Jigging Spoon help

[ncbass]

Guys,
I am determined to learn this technique and catch some fish this winter. Need advice on the whole set up: line, rod, reel, lure and any other tips.

Thanks in advance,
Brad

[Daniel]

Ok! Somebody give it up! I want to know too!

[Santeerangerman]

I've tried several different rods for this, and I'm still not 100% happy with any of them.
Part of the problem for me is,a heavy lure(1/2oz-1.0oz), and treble hooks.
You need a rod with alot of backbone to handle the weight, but a tip soft enough that the fish can't throw the spoon. The spoon gives the fish alot of leverage to throw the bait.

The set up I'm using right now is a G-Loomis CBR 845.
This is a 7' Med hvy crankbait rod, witha Shimano Mentanium (Chronarch)
spooled with 15lb P-Line CX Premium.

I think I've increased my hook-up to land ratio to around 60% with this rig.

[kk4iz]

Been fishing one for years, use what every you use for crank bait. When you see fish on your graft drop the jig down to where you see them, you also will see your jig. Just bounce the jig up and down about 6 or 8", what ever is down there will hit it, cat, bass, bream,drum,and ect.

[jbh3]

There is a gentleman over on the BFHP "Fishing Tactics" forum that has put out a bunch of good info - including LCR screen shots - on this subject. Search for posts by LTBama. Here is a link to a very informative article he wrote on spooning: http://heartlandtackleservice.com/spooning.stm. Be advised, a pop-up blocker is highly recommended if you travel over to BFHP, but the info on this subject is very good. Have a good one!

[Fish-N-Fool]

An ol timer that I used to fish with (back in Arkansas) loved to fish a jigging spoon during the dead of winter. He made a believer outa me and on many cooooold days we put fish in the boat....more than I would have thought possible. His approach was pretty simple...locate fish stacked up in a creek channel and vertical drop a hopkins type spoon (hammered finish) in on them...allow the spoon to slowly flutter to the bottom..... and once on the bottom (assuming the fish are hugging the bottom), lower your rod tip....reel in about a foot or less of slack line..and then quickly raise the rod tip several feet and slowly lower the rod tip...keeping some tension on the line so that you can detect the strike. The bite almost always occurred while the lure is falling (maybe imitating a dying shad?). He used one of 2 sizes of spoons....medium (3/8 oz) to 3/4 oz size....and tried both until he found the size that seemed to be most productive. If you know you are on top of the fish....continue 'jigging' the spoon...until your arm falls off...then switch hands and continue...once the bite started it wasn't unusual to catch a bunch of fish from that one spot.

You will hang up....and probably lose several...so buy a handful of each size (they're cheap). We used ordinary casting rods/reels...6 -6 1/2 ' M/H rods...baitcaster w/12 or 14 lb test line. He would not use a swivel to reduce line twist...believing that the swivel imparts a different action that wasn't as productive. At any rate....I followed suit...ya can't argue with a man that is putting a lot of fish in the boat

We had days where catching 20-25 bass wasn't uncommon (would even catch other species that were in the same bunch of fish). We used this technique during the coldest part of winter...air temps in the high 30's low 40's...and water temp about the same. The key was finding stacked up fish...not singles...and marking the location and then staying over the fish. Now, if I could only find fish here on Lake Cumberland ( I submit that this lake is completely dead ) I'll be doing the jig spoon boogie this winter too.

[ncbass]

Guys,
Thanks for the help, look forward to trying out some of your suggestions......

[Southfork]

Check out Jason Quinns DVD , classic patterns. He has some great info on jigging a spoon. The show was filmed on lake Wylie SC in the summer of 05. I think it costs $14.95 at BPS.

[LTBama]

Thanks jbh3,
I need to replace the pictures with better ones as soon as I find time to go through several hundred! lol

I didn't even know about this site until Steve emailed me. Looks great.

I started jigging a spoon about 6 years ago ago when I came in with my usual 2 or 3 fall fish and this old man had a boat load of crappie. He was using an old paper graph. With the improvements in depth finders and experience in where to look, it has become easy. It's just about the only thing that works for me in the middle of the day from July through January

[cfieldbasser]

Welcome to BBC!!

[1WildLegendMan]

LTBAMA WELCOME TO THE BBC!!!!!!!!!!!

[cfieldbasser]

LTBama should feel very much at home with those greetings Mike!!

[jbh3]

Good to see you over here LT. Guys, this technique will help your fishing in a number of ways. It forces you to get off the banks and actually use your electronics. In the process of looking for bait schools, I have located a LOT of structure to fish with other techniques as well. I keep a spoon ready on deck all the time now. LT, it's most always a Cabelas 1/2 oz. in glow - thank you! And as someone mentioned above, I too will drop on pretty much anything that looks fishy. It's productive and dang fun!

[Daniel]

I went out today and did some adjusting to the settings on my graph. I was able to pick up the spoon with the sensitivity set at 70%. It was neat to watch it but I didn't catch any fish.

[LTBama]

You'll get it Daniel - I promise.

You got the first part. The key now is to learn where to look for bait fish. They school up in huge schools in some creek and coves this time of year and the bass will be close by. Once you find the bait then you can look for active fish.

I would recommend going out and fishing the way you enjoy in the morning and once the bite slows, go look for shad.

Our lake got muddy up river where I've been fishing so I went down river where I usually don't fish this time of year. I started at 8:30 and by 11:00 I had found nothing and even tried worm fishing to catch something. I finally went in one clear creek and hit pay dirt about half way back in 35' of water. From 11 to 3:30 I caught 58 fish on a spoon and left them biting. I had 3 crappie and the rest spotted bass up to 18". Nothing huge but fun to catch.

You just need to hit one of those real good spots one time to develope confidence and you'll be hooked too! lol

[Ron Melby]

LT, Just read the article and looked at the graph photos, this is one of the most informational articles I have ever read on spoon fishing. I have tried this method of fishing before with no luck, and just couldn't bring myself to stay with it. After looking at the article I am ready to try it again, thanks.
Ron

[cfieldbasser]

I really enjoyed the article as well LT. I need to get off the bank and I'm gonna learn to catch some fish jigging. Thanks