Favorite Spoons?

[MidCityGumbo]

This weekend I had the not so wonderful experience of being in the middle of 5 tailing fish all of whom had a serious case of lockjaw. Either that or they just couldn't see my hardware buzzing past their faces. I spent the next several hours wondering if my spoon was too small, rigged wrong or maybe I should've bought some with fancy colors.

So please help a brother out who after 2 weeks with a 'yak still hasn't made blackened redfish. What's your favorite size, style, color of spoon for different situations?

[marshdaddy]

1/4oz H & H ..........buy em at Wal-Mart

[revredfish]

Nemire spoons give you the option of colors and a built in noise chamber. You can toss it in there and twitch it sometimes and get them to strike. Chartreuse for dirty water, gold, silver, black for clear water. When it's grassy - It's hard to beat the Johnson spoons.

Did you try silver? Sometimes they will take silver and not Gold - crazy but true. I've got some wild spoons that were given to me but I've never thrown them.

Also once they get the idea your spoon isn't food you are toast. Keep a plastic, or a inline spinner handy for times like that.

If all else fails shrimp or gulp.

[Where Y'ak?]

I fish the cheap Pot-O-Gold gold/weedless spoons made by Rainbow Plastics. You get them at Walmart for about $2.50.

I've used them for years and have caught countless reds (and some trout, bass and flounder).
I'm too lazy to properly care for expensive spoons. These will last for several trips and fish with only a good rinsing.

I prefer the 3/8 size and add a small ball bearing swivel to stop line twist. I use the swivels that come with a split ring instead of a welded ring. They are easy to attach to the spoon and can be taken off and reused once the spoon rusts or the weed guard breaks.

[ReelThrill]

+1 on the Nemire spoons.

[yak-aholic]

I'm kinda partial to the Nemire spoons myself. I don't throw spoons very often, usually bayou chub on 1/4oz jighead is my go-to for reds

[bigredbobber]

What ever brand of spoon you can find with a double-wire weed guard. The hook rests in the little bend of the U-shape. They work with out gathering a lot of grass and the single hook doesn't get snagged as much. Buy a few each 1/4 and 1/2 oz sizes in gold and silver. That's about all you need. I only use the treble hooked Johnson spoons at the beach in Florida or other sandy areas. The actions are different, though.

Just remember, somes days they just don't want artificials no matter what you do. Some days they'll bite 'em. Some days they won't bite anything, even if you provide a tiny written invitation to dinner at your house.

[Mung]

Like Rev. says, put some gulp or skrimps on it. They always bite that.

[Surfmonkey]

Nemier Red Ripper in Gold. Cloudy days I go to black.

When I need to go smaller, Johnson Silver Minnow 1/8 oz. in gold weedless.

[Yak-a-Lou]

Bagley's gem cut 1/8th ounce spoons with a size 3.5 Hildebrandt inline spinner in front unless fulminous algae (green slime) is present.

The spinners are very hard to find these days so I started making my own. The commercially available ones like the ones on the Snagless Sally are, IMO, too big for the small, quiet ponds and they'll spook fish.

I like smaller spoons and baits back in the shallow ponds... less "splash-down" noise for fish that are easily spooked when they're in the ultra shallows.

Ditto on the GULP.

A small naked spoon can be best at times. Try varying your retrieve. Sometimes in clearer water, making small, slow, twitches and bumps as if your spoon was a crab "hopping" slowly across the bottom is the best presentation. If the reds have been actively tailing and have the water muddied up I really like the spinners. A spinner lets your bait stay in the strike zone longer since you can retrieve it more slowly and the extra buzz and flash usually gets a reaction strike.

[GreenWave]

I use spoons more for a search bait, since I can vary its speed, cover a lot of water and stay relatively weedless. Once I've found them, if they don't take my spoon right away, I'll follow it up with a weedless rigged plastic jerk bait. They rarely turn that down.