w/ orange inlay. They work. In fact, click on Who's RT at the top of the BB page, for fish pics, then clik on RT in B.C. on that page; and scroll down to see a Pixie in the mouth of a King I just landed on a smaller tributary up there in early September. For down here I really like the half nickle and half trans blue (or green) Little Cleo spoons. They are shaped and weighted really well and have a nice action and good quality finish. As with my plugs and spinners, I sometimes put a small flame red arrow shaped piece of lure tape near the lower end near the hook ring as an added attractor. I just don't use them often enough anymore. Need to get back to some hardware cruisin again . The hard hits are cool. - RT

[Centerpin]

I would estimate that about 50 % of the steelhead I catch are on spoons. I would also say that about 60 % of the coho I catch are on spoons. Probably about 30% of the chinook I catch are on spoons.

Have you guys ever tried KOHO spoons? They kick the hell out of fish. Especially chinook and coho. Blue and silver with a red stripe on the back. I don't think they sell them down south but it is well worth the trip across the boarder.

[parker]

Mor-Tacs.

No, spoons suck. Don't use them!

Parker

[Shannon]

Centerpin,
Those are some big ol' Chums up on your photo gallery. My personell all time best spoon for Steelhead is a Little Cleo.

For Salmon my spoon of choice is a Kastmaster. I target Salmon from a down stream position and cast the Kastmaster (3/8) into the pool and do a 3 to 5 second free fall. BAM.

Shannon

[Shannon]

Centerpin,
Those are some big ol' Chums up on your photo gallery. My personell all time best spoon for Steelhead is a Little Cleo.

For Salmon my spoon of choice is a Kastmaster. I target Salmon from a down stream position and cast the Kastmaster (3/8) into the pool and do a 3 to 5 second free fall. BAM.

Shannon

[Tanner]

Little Cleos have worked for me. In fact there has been times where I started fishing them as a last resort and it paid off. For low clear water steelhead I like the nickle/blue finished ones. I have also caught fish on the chartreuse ones in chocolate brown water.
Tanner

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There's No Nookie Like Chinookie

[Centerpin]

These guys make the best spoons on earth. I fish with nothing but their products. Koho's are my favourite. Kitimats are good too. You will see a lot of these suckers hanging from some of the steelhead on my homepage.
http://gibbsfishing.com/

[Fish mojo]

I'm a big fan of spoons for winter steelies. My first one was on a orange and brass Steel-E spoon on a 25 degree day in the snow on the Sandy at the gauge hole. That's still my #1 lure. I bought some BC Steel's back before they went under and like the action, but still haven't done as well with them. I am ordering some KOHO's from www.berrysbait.com/. we'll see how they do down here. CP, what are your favorite "colours" -eh?

[Spoons]

I was taught how to steelhead fish on spoons so that is what I am most comfortable with and fish the most and second with a fly. My favorite is the teardrop shape silver plated by BOB Toman. The only place I have found them is BC Angling post in Oregon City next to fishermans. In fact now that I think about it all of the Deschutes steelies I have caught have been with spoons or flies and the few Sandy fish I have caught have been with spoons.

CP I am going to order some of those KOHO and try those. The finish on the ones that I use the most as mentioned above are available at the following.
www.bcanglingpost.com

[Centerpin]

Spoon,

Send me an e mail and I will give you the key to gold plated teardrop shaped spoons that hammer steelhead. Koho's work well in faster water but teardrop spoons work well in the exact speed of steelhead holding water. Thanks for the link. I will check it out.

CP

[rob allen]

Back in my gear fishing days i fished spoons about 50% of the time and caught about 50% of my fish on them.. In shallower water i prefer steelie type spoons i often prefer fishing them by casting upstream as parallel as i can to any type of structure or if possible through that structure. i very rarely ever fish down and across, i think the lure comes across to high in the water column and to fast. Throwing it upstream and across will bring it through deeper and slower, keeping the lure in the strike zone longer. In deeper water i prefer spinners because they sink faster and can be bounced along the bottom as opposed to a solid retrieve.

[meyersbilly]

I fish spoons about 50% of the time for steelhead, coho and chinook, mostly because they work, but also out of shear enjoyment. You really start to figure things out when you become proficient with the spoon. My personal preference is sight fishing them. It's an amazing thing to see how these fish react to your spoon and against popular belief salmonids chase these things halfway across the pool and sometimes right to the end of your rod.

Certain water is suited to the spoon and once you figure out what type of water it is, you have figured out what type of water most canadian steelhead prefer. Here's a hint its the type of water that flutters your spoon from head to tail with very little spin. Wait for the flutter to pause and set the hook.

[GBSkunk]

After reading Bill Herzogs book on spoon fishing I got into it bigtime. I like #2 Stee-Lee for shallow water, Little Cleo for most of my fishing, and Krocodiles for very deep water. On all of them I cut off the treble and put on a siwash. Great takes! I had a Klickitat fish blister my thumb real bad one time on a 2/5th ounce Cleo. I like the water a little warmer before I tie one on.

[skunkmaster]

Centerpin do you use the Ironhead by gibbs I picked a few of these up along with my supply of kohos.
Gibbs put out the best quality product I have seen.
I think that the guys who order them will be amazed when they find out that with the exchange rate they can by these for the same price as Cleos.

[scooby]

Not too many people on the rivers I fish use spoons. I have found it a good way to fish after people. I prefer to use either gold or silver plated spoons in the winter. Right how I mainly use the mortac's but have not been able to find a tear drop in gold or silver plate so I use the copper stee lee. I will have to check out that web page.

Center pin/meyersbilly - i was checking out the gibbs home page the other day and was wondering if either of you could answer a question for me. Do the Kit a Mats fish similar to a tear drop. I see that these come in silver and gold plate. thanks

scooby

[Centerpin]

Ask for the K3 or K4 Wobbler in genuine silver or gold plating. They make them but they are not in Berrys catalogue. I would fish nothing but the real deal. You are totally right about fishing after people. Often we follow fly guys with our spoons and smash fish. Sight fishing is the most amazing thing. Billy and I will be doing some tomorrow. I will give the old ironhead a try if I get into some heavier water.

Take advantage of your strong american dollars. I would take advantage of my canadian buck but the japanese don't make anything worthwhile.

[meyersbilly]

Scooby: I find that the kit a mat fishes a little different than the tear drop shaped spoons (K-45, K-35...). Tear drops need very little current to real make them shine. I usually use these for steelhead in lighter water, glide/run habitat that is fairly uniform. Skeena tribs (i.e. Bulkley, Kalum) are great places for this type of spoon.

Kit a mat spoons seem to work a little better in heavier water with uneven currents. Corner pools and pools with a good seams are where they really shine. Down and into the seam and then swung through the tailout. Kitimat River is a fantastic river for the kit a mat spoon.

My personal preference is with the tear drop, because it gives a little heavier thump when it works and this allows me better control and reaction to subtle takes. Kit a mat spoons are a fantastic tight line spoon for heavy water and heavy fish. Depending on the River, conditions, current, species... I will use one over the other.

[Snagly]

Sounds likes the slosh of American currency flowing north over the border . . . . Jay and Billy, you don't own stock in Gibbs/Nortac now do ya'?.

As for spoon fishing technique, let me share a method I used when fishing heavier water on the Skeena system rivers a couple of months back. Rather than cast quartering upstream and use the current to tumble the spoon (and perhaps not getting a good throb and otherwise loose some feel on the downstream leg), I cast more or less straight across as per norm. But instead of engaging the spool, I clamped my thumb down tightly. As soon as the spoon began to work, I lowered the rod from 11 to 9 o'clock and whipped it back about 2', letting out line under tension. In this way I was able to feed line into the drift while the spoon wobbled away below my feet. After maybe two and at most a half dozen of these, I'd engage the spool and let the spoon wobble its way to the end of the drift and then swing below me at greater depth than I could have achieved otherwise. I got hung up often enough to know that I was getting down deep.

Some of the time I found myself fishing the spoon the way I would the float on a jig/ float combo: lots of line fed into the drift to keep the spoon/ float in the seam/ bubble line, then swing when there was enough (too much) line out to to keep it all off the water any longer.

The first time I used it, I followed six people through a hole and really wanted to dredge the bottom. The result was a 38 1/2" buck. Used it the rest of the week in higher water situations -- mostly with 2/3 oz. silver or gold plated Mortacs.

This technique is similar to "driftmending" as described by Bill Herzog but not the same. Anyone do anything similar or have any thoughts on this approach? One spoon gun angler has commented elsewhere that when he fishes spoons quite a few takes feel like 'trout nibbles'. In my limited experience, the steelhead thwack the spoon (meaning I'm missing half the takes I guess).

[scooby]

Centerpin and Meyersbilly thanks for the information - I will try some of those and see how it goes

scooby

Hi Snagly. I use your described extended spoon drift,then swing. I use it for spinners too. For deeper/heavier currents I put some 1/4" pencil lead on the barrelswivel line tag above the 40" leader to get it closer to bottom, and free spool extend when appropriate. - RT

[Centerpin]

Marty,

A lot of the time the spoon stops fluttering just like you say. No thump thump. I set the hook and what do you know there is a steely on the other end. If your spoon is working properly there will be a rhythmic pumping in your rod tip. If that changes most often it is a fish. You will see the suckers tap before they hit it hard sometimes. I took one on a Gibbs Ironhead today in Gold Plating. Billy took several on other Gibbs spoons as well. The others I took were on flame orange corkies with white wool on top. Size 2/0 Vision Hook. The Vision hooks had me at a perfect landing percentage today. I have to thank you guys down south for that.


I have several spoons hanging from the steelies mouth on my homepage.




[This message has been edited by Centerpin (edited 12-15-2000).]

[smilesforu]

I have had the steelies just stop the spoon with out any big thwack. Need to know what your spoon is doing at all times just like any type of gear. I have had fish grab it on the fall, jigged in pools and swing drifted. Lots of ways to get the spoon to work in different situations.
Tight Lines

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Marty M
Steelheader.net

[Centerpin]

The link to Berrys Bait and Tackle is listed above. These guys carry the spoons you need. Just call them and ask for a K3 or K4 in gold or silver plate. I guarantee they will have them.

[IDidItAllForTheNookies]

Hey Centerpin,
I was wondering if you could order spoons directly from gibbs/nortac or do you have to go a place such as berry's bait to order them. Which are some of you favorite colors to use also, because I noticed they have quite a selection. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
Jeff

[Vic Carrao]

Hey CP, great job in promoting Gibbs, I'll tell Allison who will probably send you some freebees, if she doesn't, I will.
I just got in a box of Kit-A Mats, Koho's and Croc's, christmas present for Pro Staff.

One method that our friends down south might be interested in is float fishing spinners. The number one blade for salmon & steelhead is the #3 Colorado also made by Gibbs. I wrote an article on this technique which you can find on my links/report/article page on www.guidebc.com. The great thing about fishing spinners under a float is that you can fish just about any water type or condition. My best day last year float'n spinners was 14 steelies.