Salmon On Spoons And Why!
By Captain Jim Hirt
With a few pointers and the reason behind them you may find spoons as a great addition to your salmon fishing arsenal.
Over twenty-five years in the pursuit of salmon has brought me to the conclusion that no single approach is the answer to salmon success.
Defining Success.
My days are long and my customers are many. I run upward of one hundred seventy five salmon charters per season with a wide variety of conditions.
I must be on fish each and every day offering opportunities and excitement non-stop. This puts me in a different situation in the terms of what I consider a successful outing on the water.
Whatever you consider a great day, I believe for most anglers that are trolling for salmon spoons are the way to go. Spoons are deadly at the correct speed and will out produce all other lures even when not at their optimum speed. This makes them a perfect choice for the novice and master angler.
Selection by size
Match up the bait! Size is as important to productive fishing as any of the other variables. The rules are simple: match lure size to the forage of your target and if fishing is slow or dead go to smaller size spoons. For example the first light bite was fantastic and you were on your way to a limit catch. Then the sun comes up bright in a clear blue sky and all the action stops. I believe the reason for this is too much flash produced by large lures can turn off fish. This is time to scale down to smaller lures. This approach can be applied any time you find yourself in bright conditions.
Selection by light intensity
The marriage of light and color is essential! Light is the number one consideration in your lure color selection. This is a good time to talk about color as it relates to the amount of light.
You may or may not remember learning the colors of the rainbow in school. The colors are remembered by this acronym “ROY G BIV”. These letters mean red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
There are exceptions to every rule. Most of the time I run lure colors of red, orange, or yellow when that lure is presented in the portion of the water column with the most light. The other end of the rainbow blue, indigo and violet are used in darker or low light situations. You may ask what about silver and white? I consider these as neutral or they will work in any type of light. All the other colors fall into either bright or dark. Bright lures are used in bright light conditions dark lures in low light.
A relatively new and much improved addition to spoon colors is the glow in dark colors. After charging up the glow paint on the spoons with a bright light, they will take fish in the dark or stained water. You will find several manufactures with this product. I have found the glow on Badger Tackle spoons will last longer than most of the spoons being sold.
Temperature will define the spoon action
The preferred water temperature of your target easily defines spoon action. In the times of the year when the fish you are after cannot find the temperature of the water they like you must adjust to meet conditions.
For instance, you are looking to hook up with Brown Trout and the water temperature is 40 degrees, twenty degrees below their preferred range of 58 to 66 degrees. A slower lure action is required for this cold water.
This can be achieved by a slower retrieve rate when casting or a slower boat speed for trolling. The problem with a slow speed is many spoons loose their fish attracting action. A spoon that solves this problem is the Nestor Wobbler made by http://www.badgertackle.com The crankbait action of this spoon is deadly in slow presentations. This spoon also has multiple holes in the lip that will allow you to change from a wobbly baitfish action to a vibrating high-speed action. I recommend the Nestor Wobbler for most salmon, trout, bass and pike. It has been a consistent producer for me. Any time your target is in cooler water than they like slow down.
On the other end of the scale use a spoon with a fast erratic action when you find your quarry in their preferred and or above water temperature.
Summary
Consider all three, action, color and size to become more productive. Fish come in a wide variety of sizes and attitudes and one thing is common to all. You must get their attention if you expect to catch them. Adjust to meet conditions and you will become a better angler. Good Luck let’s go fishing! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright © 2010, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved
