John Carlson
02-28-2011, 10:04 AM
How many of you use Jigging Spoons for Panfish? If you don't you better start. This has been something that I have been doing for years. You would be suprised on how it catches you bigger fish and more of them. Sunday my Dad and I headed up to one of our favorite Price Co lakes for some perch. I tied on my favorite spoon an 1/8 oz Frostee by Lindy and tipped each hook on the treble with 2 spikes. After 5 hours on the water it was time to go and I had a bucket with a nice mixed bag of fish all caught on that spoon. I had 15 perch, 1 Bluegill and 4 slab Crappie and tossed back some small Walleye, Dad had a mixed bag of 22 fish. Jigging Spoons work well in our waters for a few reasons, they have a large profile making it easy for the fish to target, also the larger size gives of more vibration in the water and more flash witch brings in active fish from a long distance away. They also fall faster making it an ideal bait for active fish because you can catch a fish and get your bait back down faster to catch another. You can catch many fish on a spoon without rebaiting your hook, I use Spikes witch are very tough and stay on the hook for many fish.
The rod I use is a Frabil Bro series 32" Quick Tip, it has enough of a tip to hold up the spoon but is still soft enough to see the strike. I pair that with a Shimano Sedona reel. You must have a good drag because you do hook bigger fish with the spoons and your drag will be used. Look for a reel with a smooth drag. I also like the old 750 series or the 1000 series Shimano reels over the 500's because of the spool size, the bigger spool puts lest coil in your line. On my reel I run 3 pound P-Line to a number 18 swivel then about 18" of 3 pound P-Line then my bait. A swivel is a must because that spoon is darting and spinning when you drop it. It also helps with line twist problems when you start catching bigger Gills that love to come up in big circles.
Some of the other spoons that I use are Swedish Pimples, Northland Buck-Shot Spoons, Gapens Ice-N-Jig and Northland Live Forage Spoons.
As with any fishing good electronics and location are a must, so tie on a spoon and jig your hot spots and start catching more and bigger fish.
The rod I use is a Frabil Bro series 32" Quick Tip, it has enough of a tip to hold up the spoon but is still soft enough to see the strike. I pair that with a Shimano Sedona reel. You must have a good drag because you do hook bigger fish with the spoons and your drag will be used. Look for a reel with a smooth drag. I also like the old 750 series or the 1000 series Shimano reels over the 500's because of the spool size, the bigger spool puts lest coil in your line. On my reel I run 3 pound P-Line to a number 18 swivel then about 18" of 3 pound P-Line then my bait. A swivel is a must because that spoon is darting and spinning when you drop it. It also helps with line twist problems when you start catching bigger Gills that love to come up in big circles.
Some of the other spoons that I use are Swedish Pimples, Northland Buck-Shot Spoons, Gapens Ice-N-Jig and Northland Live Forage Spoons.
As with any fishing good electronics and location are a must, so tie on a spoon and jig your hot spots and start catching more and bigger fish.