Casting Spoons

The casting spoon can win strikes from a wide variety of gamefish, including largemouth and smallmouth bass, pike, walleye, and trout. It is a simple design: a concave piece of stamped steel or brass, usually painted on one side, that wobbles and spins in the water like a wounded baitfish. Spoons are popular and relatively easy to use. Anglers can effectively fish spoons above the bottom and the fish usually hooks itself when it strikes.  Because the appeal is visual, spoons work best on light tackle in clear water-heavy line restricts the action. This action can attract enough attention to prompt strikes from curious, annoyed, or territorial fish.

Casting spoons can be very effective along the edges of weedbeds and grass flats in the shallows. Or you can let them sink and flutter along a rocky lake-bottom in deeper water. How a spoon wobbles depends a lot on its shape and thickness. Longer, deeper spoons have bigger wobbles, especially with thin metal. Thicker spoons cast farther and go deeper, but don't wobble as well. The main consideration in the lure's action, though, is the retrieve speed. A spoon will not wobble properly if fished too slow or fast. You must experiment to find the right speed at which each spoon performs best in the given conditions. It also helps to attach the spoon to the line with a snap swivel so it wobbles freely. Some anglers prefer to attach the line to the spoon with a split-ring, then splice in a barrel swivel about 6 to 12 inches up the line.