Slender Spoons in open water!

In todays Tackle Tip Tuesday video I wanted to help everyone out there with Ice Gear sitting around doing nothing get more use out of it! This is all about fishing with a Slender Spoon in Open Water!

lol….Too many ice anglers think that fish know the difference between open water and under the ice.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

lol….To many ice anglers think that fish know the difference between open water and under the ice.

FACTS

My entire life is a LIE

Well Looks like i will be throwing a Slender Spoon

You can pitch them and work’m like a plastic on a jig in the winter for river eyes too…

It would be cool if you had some footage of how that lure swims under water.

And don’t forget Acme’s little Cleo.

Rodwork wrote:

It would be cool if you had some footage of how that lure swims under water.

I was just using it again today and thought about that exact thing as the smallmouth in the river I was using it in where NUTS for it!

F B R M – I will have to try that in the winter as I know a couple of other crazies that hit the open rivers in the middle of winter lol

White bass love those little ice fishing spoons to. They look just like minnows darting across the surface.

“I was just using it again today and thought about that exact thing as the smallmouth in the river I was using it in where NUTS for it!”

Same size and color slender spoon?

Tom Sawvell wrote:

lol….Too many ice anglers think that fish know the difference between open water and under the ice.

No kidding! I bet I use my ice tackle more soft water than hard water. love the slender spoons but the ol kastmasters are hard to beat.

I’ll be diggin’ out my SS today-nice vid

When summer’s heat drives the crappies and suspending sunfish deep in my favorite lake I like the Kastmasters in 1/16 ounce, but the 1/16 ounce Forage Minnows, Frosty Spoons and Jigging Demons work equally well. Feeding fish will nail all of these without any bait or plastic but adding a tiny plastic can go a long way when fish are neutral.

The thermocline in this lake can go as low as 26-30 feet and often times the best fishing is offering a purely vertical presentation right on the top edge of that deep thermal transition. These lure fish fast enough to make things interesting and have been known to save the day. I keep a couple small assortment boxes in the tackle pail at all times.

Al Case wrote:

“I was just using it again today and thought about that exact thing as the smallmouth in the river I was using it in where NUTS for it!”

Same size and color slender spoon?

Yeah and I had half of a gulp minnow on it as well!

Tim they should never be hidden away again lol Good luck!

Al Case wrote:

“I was just using it again today and thought about that exact thing as the smallmouth in the river I was using it in where NUTS for it!”

Same size and color slender spoon?

These are the type of spoons Im using for white bass and smallmouth. Im targeting fish that are very active surface feeding on minnows. I like this style spoon as the weight lets it cast a long ways on light line. This is great when the school of feeding fish pop up in different locations. The weight also allows for a fairly fast retrieve while the spoon in just under the surface and still have decent action. I worry about lighter spoons just coming right to the surface.

Ive also fished smaller versions of these spoon like Dave showed in the video to target panfish in the wood on the river. Seems like a very bad idea to be throwing a spoon with a treble into timber but it wasn’t bad. Key was to have a a small light weight treble hook. Barbs on the hook where not big enough to dig that far into the wood. If it did they would quickly pull out or treble would bend a little.

My surface bass bite is dieng with the dropping water levels on the river. Looking forward to transition this over to panfish. Think I might even have to try this approach for for some jumbo perch we have been seeing on the river the last few summers

Attachments:

1. 

   20190712_153331.jpg
   

Mike I have been wanting to try this on the MISS really bad for those big late summer early fall perch! Let me know if you do it and if it works out! I am excited to give this one a try!

Tom, great advice on the thermocline, do you look for where this intersects with a point or some other structure? Thanks

The thermocline on the referred to lake is generally deep than structure is unless the structure protrudes up off the bottom. In some areas where the shoreline and drop from shore are radically steep waterlogged tree parts will offer this. As a rule though, fish relating to the thermocline will be scattered across the transition horizontally and won’t need structure.

This can be fun fishing….almost like ice fishing in a boat.

Thanks Tom

Will do Dave. We got just a few spots on the upper Croix those big perch have been showing up. Would think casting spoons for them would be a great alternative to watching bobbers.

I’d much rather be casting for any fish! Good luck!