Thread: Homemade spoon for panfish!!

One tiny bluegill,lol.Took as much time as doing 30 jigs.Had to base with black,then transparent chartruse 5 times,lol.Then the bottom orange.The whole bottom is sealed.

I'm done now.They were starting to grow on me.The article says that they last for years without a largemouth grabbing them up.We'll see.Made some size 4 baitholder hooks also for them largemouth,lol.Heat them up for 8 minutes on 400 degrees and dip twice.Keep it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.Make sure you bend them paint side out,if you bend the inside out of the can the powder won't stick to it.

... ya'll done made some purty lookin thingies :p .... but, I gots some questions for ya :

1) How do they fall thru the water ? (slide straight down, glide side to side, flutter, tumble, ???) I'm going to assume that they're ultralight in weight, so they won't be falling fast ... just curious as to what action they have, as they fall.

2) Has anyone actually used any of them, yet ? And how'd they work ?

3) I know ya'll are "artists" (I've seen your work) ... but, have any of you made any of these thingies by simply picking the color of aluminum can (or portion thereof) that you want your bait to be ?? No painting necessary, eyes optional, lettering/logo design could be used as the bait's scale/color pattern. (Like "Granite" did for Trout )

4) Anyone consider trying to put a dab of something in between the sides of the folded aluminum circle, like lead or solder, to add weight ?? Good idea - bad idea ... or is it even feasible ?

Just throwing this out there, for you guys to consider (or reject) :p Closest I've come to doing anything even remotely close to what ya'll do, is pour lead sinkers & insert jigheads. And I haven't fooled with making either of those, in decades :p

Ya'll keep up the great work you're doing ... Lookin good, fellers, lookin good !!

... cp

I have'nt had one near the water yet.Since I read your post I chucked one in the kitchen sink and it just fluttered to the bottom,Really slow.I made one side look like a gill and the other just the aluminum can itself with an eye glued to it.So,it could be a shad or a gill,whichever the GIANT bluegill wants,lol.

Originally Posted by crappiepappy

... ya'll done made some purty lookin thingies :p .... but, I gots some questions for ya :

1) How do they fall thru the water ? (slide straight down, glide side to side, flutter, tumble, ???) I'm going to assume that they're ultralight in weight, so they won't be falling fast ... just curious as to what action they have, as they fall.

2) Has anyone actually used any of them, yet ? And how'd they work ?

3) I know ya'll are "artists" (I've seen your work) ... but, have any of you made any of these thingies by simply picking the color of aluminum can (or portion thereof) that you want your bait to be ?? No painting necessary, eyes optional, lettering/logo design could be used as the bait's scale/color pattern. (Like "Granite" did for Trout )

4) Anyone consider trying to put a dab of something in between the sides of the folded aluminum circle, like lead or solder, to add weight ?? Good idea - bad idea ... or is it even feasible ?

Just throwing this out there, for you guys to consider (or reject) :p Closest I've come to doing anything even remotely close to what ya'll do, is pour lead sinkers & insert jigheads. And I haven't fooled with making either of those, in decades :p

Ya'll keep up the great work you're doing ... Lookin good, fellers, lookin good !!

... cp

1. Like AZ said, I tried mine in the sink too and it was a fluttering slow fall. These things are very light weight and I intend to use mine under a weighted bobber for casting distance.

2. I haven't tried mine yet either, but have a lot of confidence in the pearl white shad imitation. I have a mental picture of huge Bluegill, 2 lb. Spotted Bass, and Stripers inhaling that thing!:p

3. I think the blue color of a regular Pepsi can would make a great Bluegill color, and the gold of a Miller High Life can would be another great color.

4. You could prolly solder the 2 folded halves togetherfor added weight, but that would prolly increase the fall rate... but would add casting distance without a weighted bobber.

The powder paint on mine adds weight and bonds everything together, but they're still very light. Prolly 1/64 oz., and with the shape of them I think they'd be very hard to cast by themselves.

I'll be trying mine the next time I'm out and will report back.

If you ever do any "dock shooting" for Crappie ... those would probably work pretty good. I'm thinking late Fall, when the water gets cool, & the Shad start dying off (esp after a quick temp change) ... they'd look like a dying Shad

As light as they are, however, they may present a little problem "shooting" them any distance. Not sure they'd skip too well, either .... so it might take a "aerial" shot, to get it back under the dock. By that I mean shooting it "in the air" all the way back as far as you can, without trying to skip it across the water's surface along the way. With lowered water levels, this is a bit easier in the Fall than it would be in the Spring.

You know .. while thinking about it, I wonder if a BB splitshot crimped on the neck of the hook would provide enough weight for casting/shooting ?? I'm thinking putting it on the upward shank of the hook, where the line tie eye is .... THEN bending the alum. disk over the main shank of the hook. That might force the disk to bend around the beginning of the curve of the hook, too.

I'm also thinking that a weighted float wouldn't work (to detect a strike) ... I mean, how would you know if/when one hit it on the fall A second of having the hard aluminum in their mouths, and they'd likely spit it. These "thingies" seem to be more of a 'direct line' kinda bait ... and require a quick hookset.

Just stirring the pot :D .... trying to get the creative juices flowing, by offering some outsider questions. Hope ya don't mind :p

... cp

Originally Posted by crappiepappy

If you ever do any "dock shooting" for Crappie ... those would probably work pretty good. I'm thinking late Fall, when the water gets cool, & the Shad start dying off (esp after a quick temp change) ... they'd look like a dying Shad

As light as they are, however, they may present a little problem "shooting" them any distance. Not sure they'd skip too well, either .... so it might take a "aerial" shot, to get it back under the dock. By that I mean shooting it "in the air" all the way back as far as you can, without trying to skip it across the water's surface along the way. With lowered water levels, this is a bit easier in the Fall than it would be in the Spring.

You know .. while thinking about it, I wonder if a BB splitshot crimped on the neck of the hook would provide enough weight for casting/shooting ?? I'm thinking putting it on the upward shank of the hook, where the line tie eye is .... THEN bending the alum. disk over the main shank of the hook. That might force the disk to bend around the beginning of the curve of the hook, too.

I'm also thinking that a weighted float wouldn't work (to detect a strike) ... I mean, how would you know if/when one hit it on the fall A second of having the hard aluminum in their mouths, and they'd likely spit it. These "thingies" seem to be more of a 'direct line' kinda bait ... and require a quick hookset.

Just stirring the pot :D .... trying to get the creative juices flowing, by offering some outsider questions. Hope ya don't mind :p

... cp

Ok, with all that negativity... I'm just going to throw them in the garbage now!....:p:D

I think the weighted float will work, I plan to fish the spoon about 4' from the float and will be counting the spoon down and then pulling the float about 4' to bring the spoon back up for another fall. I'll be fishing close to cover and expect the fish to run out and grab it and then turn immediately to run back to cover, thus signaling a strike on the float. If this doesn't work I'll put a small split shot on about 2' ahead of the spoon and try a hop and drop presentation.

I have an UL combo with 4 lb. test and will try casting it by itself... but the aerodynamics of the spoon don't look good for the weight of it.

I thought about putting a splitshot on the shank of the hook just below the hook eye before I powder painted it, but wasn't sure what that would do to the action. I may do that later if I make more of them.

I don't do any dock shooting... too much hassle fighting the other Crappie fishermen, the Bass fishers, and dock owners.

btw.. I couldn't let AZS outdo me with the eyes he put on his, so I added some to mine.

Looking good....now for the on the water test.