Vintage Spoons?

High Time

Crew Member
To fish or not to fish,that is the question. Came across these recently and wondered if they would be effective locally and how I should rig them?

Spoons-Wonder-Dimple-Tom_Mack.jpg
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Look like classic Tom Mack spoons, 3-5' leader to a flasher just like any spoon.
they were one of the "go to" lures back in the 60's and 70's.
If Herring is the primary feed they should work fine.
 
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#5 Tom Mack, seem to be a good imitation of Pile Perch. Even with a bad finish, they can be painted by yourself.
I've had some luck with; white with green, pink and white the other side, and white with green, yellow and green on the other side. February and March, Howe Sound and the harbour.
#3 Wonder is terrific. used it a lot.
 
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The spoons on the left look like Wonder spoons. Not sure if they are the originals with the great electro plating. Those are great spoons for both Salt and fresh water. They are one of my favorite old school plated spoons along with the Tom Mac spoons. Because of the double convex shape they have great action even on the large heavy gauge models like the size 6&7 without having to troll them at the faster speeds required from most old commercial style spoons. They are a great spoon in stainless or 50/50 brass & chrome. Good find. You will be happy with them and the Tom Mac spoons for sure. Go full old school with a good quality plated chrome dodger or flasher to enjoy the full power of quality plated stainless in all its intended glory. The member "Discus" on the forum often sells a lot of quality old stainless dodgers/Flashers and spoons at reasonable prices. He only charges the actual price for shipping if you can't pick up. I have bought off him several times and I've always been happy with the goods I've gotten from him. I bought a nice stainless flasher last summer from him and first time I tried it out with a Tom Mac 50/50 spoon I caught an awesome teener Coho in Vancouver. It was the biggest Coho I'd caught in years in Vancouver, and was pushing sixteen pounds in August. Probably would be have been a solid 20 pounder by the fall. Maybe it was, as it was wild and released unharmed. Not only do stainless Flashers/ dodgers work extremely well sometimes, they also for some reason often result in crazy battles from the fish. I don't know what causes it, but coho and springs caught on stainless dodgers often go airborne many times resulting in a spectacular fight. Nothing more memorable than a big spring that jumps straight out the water multiple times trying to shake a stainless dodger/flasher. I rarely see that from a spring caught on a plastic flasher, but it has happened a lot of times when using stainless spoons and dodgers. Just really cool and nothing more fun than that. So I thought I'd mention how just how fun it can be going full old school.
 
Thank you BG and others. There are four #4 Wonder spoons, one #5 Gibbs Dimple, and two #5 Tom Mack, all in chrome and like new. Very high gloss finish on all of them. I fish the southern Gulf Islands so will definitely give them a soak and see if we can roll back the clock a little.
 
They don't work...give them to me ;)
 
I didn't want to start a new thread. Is anyone familiar with Moby Dick? Anyone have information on this company and their wares?
 

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I’ve been looking at all these rusty crusty spoons for a couple years now and decided to see what they could be.
I put them in a jar of classic coke for 36-48 hrs and was amazed at how the crust was removed. I then used some autosol metal polish and worked them while I watch tv.
The ones up top have not gone through the coke treatment yet to show what I started with. The large Nootka flasher blows my mind while the Tom Mack 3flasher needs a bit more attention but it’s coming. I’m gonna give a couple of them a try soon;-)
 

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I use spoons almost exclusively, I know many retired commercial fishermen who give me old gear. Yesterday one of them gave me 3 dozen P2B spoons from 1978 which I love to death been using them for years, now I have a good supply (sorry won't be selling them).

I also teach metalwork and know a few tricks if you want to clean up crusty spoons, do this: Mix 1/3 salt, 1/3 flour and 1/3 Cleaning vinegar into a paste, coat each lure with the paste, put each lure in its own separate ziplock bag and let sit for 24 hours, come back and wash it off, it will be almost clean with little to no elbow grease needed to clean it up. I hit them with some ultrafine steel wool right after and they are perfect.
 
EB240CFE-4ADC-439F-B5D7-C12F8BA8EB1C.jpeg Well I’ve Polished up about 10 of those old spoons and finally got to that LC Dodger which came up pretty good so I paired it up with my shiniest Tom Mack spoon and sent it down yesterday in Pedder Bay near the Can Bouy. The action on that Dodger was fierce sending the spoon back & forth with frantic Bling following it 28 inches behind, surely the mighty spring could not resist. It only took a few mins and there was a fish on my line, it really works I said to my buddy and exchange a high five. Sadly not the Chinook but still a good feeling to land the 5 lb pink.
 
A buddy of mine and I have a "vintage day" once a year where we just fish vintage flashers/ spoons, plugs. Its pretty fun and shows us the old stuff works pretty darn good if you give them a little time on the water on your line! We dont put any really rare items out..but a few obscure garage sale find that you'd think would never catch anything seem to hook up fish nicely.
 
View attachment 46903 Well I’ve Polished up about 10 of those old spoons and finally got to that LC Dodger which came up pretty good so I paired it up with my shiniest Tom Mack spoon and sent it down yesterday in Pedder Bay near the Can Bouy. The action on that Dodger was fierce sending the spoon back & forth with frantic Bling following it 28 inches behind, surely the mighty spring could not resist. It only took a few mins and there was a fish on my line, it really works I said to my buddy and exchange a high five. Sadly not the Chinook but still a good feeling to land the 5 lb pink.
You might find some teeth marks on that dodger!
 
My old man and I lay a lot of hurt on springs with those Tom Mack’s in Barkley sound a millennium ago. All sizes. They were the go to spoon. I still have a bunch of them.

At the beginning of salmon season, as a kid in the 1960’s and 70’s, my job was to polish the spoons and flashers. I used Brasso. I’m not sure if you can even get that now.
 
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