Marcum LX-5

Hello everyone,
I was fishing in 90 FOW the other day and I had to turn the gain up about 5-7 in order to see my spoon (Williams Whitefish about 4″). Is this normal? Oh my battery meter showed 70%. Thank you in advance.

huch

I’m not familiar with the lure mentioned but in general spoons can be much more difficult to pick up than a jig or other lure with a wider profile. When a spoon is hanging down from the line tie there’s almost no surface area available to reflect the sonar signal back to the receiver. When the spoon is jigged the flat part of the spoon will reflect the signal back to the receiver as it tumbles but when it comes to rest again the problem returns.

Did you by chance try a jig or other lure to run a comparison?

Yup, this type of spoon is going to be a challenge for any sonar unit… even the LX5.

http://www.williamsfishingspoons.com/fishing-spoons.aspx

With almost zero profile to reflect the signal back unless the spoon is tumbling… this type of bait is always going to require more gain. I fish CJS Slender Spoons quite a bit and they’re the same way.

One thing that I’ve started to do that seems to help is to add a feathered treble. They add a little bulk, the fish LOVE them (particularly lakers) and the addition allows me to back off the gain a bit.

Feathered Trebles

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James,

Do you know if they make that hook small enough for the smallest size slender spoons? Do you have a color preference for the feathers (assuming they have other options besides white)? Thanks

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Yeah, I’ve had an easy time finding trebles in sizes from #2 (larger) down to #8 (small) and I would think you could tie your own easily if you wanted something custom.

As for preferred colors… white. And white.

Add in a little silvery tinsel and I’m good. I’ve tried chartreuse (complete bust) and some combos with white but a good old plain white seems to be the ticket. At least for me.

I can pick up the biggest sized slender spoon in 90 fow, but a lot of times at that depth there is going to be quite a bit of current, and with a spoon suck as these, there is a lot of surface area so the current will grab them even more. I can put on a lighter lure and see it better, but its smaller in terms of surface area so it will stay more vertical.

Thanks for your response James.
Yes, that’s exactly the spoon I used for whitefish. I did try another horizontal lure about 3.5″ (called Bad Bodz made locally) and it showed up fine but gain was still 5-6. I also find that tube jigs don’t show up too well especially white color? I’ll give feathered trebles a try next time. Thanks again.

The trebles are definitely not a cure-all. They add some bulk and thereby return a little extra signal to the receiver but they’re not going to make a spoon fished in 90′ of water with a feathered treble display like a spoon fished with a regular treble in 40′ of water.

As for needing to turn the gain up to 4, 5 or 6 in the deeper water, this is normal. If you’re getting a good signal… fish away.