3-ways and spoons anybody?

With all of this talk about 3-way rigging, I have a question.

Ever done any good using a flutter type spoon on the business end of a 3-way?

I’ve caught walleyes casting spoons and fluttering them downstream, but I pulled spoons on several occasions and never caught an eye….anybody have better results than me?

Beav

Hey Beav I’ve had some luck on the wing dam’s. Using what is called a willow spoon,with a minnow or a piece of crawler..

Dave Hoggard turned me on to them in the early 90’s…If my memory serves me right..

Beav, I don’t know much about flutter spoons on three ways, but I’ve caught walleyes on spoons casting wingdams and rip-rap many times. SNAKEYES

I trolled some flutter spoons on 3 ways last year and the sheepshead loved them. Lots of flash, slow helpless wobble….but I can’t get an eye to go for them. I’m gonna try them again this year. They just look too damn good in the water to not catch fish.

Beav

Im with you Beaver…. its something Im going to try also… and another thought Im going to try is streamers behind a 3 way… they would just have to sway and dart in the current behind a bell sinker dont you think? very subtle for sure…. but maybe something that might work during tough clear conditions like we have had lately….. anyway dont cost much to try……

Good ideas to try. Used to use a fly (streamer called muddler minnow) They work quite well on walleye’s. I don’t remember any monsters but know they will put a few in the boat about the time when the mayfly’s start going. I’ve never used them on a three way before. We used them on a setup kind of like a lindy rig. Line through weight,to a small sponge ice fishing bobber size (really small) and a foot behind that the muddler. Should work fine on a three way . I’m not a fly fisherman but I’ve been out on Pepin real early and fish are really pounding those mayfly’s on the surface. What kind of flutter spoons?? A friend caught about an eight pound eye on a red and white daredevil while casting for northerns. Steve

Yup, Hawger invented them [willow spoon].. It was at the Seminar on Impulse Fish Locators [he was the Impulse Rep. then] that Hawger did and he talked about the willow spoon some too and gave us some lures to try. Work great on weedlines casting them too.

Beaver,

Somtimes, I do create lures that actually work… but, then I have this box full of doomed prototypes setting here….Oh well, keep working.

But, my Bait Rigs / Walleye Willospoon has been a winner and can be found at http://www.baitrigs.com/

It has be a used in many different ways, by many different fishermen, some ways that have not even tryed yet, or even considered.

I found out early that it was being used on a Wolf-River Rig with great success on the Fox River in WI. Over the years, I have heard it was a killer on three-ways. It “water-skies” up and rises when pulled or in current. It does not spin in a circle, rather wobbles side to side. Lots of flash on a fall.

I have not used it on a three way very many times. I mainly use the spoon on a slip bobber with a half of a crawler, when lake fishing. It is a killer with just a bit of chop, enough to make the spoon flutter!

Killer ice-spoon. It was “the thing” on Mille Lacs for perch some years ago.

I cast it too, it will ride up when pulled fast and works great over weed-tops. It slowly flutters into “pockets” and can be yanked right back to the surface making it ride over weed-tops to the next pocket. There are three sizes. Large, medium, and panfish.

My baby…

Hawger

Hey Beav, I tried a couple 4″ Salmon flutter spoons behind bottom bouncers on the Croix and caught eyes and saugers on them with a bonus pound crappie. I put one spoon out and one spinner and minner out, they were about equal.

How in the world can a crappie get the whole treble inside their mouth?

Later,

Ferny.

Thanks. That gives me renewed hope and I’ll try them again this spring. Probably next weekend.

Beav

Hey Ferny, I cleaned some 13-15 inch crappie in early december that had 4 to 5 inch shad in their gullets so anything is possible.

Beav,

A few years ago, I spent a weekend catching a lot of nice salmon on Lake Michigan with these flutter spoons. I thought they looked like they should work for walleyes on the river. I tried trolling them across the upstream face of some wing dams but was having a lot of trouble losing them in snags. I think they would drop down into the rocks if my speed slowed too much and I couldn’t get them back out. It was kind of a fustrating deal but in hind sight I think if I would have been trolling faster I could have keep them up and out of trouble. I never tried using them on sand flats or other places that they’d be less likely to snag but think I’ll have to give them another shot this year.

Boone