Leader length for spoons
- Thread starter Sea Ranger
- Start date
Sea Ranger
Active Member
Years ago the leader length for springs use to be 42 inches.... of should it be longer?
trendsetter
Active Member
Honestly I haven't had the best luck with spoons, I catch most of my fish on hootchies. The few times I have done well with spoons I have used 5' leaders. This was with coyote spoons in sooke.
Seafever
Well-Known Member
I would go about 56" on that Cohokiller you are using for springs. The flasher would be at least 20ft from the clip.
IMO spoon trolling speed is more critical than a hoochy.
Hoochies are multi-speed whereas spoons can only go so fast before they start to roll........
The Cohokiller rolls anyway.......but......the shorter the leader you go behind a flasher, the more you are forcing the spoon to respond to increased action...
That is....unless you slow the speed considerably.
Doesn't take much to get a small Coyote spoon to start rolling.
I've had good results from 56" to 72" usually fished slower than hoochies somewhat.
On the other hand I've seen posts where guys were going as short as 27" with a 4" Coyote behind a flasher and
nailing springs. What they didn't post was how fast they were going or how far back the flasher was from the clip.
A short leader on a Cohokiller..it will just roll faster than it normally does.
Use two of them........one off each side of the boat......tie one short and one long and see what happens.
IMO spoon trolling speed is more critical than a hoochy.
Hoochies are multi-speed whereas spoons can only go so fast before they start to roll........
The Cohokiller rolls anyway.......but......the shorter the leader you go behind a flasher, the more you are forcing the spoon to respond to increased action...
That is....unless you slow the speed considerably.
Doesn't take much to get a small Coyote spoon to start rolling.
I've had good results from 56" to 72" usually fished slower than hoochies somewhat.
On the other hand I've seen posts where guys were going as short as 27" with a 4" Coyote behind a flasher and
nailing springs. What they didn't post was how fast they were going or how far back the flasher was from the clip.
A short leader on a Cohokiller..it will just roll faster than it normally does.
Use two of them........one off each side of the boat......tie one short and one long and see what happens.
Sea Ranger
Active Member
Thats what I was looking for.... thanks.
I have never fished this little spoon before, I thought it would just flutter but it seems if I speed up it might start to roll.... would that be a good thing or do I only want it to flutter?
Seafever
Well-Known Member
It was designed to be a Coho lure originally.....Coho like things that flutter or wobble fast.....seems to excite them.
For Springs it is representing a small minnow or needlefish imitation.......
Those lures are bendable so you can increase or decrease the action
Basically it is not a 'flutter" design (like a Coyote spoon is for example)
At really slow speeds it will probably flutter......but anything approaching normal speeds it will probably start to rotate
It is small and very light...so it doesn't take much to get it going
I always use a bead chain on the leader where it connects to the flasher for Cohokillers
You don't HAVE to use a flasher with it.......many a fish has been taken just trolling spoons by themselves with no flasher.
But for Chinooks i would go at least 56 inches and then go longer from there if behind a flasher
Smaller feeder chinook will often chase a fast lure........but sometimes the biggies get "flasher shy"
So I would go longer leaders for the biggies behind a flasher
I think it will tend to roll more than it will flutter due to it's design normally
This may not be a bad thing.....but I wouldn't purposely do anything to increase this type of action on it for Chinooks.
For Springs it is representing a small minnow or needlefish imitation.......
Those lures are bendable so you can increase or decrease the action
Basically it is not a 'flutter" design (like a Coyote spoon is for example)
At really slow speeds it will probably flutter......but anything approaching normal speeds it will probably start to rotate
It is small and very light...so it doesn't take much to get it going
I always use a bead chain on the leader where it connects to the flasher for Cohokillers
You don't HAVE to use a flasher with it.......many a fish has been taken just trolling spoons by themselves with no flasher.
But for Chinooks i would go at least 56 inches and then go longer from there if behind a flasher
Smaller feeder chinook will often chase a fast lure........but sometimes the biggies get "flasher shy"
So I would go longer leaders for the biggies behind a flasher
I think it will tend to roll more than it will flutter due to it's design normally
This may not be a bad thing.....but I wouldn't purposely do anything to increase this type of action on it for Chinooks.
the fog ducker
Well-Known Member
umm
dont want ta confuse ya , but , i run em on 36-40 in leader ,always with a flasher, has been one of my go tos for springs this year , i troll fast , i modify them with a swivel on the " Hook" end , they get killed way to fast without it ,
i run short leaders on coho killers all year , ive experimented with longer leaders ,way less success for me,,,
chrome has been best , cop car or white lightning , a close second
yes , its designed to roll , i tweak mine with sharper bends !
m2b
fd
dont want ta confuse ya , but , i run em on 36-40 in leader ,always with a flasher, has been one of my go tos for springs this year , i troll fast , i modify them with a swivel on the " Hook" end , they get killed way to fast without it ,
i run short leaders on coho killers all year , ive experimented with longer leaders ,way less success for me,,,
chrome has been best , cop car or white lightning , a close second
yes , its designed to roll , i tweak mine with sharper bends !
m2b
fd
Last edited by a moderator:
Englishman
Well-Known Member
Word of warning. I used that exact same lure for the recent Coho invasion off Sooke. Worked great. Only trouble was on about the 15th fish that lure snapped on the tail end just above the hook. Coho are crazy twisting, turning fighters, but I believe that Silver Horde make of spoon uses very poor quality metal. Won't stand up to big springs for very long......
casper5280
Crew Member
Thats why FD does the mod to his spoons it stops that twisting on the spoon.
Seafever
Well-Known Member
Hi FogDucker.....I use the 'hangback hook" on mine too. Where do you fish for your Chinooks with these?
Where I live I've only ever gotten Coho and P-Cod on them........and I've tried leader lengths on these starting at 27"
and going longer from there.
You fishing Oak Bay/Victoria?.........down there they use them as a needlefish lure off the OakBay Flats....
Where I live I've only ever gotten Coho and P-Cod on them........and I've tried leader lengths on these starting at 27"
and going longer from there.
You fishing Oak Bay/Victoria?.........down there they use them as a needlefish lure off the OakBay Flats....
Sea Ranger
Active Member
I'm in the Bite Me derby this weekend and I will have the time to try short and long. Will use real bait in the morning then switch to the spoon after that. I believe bait would work better in the morning. Thanks for the help..... Steve.
Sea Ranger
Active Member
Everyone is talking about all the needle fish out there now and all the anchovies we troll with are bigger than that.... and isn't the rule of thumb.... match the hatch! So I figured this little spoon might just be the ticket... shhhhhhhh..... don't tell anyone....lol.
Orion
Member
Around Powell river here most of us run them 36-40". I've never run a coho killer longer than 42" that's caught anything. But listen to fog ducker he said all the things I was going to say. There is a Great video on the salt patrol site that shows you how to rig them and man does it work.
the fog ducker
Well-Known Member
I fish mostly WCVI , Barkley mostly but used this set-up in other areas on the east side , with reasonable success , cap Coho luv them too
i found really short leaders were best ? for me ??
was deadly for winter springs in deep barkley this past winter , really mimics the needles well ,
especially with the added swivel , makes it longer !
fd
,
i found really short leaders were best ? for me ??
was deadly for winter springs in deep barkley this past winter , really mimics the needles well ,
especially with the added swivel , makes it longer !
fd
,
