hey all I decided to take a look at one of my favorite ways to fish for coho's and steelhead. Lately I have been on the rivers in the northwest looking for early chinooks and mid run coho's and have not seen another spoon swinger around. I have however had a lot of people ask me what I was doing and how it worked so I thought I would post on this for some of the new guys who might not know.
Spoons and coho go hand and hand. Often times when I get to a river with allot of coho in it I see all the typical gear drifters who do catch a fair share of fish, and wonder why they all do the same thing? I often hit the river with 3 rods in hand I have a bobber and egg rod for chinooks a drift rod I rarely use for coho, and a rod that I use for spoons and spinners. One thing I notice is most of the bank guys I see have there old stand by of a long leader and a corky. If they get bit it is on a corky. this is great for the guy who wants to get a limit and run. But to consistantly catch good numbers of fish anywhere coho lie you need tricks. One that I find great is a spoon fished properly.
to start I get a cleo spoon in copper and red in the 2/5oz and put it on a 4 foot mono leader off of my braided line. I like the heavier spoon since it will sink fast and will roll nicely on the bottom. Mark Anderson posted about coho beeing chase biters and I have seen this to be true as well. Coho want to chase your bait down and then rail it which make them very easy on a spoon if you fish it right. A spoon is most efective if fished in the bottom 3 feet of the river and if fished slowly to allow it to roll. the easiest way to explian this is to tell someone to fish it like you would drift gear.
I generealy cast up stream and allow allot of slack to have it sink fast , and then proceed to reel up the slack and then I keep my rod almost straight up. this will alow me to make the lure move by moveing the rod and not so much the reel. I like to keep my line at a light bow like you would with a drift rig and watch the line as I would a drift rig. what you want is to have the lure flutter slowly just off of the bottom like a roling baitfish. When you get that down you can make it dance. This past summer I swam in a pool as a fellow spoon swinger fished a hole just to see how it looked in action and It does not not take much rod motion to get good action. what you want to do is to be able to lift and drop the rod from about 12 oclock' to about 7 in a rolling motion wich alows a bow in the line and this causes the lure to to pull toward you in the curent and lay flat in the river, if you then go back up to straight it will let it fall and flutter down, this action is great for a beginer becasue it is easy and lets the lure work well and coho and steelhead will smack it hard.
Avoid reeling at all cost. I taught my wife to spoon fish by telling her when to reel. She got mad and told me at first how you have to reel to get any action and I forced her to stop and within her first few cast she had a hot coho on the line. the only time you need to reel is when you are picking up the slack all the action is provided by the rod tip and by the current . I see people all the time that cast and reel and cast and reeel never ever getting that lure to the fish. It is hard to watch when you know there are a bunch of fish maybe 10 feet below there lure just parked waiting for it to drop. the drop is key and keeping that lure working in the zone is just as key. I always say if the bite shuts down stop reeling and if you still dont get bit well then move but always fish it a little slower before you go.
Another good trick is to just roll you rod in a semi big circle granted you dont want to look like an idiot but you dont want a big jerk . this will keep the spoon wiggleing in an up and down motion that steelhead really love. but remember that the rest position with a spoon is with the rod straight up not lyeing down.
many of the same principles apply to spinner fishing. MY brother in Law lives on the sacramento river in Ca and calls me all the time mad that he didn't get a fish and some guy next to him limited in 2 cast with a spinner. but he is one of those guys that cast and reels. Last fall I got 11 chinnook to his 1 with spinners because I fished it very slow and allowed the current to spin the lure rather then the reel. Also always fish wieghted spinners that will spin on a slow retrieve when you fish deeper holes.(4 -10 feet.) Blue fox is a good bet. these spinners will spin and work in the curent and if you cast, and again fish it like drift gear in that you want it to sink and swing through the current not just skim the top 3 feet. spinners will also catch fish if you just give them a second at the end of a run rather then just pull them in at mock one reel them back very slow and see how many times the rod just about flies from your hand. also dont be afraid to cast a spoon or a spinner quartered DOWN stream from you. that is a good idea at times to cast across and down from your position and just hold on and let it slowly cross the current. both spinners and spoons will do this just fine. with the spoon you can always lift and lower you rod as it cross's the seam as well to get a good break up and a good wounded bait fish aproach rather then a quick scream across.
well I hpope this helps some of you out a little I know allot of this stuff is very basic but for a new steelheader or coho fisherman as I was a while back it can be beneficial. So dont be afraid to break the mold and suprise a few old timer's by catching some coho with a spoon rather then a bead or a corky. with a spoon you will cut your foul hooked fish in half as well. Just remember slower is better.
with all the bitter post about this and that around lately why dont we try to help each other out and teach each other some new tricks. please feel free to add any other tricks you want and I will try and put some more if people have any question that I can answer :cheers:.
Spoons and coho go hand and hand. Often times when I get to a river with allot of coho in it I see all the typical gear drifters who do catch a fair share of fish, and wonder why they all do the same thing? I often hit the river with 3 rods in hand I have a bobber and egg rod for chinooks a drift rod I rarely use for coho, and a rod that I use for spoons and spinners. One thing I notice is most of the bank guys I see have there old stand by of a long leader and a corky. If they get bit it is on a corky. this is great for the guy who wants to get a limit and run. But to consistantly catch good numbers of fish anywhere coho lie you need tricks. One that I find great is a spoon fished properly.
to start I get a cleo spoon in copper and red in the 2/5oz and put it on a 4 foot mono leader off of my braided line. I like the heavier spoon since it will sink fast and will roll nicely on the bottom. Mark Anderson posted about coho beeing chase biters and I have seen this to be true as well. Coho want to chase your bait down and then rail it which make them very easy on a spoon if you fish it right. A spoon is most efective if fished in the bottom 3 feet of the river and if fished slowly to allow it to roll. the easiest way to explian this is to tell someone to fish it like you would drift gear.
I generealy cast up stream and allow allot of slack to have it sink fast , and then proceed to reel up the slack and then I keep my rod almost straight up. this will alow me to make the lure move by moveing the rod and not so much the reel. I like to keep my line at a light bow like you would with a drift rig and watch the line as I would a drift rig. what you want is to have the lure flutter slowly just off of the bottom like a roling baitfish. When you get that down you can make it dance. This past summer I swam in a pool as a fellow spoon swinger fished a hole just to see how it looked in action and It does not not take much rod motion to get good action. what you want to do is to be able to lift and drop the rod from about 12 oclock' to about 7 in a rolling motion wich alows a bow in the line and this causes the lure to to pull toward you in the curent and lay flat in the river, if you then go back up to straight it will let it fall and flutter down, this action is great for a beginer becasue it is easy and lets the lure work well and coho and steelhead will smack it hard.
Avoid reeling at all cost. I taught my wife to spoon fish by telling her when to reel. She got mad and told me at first how you have to reel to get any action and I forced her to stop and within her first few cast she had a hot coho on the line. the only time you need to reel is when you are picking up the slack all the action is provided by the rod tip and by the current . I see people all the time that cast and reel and cast and reeel never ever getting that lure to the fish. It is hard to watch when you know there are a bunch of fish maybe 10 feet below there lure just parked waiting for it to drop. the drop is key and keeping that lure working in the zone is just as key. I always say if the bite shuts down stop reeling and if you still dont get bit well then move but always fish it a little slower before you go.
Another good trick is to just roll you rod in a semi big circle granted you dont want to look like an idiot but you dont want a big jerk . this will keep the spoon wiggleing in an up and down motion that steelhead really love. but remember that the rest position with a spoon is with the rod straight up not lyeing down.
many of the same principles apply to spinner fishing. MY brother in Law lives on the sacramento river in Ca and calls me all the time mad that he didn't get a fish and some guy next to him limited in 2 cast with a spinner. but he is one of those guys that cast and reels. Last fall I got 11 chinnook to his 1 with spinners because I fished it very slow and allowed the current to spin the lure rather then the reel. Also always fish wieghted spinners that will spin on a slow retrieve when you fish deeper holes.(4 -10 feet.) Blue fox is a good bet. these spinners will spin and work in the curent and if you cast, and again fish it like drift gear in that you want it to sink and swing through the current not just skim the top 3 feet. spinners will also catch fish if you just give them a second at the end of a run rather then just pull them in at mock one reel them back very slow and see how many times the rod just about flies from your hand. also dont be afraid to cast a spoon or a spinner quartered DOWN stream from you. that is a good idea at times to cast across and down from your position and just hold on and let it slowly cross the current. both spinners and spoons will do this just fine. with the spoon you can always lift and lower you rod as it cross's the seam as well to get a good break up and a good wounded bait fish aproach rather then a quick scream across.
well I hpope this helps some of you out a little I know allot of this stuff is very basic but for a new steelheader or coho fisherman as I was a while back it can be beneficial. So dont be afraid to break the mold and suprise a few old timer's by catching some coho with a spoon rather then a bead or a corky. with a spoon you will cut your foul hooked fish in half as well. Just remember slower is better.
with all the bitter post about this and that around lately why dont we try to help each other out and teach each other some new tricks. please feel free to add any other tricks you want and I will try and put some more if people have any question that I can answer :cheers:.
