Northwest Fishing Reports

I have never used spoons for steelhead before but picked up some BC Steel spoons for winter metal. Whats the best way to effectively use them?

DannyL wrote:I have never used spoons for steelhead before but picked up some BC Steel spoons for winter metal. Whats the best way to effectively use them?

See if you can find a copy of Bill Herzog's book "Spoon fishing for Steelhead" from the library or online. There are also a lot of good articles available on the web too regarding the technique if you do a Google search.

In general cast out into the current and let the spoon swing down like you would a spinner. The key is keeping it in the holding zone which will vary with current/depth/bottom structure.

pretty straight forward. Tie a swivel to mainline, add about 2 feet of leader, tie on spoon. Cast straight across or slightly down current, let the spoon sink, then tighten the line - works best if you don't really reel but let the current swing the spoon across the river bed/current. you should feel the thump thump thump of the spoon working, and occasionally banging into rocks. if the current is really slow, or you are in shallow water, you'll want to reel just fast enough to keep from hanging up on the bottom. When a fish hits, you generally do not need to set the hook - they will do that for you. At the end of the "swing" let the spoon hang and flutter for a couple of seconds before retrieving - a lot of fish will give chase and nail the spoon once it stops its swing
FWIW... here's what I keep in mind when using sppons....
*use a swivel!
*10-12 lb mono line is sufficient for mainline and gives you good feel.
*Tired braid (soft and no float) works really well.... This years Braid on the float rod is next years braid for the Spinning rod.
*Don't add weight - that will just frustrate you (unless you are doing the dick nite thing, but that's not a "real" spoon anyway )and doesn't count
*if you are not getting to the bottom then try a larger/heavier spoon - or try something different
*slow - slow retrieve - slow is good
*Single SHARP hooks - and checkem/resharpen, change as needed - you are slaming the hooks into rocks....2x or 3x strong!
*Treble hooks suck, they snag up a lot, bend, are a ***** to get out of your hand, and generally aren't legal everywhere
* nasty gooey sticky stinky jelly scents work pretty darn well on spoons
* for a heavier spoon, put two back to back then put your split rings/hooks back on. this make a heavy/small/NOISY spoon.
* Unfortunately, you get what you pay for - cheap spoons are generally, well, cheap... crappy hooks, crappy finish, crappy action
* Sharp hooks - did I say that? check the hooks again


BC Steel are good Spoons - - my fav though is the 2/5 oz brushed copper color(not shiney brass) rvrfisher. Pure silver kills em too.

Sky

caught my biggest summer run on a bc steel and caught my only Skagit river winter steelhead on a stee-lee. pretty straight forward, cast straight out or slightly downstream and let it wobble down stream keeping fairly tight tension to the spoon, youll know when you get bit because the rod will go flying out of your hands if you aren't paying attention haha

Great points by skyriverman. I would also give a nod to bill herzogg's book. Dont overlook the good ol daredevle spoon in red and white, deadly when the water is that steelhead green. Plus you cant call yourself a spoon fishermen unless you got one in your box!

spoonman wrote:Great points by skyriverman. I would also give a nod to bill herzogg's book. Dont overlook the good ol daredevle spoon in red and white, deadly when the water is that steelhead green. Plus you cant call yourself a spoon fishermen unless you got one in your box!

Herzog's book is definitely a good one, and I guess I better get myself one of those red and white dardevle spoons! I have quite a few other styles and colors in my box, but not one of those.

I am pretty new to spoon fishing myself so I'm not going to say a lot, other than I agree with the general technique people are describing. Cast out straight and let the spoon flutter and occasionally bounce along on the bottom on its own without reeling (or very little reeling).

One thing I will reiterate though is to be prepared for the strike! I have only caught one Steelhead on a spoon to date (although I have only been at it for one summer season so far), but there is no way I will forget that strike. The fish hit so hard and then proceeded to head shake and jump so much that for the first little bit it was all I could do just to get my rod back under control.

Such an amazing fight....such good memories...and it was only about 6lbs too if I remember right!

I heard one guy sum up spoon fishing for Steelhead like this. "The great thing about spoon fishing is that when you do get a fish, you know that the fish wants to be there." Meaning, if you hook one on a spoon, it will almost certainly be an aggressive fish and will have hit that spoon because it really wanted to.

I'm getting all excited now for fishing spoons for winter Steelhead!

Its not ALWAYS a savage strike, most of the time, but not always. Somtimes it will just stop, just dead stop then get going again after a second or two. If this happens set it hard! I could be a fish mouthing your spoon, or a snag about to happen to either way give it a yank.

spoonman wrote:Its not ALWAYS a savage strike, most of the time, but not always. Somtimes it will just stop, just dead stop then get going again after a second or two. If this happens set it hard! I could be a fish mouthing your spoon, or a snag about to happen to either way give it a yank.

Agreed, I've had as many swing-stops as I have had vicious strikes. If that spoon is working it's way across the swing and stops swinging HIT IT HARD.

Another tip that will save you from donating many spoons to the river gods. If you do get snagged up, put your rod tip down just above water level, open your bail and freespool line out for about 5 seconds, then close the spool and do a side arm hookset swinging your rod upstream, then keep reeling. By letting out line, the current will make a bow in the line, when you do the hookset the force of the water on the bow will pull your spoon downstream instead of up which many times (not all) will free your spoon.

the strike can go either way.... your first hook up will probably be the rip-the-rod-from-your-hands-becasue-you-weren't-paying-attention type of strike - it'll be one you always remember and will convince you to always have a few spoons on hand... (and pay more attention)

you should always have some tension on your line as you swing the spoon - when you have a good "setup" you'll be able to feel every move the spoon makes through your rod tip - if you feel......

-a hard slam! that's a fish on, raise the rod - usually the fish has already hooked itself
-everything suddenly goes slack-raise the rod, reel - when you feel resistance, set the hook with some gusto
-the spoon stops mid swing for a second, yanks your rod tip, then continues the swing - either a fish hit it - hold on, it often comes around for a smashing hit - or, you tagged some moss/grass - after you reel in, pull the crap off your hook, make sure still sharp, and try again.
-the spoon stops mid swing, line starts peeling off - raise rod tip and put tension on the line to set the hook - don't yank to set the hook (or you and your new favorite spoon will soon be parted)
-the spoon just stops - and not when you expect it to (ie thump thump wiggle wiggle thump thump wig...stop)-set the hook. don't be shy here with the hook set.
- the spoon stops, and tension starts to slowly build on rod tip - ugh. snagged - do the snag dance with the pole to unsnag - as gringo memtioned, you can often let out some line, and the current will drag on it and put tension in the other direction freeing the snag.... check hooks, check leader, try again....

Sky

Haha, yup just goes to show how much I don't know about spoon fishing! Thanks for the responses breaking down the different types of spoon strikes, that is great info.