Who here fishes spoons for Crappie?

One of my favorite ways to fish for crappie when they're deep is by jigging spoons. A Hopkins N0=EQL in a hammered nickle finish with a dressed treble in 1/3 or 1/2 ounce size works great. The Cotton Cordell Little Mickey 1/4 ounce is a close second. I'll sometimes tie a jig on a loop knot a couple of feet up the line, but most of the time I jig the spoon by itself. I also use the Lunkerhunt micro spoons in place of the jig because they only weight 1/10 ounce, but the treble sometimes gets fouled in the loop knot. The hooks on the Lunkerhunt spoons are not the best quality in the world & they either need to be sharpened or replaced.

How about you, do you fish spoons much?

Jim

I don't specifically target crappie with spoons, but I've caught plenty on small spoons while fishing for white bass.

Tried it last year for the first time, for crappie at least. I did catch a few various sized crappie. My hook-up ratio for the bp's was pretty extraordinary, however.

I use spoons for Crappie and blue gills. The micro's will kill bream. The 1-1.5" for crappie. If trolling use 2ea ball bearing swivels to stop line twist.

I fish Microspoon's baits with a minnow or plastic, while drift fishing for crappies. Very productive baits for me for years. I was on their pro staff for years.

I would probably lose it on the first drop! How do you work it when you drop it down to the brush? Do you pop it up and down? How hard do you pop it?

Interesting. I would love to hear more about this as well.

I use them in the winter when I can find fish on ledges or channels. Often an over looked bait, that will temp just about anything that swims to bite.

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I've had really good luck fishing channel ledges around stumps & brush, pilings, and standing timber with spoons. What works best for me is instead of popping the rod tip up to jig, then catch the spoon's weight on the fall, is to drop the rod tip downward a few inches to drop the spoon closer to cover. Your recovery to bring the spoon back up will be slower than if you snatch it up to start and the spoon ends up swimming the whole time up & down where you can feel it. Try it shallow right beside your boat and see what I'm talking about & get the feel. You will definitely hang those trebles in cover, but instead of raring back to bury the hooks, if you lightly jiggle the rod tip, the weight of the spoon is usually enough to knock it free. It takes some practice to get the feel of it, but it is surprising how few you'll lose this way. I've caught many fish as soon as it pops free. *Rip-Rap absolutely eats spoons, consider yourself warned.* Always keep a plug knocker handy for the tough ones.

Another way I've had success is to either run the trolling motor on slow, or if there is a slight enough breeze to barely push you along, position your boat upwind above the cover/channel then drift through without imparting much action to the spoon, maybe just tap the top of the rod above the grip with your index finger. The drag of the spoon through the water is enough to cause the Hopkins N0=EQL to shimmy seductively and the dressed treble dances right along behind it. Fishing a spoon is just a different tool that the fish are not used to seeing that can definitely change your luck. The heavier weight of the spoon improves feel and helps hold it in the strike zone. We have absolutely loaded the boat with crappie using this tactic in the heat of the day in July along 20+ foot deep channels with people skiing and tubing all around us, all the way to the dead of winter barely moving the spoon. Fishing this way is a waste of time when the wind gets up, so you're better off trolling cranks instead. Be prepared to catch almost anything from white perch, to stripers, bass, & channel cats too.

Try it and you tell me how it works. Good luck & have fun.

Jim

I've used spoons and blade baits with good success. Both do well and you have to learn to pay attention to every little detail or you'll not own them for long. White with a shad spot did well for me.

A lot of the spoons I see advertised for Crappie are single hook. Do you think treble hooks catch more fish?

Last season I tried tiny spoons for crappie. I did get some, but mostly bluegill. I like Swedish Pimple in the smallest size and they furnish a single hook with each spoon. KastMaster makes a dandy as well at 1/10 th. of an ounce. But with those, I switched out the treble to #6 plain shank Mustad hooks. The reason I got into it last year was that some knowledgeable bluegill fishermen were advocating them. I have not used them yet this year however. The regular jig bite is doing just fine. But I would like to try blade baits. I have a couple of 1/4 ounce Silver Buddies that look good. We'll see.

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Originally Posted by Crestliner08

The reason I got into it last year was that some knowledgeable bluegill fishermen were advocating them... The regular jig bite is doing just fine.

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In-Fisherman ran several stories on spoons for bluegill. I tried them, but I couldn't catch a cold on the things. So, I went back to jigs. When jigs stop working, I'll be sure to let everybody know. ;)

try a Berry spoon. Fishin won't be the same after that. :)

Can someone explain how to bend lead spoons to get the action that works under different conditions?

I have used spoons for crappie many times no luck.i got some I need active. Crappie 🤠🤠

I use spoons often with good results. I make my own.

I tried them while pushing, caught some but the white and yellow bass became nuisances.

You bet I do,, I have very good luck with spoons. weather jiggin or even casting.

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Originally Posted by crappie wrangler

I use spoons often with good results. I make my own.

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Any pictures? Pop

I make 1/4 oz slab spoons. A pictorial set of instructions can be found in one of my albums. I also use ice spoon blanks to make spoons with and paint a variety of colors. My fishing partner the Lone Stranger showed me how to make the ice spoons.

You don't bend the lead spoons. The 1/4 oz spoons I make I use when the crappie are deep (30'-50') usually with a jig tied above the spoon. The ice spoons I use when they are as shallow as 1' or as deep as 30'. You can purchase the ice spoon blanks of various sizes in bulk packs and then solder a hook to them. I use a propane torch to solder with because an electric soldering iron is not hot enough to get a good stick. You get different weight spoons by using different size spoon blanks. I will use a set of hemostats to hold the hook to the concave side of the spoon with the eye of the hook past the end of the spoon and clamp the hemostat to to something that holds the concave portion of the spoon parallel to the ground and then melt solder into the concave portion of the spoon thereby attaching the hook to the spoon. Care is taken to get neither the hook or the spoon to hot as to much heat will soften the hook and discolor the spoon. A little heat on the hook makes it bend free of brush when hung up but too much heat will make the hook bend free of the fish. You can always just buy the ice spoons already made but I kind of enjoy making most of my own stuff.

Many moons ago I experimented with shooting docks with a light weight spoon for crappie.
It was just a simple spinner bait blade with a single hook.
I seemed to be catching more bass with it than crappie so I gave it up for jigs.

In the original post I outlined an unusual situation where the crappie were picking up injured shad under white bass. They would not hit a jig but took the spoon. I haven't experimented with spoons in other situations although I did buy a variety. I'm lazy what can I say :-) The lesson if there is one is to be open to new techniques I guess.