Try a spoonplug….

I’ve written in the past about the good fishin’ in the St. Cloud area, but here’s a tip that works great up here and it’s worked great on other rivers….Spoonplugs! I’ve been using them for over 20 years. This lure will work on bass, walleyes, northerns and muskies and they come in different sizes and colors. (This is starting to sound like a commercial.) I have pulled these lures at speeds upwards of 6 mph, which is fun especially when I get a new-comer to this type of fishing in my boat. The first thing they say is we’ll never catch a fish at this speed and then a smallmouth freight-trains the lure. So,if you ever find yourself in a situation where you want to try something different, use a spoonplug.

JonN,

I know exactly what you are talking about I grew up fishing spoonplugs and they are great speed trolling lures my das is in to spoonplugging all he ever talks about is the father of structure fishing Buck Perry. The spoon plug is a great tool to use when fishing a new body of water it will allow you to cover a lot of ground and map out a piece of structure and still catch fish. I think a lot of people have never used or even heard of the lure but they do not know what they are missing!

Dustin

Yes Dustin, I’ve never seen one. Where can I get a look at these things. I’m always up for buying more tackle and adding another weapon to my arsenal. Any particular brands or models that I should be looking at??

back when they were first introduced there was nothing like them on the market….. they were the only game in town for working methodically working a trolling pattern based on different depths…. sort of an early version of todays crank bait trolling guide…. one thing I know… I never had one of these things float back to the top when broke off! and they always seemed a bit pricy for what they were….. they were eclipsed by modern crank baits as far as realism (which often makes a difference)…… but back in their day… they were great… and I still have a few of them… though I retired them years ago….. they would run true at about any speed … the bigger ones were tough to hang onto your rod at high speed…. and you better have a good grip… cuz when a fish hit it was quite a collision….

Here is a great site about spoonplugging and Buck Perry:

http://www.americaoutdoors.com/spoonplugger/index.html

Dustin,

Just an FYI – My dad and I went to an on the water seminar in Minnaki, Ontario back in 1979. The guys who were putting the seminar on were associates of Buck Perry (Tom Ferencik and Don Dickson). What a blast! They really opened our eyes to how much boat control and speed play a part in catching fish. I was probably 16 years old at the time and I’ve been a “structure fishermen” ever since. Also, I agree with you that a spoonplug is excellent at mapping out new water, plus it helps you find the active fish.

Hey JonN,

You been back to Minaki since?? I’m trying to book a trip there next July with some buddies of mine. I work with a guy who goes up there every year and does extremely well on reef runners. He said this year the water was really high and had the poorest fishing many years, only caught about 20-30 fish a day. Terrible fishing, huh!! He caught 3 eyes over 28 and they had one muskie that went 53. He said they had one other eye in the boat the went 29. Still think I could handle terrible fishing like that.

JonN,

I actually got the chance to meet Buck Perry about 12 years ago or longer when they had a local spoonplugger club get together in red wing he stayed in the camper next to us very,very interesting guy. The time I met him I was only in my younger teen years and if I ever see him again I will be asking a lot of questions and yes you are right, most of the people that have mastered the art of spoon pluggng have excellent boat controling skills it is all part of the game. I remember seeing some of these guys fish and it looked like they were running in circles on the river but they realy new what they were doing covering a lot of water at very high speeds to make contact with active fish. To this day I still wonder how many fish they flew buy that would have taken a slower presentation but when they hit a fish they will pick apart a piece of structure right down to the contact point of that certain structure using different speed and depths and then check that spot periodicaly through out the day and wait for the fish to move up and feed. The concept is basicaly the same as most successfull walleye fisherman the only difference is we use different tools for the same job( CATCHING FISH!)

See ya on the river!

Dustin

waterfowler,

First thing, I’m envious of your trip. My dad and I talk about going back, but unfortunaley it’s been alot of hot air. I do have a tip for you, there is an area where a railroad bridge goes over the river. Its on the edge of town.It pinches the Winnipeg river down and creates a deep hole upstream & downstream of the bridge. Right under the bridge is a gravel/rock bar that tops out at approximately 30 feet. The deep holes are 60 plus feet. We caught some of our biggest fish right there using three ways, wire line and plugs. We were staying at a resort, Holst Point lodge, that was 100 yards from this spot. People at the lodge didn’t believe us when we told them where we were catching 8 pound plus walleyes. Oh yeah, that fishery has some monster muskies. My dad lost three fish in one hour. I hope you get there!

Dustin,

I know what you mean about cruising by fish that aren’t active. I use it as a starting point, but there are times when I don’t even consider using a spoonplug. Some of the best fishermen that I know are ones that adapt and change with each situation. Maybe, someday I’ll be one of those guys. Also, I bet meeting Buck Perry was a hoot! Catch ya’ later.

JonN,

You got an ideas where I can get some maps for that area. I’m going to be staying at Paradise Cove. I guess Mr. Walleye holds his personal tourney on this water every year. You ever try these spoonplugs on Mille Lacs??? I’m thinking the large silve one would work well this time of year off the edges of mud flats??? What’s another $20.00 worth of lures in the ol’ tackle box. Thanks for the info on the spot to fish!!!

Holst Point Lodge….? I didn’t know I owned a lodge on the winnepeg river?! Cool!…HA~

James Holst

Moving Waters Guide Service

http://www.movingwaters.net

Hey since you own the lodge,how about a weekend FTR get-together there next year.haha How much Leinies would we need? Have you been on the lake lately? And are you fishing the tourney there in a couple weeks?

James,

I’m sorry to say, but your resort went up in flames over 10 years ago. I hope you had insurance! JonN

waterfowler,

We bought a lake map at the lodge, otherwise maybe an internet search?? Also, I’ve used spoonplugs on indian point and rocky reef, but I’ve had better success on that lake using three-ways and big jointed rapala’s on sloppy joes and the gravel bar. Either way, I’d say give them a try.

Hey guys,

Give Paradise Cove a call and they will send you a nice colored marked fishing map, good detail. We were up there a couple years ago and had a good open water trolling bite going on. Alot of fun.

I found some of these baits at a garage sale a few months ago.

I did not know what they were at the time but fo 2 bucks for 20 of them I thought what the heck.

I have not used them yet but after reading these posts you can bet I will soon.

Do spoon plugs work well in rivers?

yes spoonplugs work well in rivers too. I live in Oregon il where the nearest body of water is the rock river(boat launch is two min from my house) I am a third generation structure fisherman using spoon plugs I was lucky enough to have met buck perry back when I was knee high to a grasshopper. if you take the time and effort to use them correctly(speed and depth control) you will be happy with the results buck perry does have material available that goes into all the aspects of fishing. just remember, the only two things we can control in fishing is speed and depth control. the rest is not up to us.

good luck out there fishing guy

Classic, how the h-e double toothpick did you drumb up this thread?

Yea…no kidding! This is from 15 years ago? All spoonplugs should be in a museum by now.

Holst, dustin, rivereyes, lienieman. James: moving water guide service. For a moment I thought I woke up 15 years ago. Not sure how it was brought back but hey its pretty awesome to know these threads are archived.

Brought back memories, I learned spoonplugging in the early 70’s bought Bucks book, still have it somewhere? caught many many fish, mostly bass and northerns, some walleyes, had bucks rod, a 5 footer, bucks no bow trolling line, color coded and a bunch of lures, they were numbered and went at different depths, I remember going as fast as 5mph! so I went out to the garage and found a old box and still have some, also discovered some lazy ikes, a couple of flatfish! Johnson silver minnow, red eyes wiggler, and my favorite night time bait a black 49er, made by Paul bunyan bait company, anybody else remember these lures? a flatfish loaded with crawlers was the ticket at Mille Lacs, also a jointed brooks refer, wow what lures, you know I should try them out again!

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Also remember the first walleye I ever caught on a artificial, a Heddon River runt, now we are talking late 50’s

Man, those spoon plugs look like hey could be deadly for lake trout. Do they come in bigger sizes like 4-6″?

Answered my own question.

https://www.buckperry.com/shop/spoonplugs