Out of all the lures I seem to get the most fish on spoons. Since November I've caught a lot of Chinook on small spoons. But only a couple keepers. In the summer I use bigger spoons, but mainly anchovies and the odd hoochie. If I switched to larger 4" spoons would I attract less fish but larger fish. Or is that just folklore.
Spoons big vs small
- Thread starter Brett83
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scott craven
Well-Known Member
The trick is matching the bait fish in the area you are fishing.
if it's mature herring, a larger spoon should work.
On needlefish, the smaller slimmer spoons work best,
such as AP and skinny g's
if it's mature herring, a larger spoon should work.
On needlefish, the smaller slimmer spoons work best,
such as AP and skinny g's
If you watch fish in an aquarium during feeding you will find that all fish, large or small, are attracted most to the largest food particle. It's a natural instinct to grab the biggest food first for the least amount of energy expended. And because the larger specimen will outcompete any smaller ones to the best food, you will find that the biggest fish will most of the time end up with the largest food. Just saying....
searun
Well-Known Member
You go for that. "Just sayin" size matters. If they are feeding on 2.5 inch herring and I'm dragging a 6" spoon, pretty sure my success rate will be low compared to if I ran 2.5 inch spoons.
Gong Show
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but if you run a 2.75 inch spoon...
chromatose007
Well-Known Member
I have noticed spoons have gotten smaller over the decade I have/was guiding
When I was fishing in nootka last summer and the salmon were eating squid I was using small spoons to match the needle fish and buddy was using hoochie to match squid. Then a guide staying at the same place as us caught a tyee first night using a herring. He said most of his tyees he's caught have been off bigger bait then what's around the area.
I fish vancouver and I'm using the typical small spoons (about 3 inches). I wonder if anyone catches or has caught anything in the winter time on a 4-6 inch spoon. Evertime I see a used tackle box for sale on Craigslist its packed with massive spoons.
I fish vancouver and I'm using the typical small spoons (about 3 inches). I wonder if anyone catches or has caught anything in the winter time on a 4-6 inch spoon. Evertime I see a used tackle box for sale on Craigslist its packed with massive spoons.
RiverBoy
Well-Known Member
i actually have a theory on this.
Actively feeding trout will gorge on chironomids which can be the size of an eyelash and then they will go and find a gomphus or a large leech and this acts like a “plug” so the fish will stop barfing up the smaller chironomids.
i believe actively feeding chinook do the same thing as i’ve also seen bellies full of squid or minuscule bait, and then one whopper herring.
you’re all welcome and you owe me a beer
Original
Well-Known Member
I think I read on hear “French fry theory“
they’ll take almost anything when the bite is on until they’re full but during the off times when they’re stuffed that small spoon is that, ooo look at that ,ok one more fry. Now I’ve tried this and can’t really say it’s worked on fish but I know I always have room for one more French fry ;-)
they’ll take almost anything when the bite is on until they’re full but during the off times when they’re stuffed that small spoon is that, ooo look at that ,ok one more fry. Now I’ve tried this and can’t really say it’s worked on fish but I know I always have room for one more French fry ;-)
Skins88
Well-Known Member
Here's my two cents. I don't think these fish are that picky. They are looking to eat and get full. If your presentation is good you will probably get hits on anything. I'm pretty sure they aren't thinking "wait a minute that's a large herring and all the other fish around here are small needle fish!" So when fishing the fraser mouth in the summer I like to go with bigger bait to entice those fish cause they aren't as active. When fishing feeders in the winter/spring just figure out what they want on any given day. Some days bigger is better others smaller is better. I think finding the fish, speed and depth are probably more important with feeders though.
scott craven
Well-Known Member
Sorry, but have to disagree on the last post.
how many days have you trolled around for hours with no action
and changed up a lure or bait and got bites?
sometimes it's size, most often color, but it does make a difference.
how many days have you trolled around for hours with no action
and changed up a lure or bait and got bites?
sometimes it's size, most often color, but it does make a difference.
Skins88
Well-Known Member
I did say when fishing feeders you have to figure out what they want some days. But to your point of trolling around all day getting nothing and then changing things up and getting hits. I would argue that this could just as easily be attributed to bite timing. Had lots of days fishing with a pack of boats where no one is hitting and then all of a sudden everyone is hooked up. If you find yourself in that scenario where the bite is on but you aren't hitting then for sure it's time to switch it up.
I also stand by presentation as being key. Right depth, speed and direction of tack.
What about a day where everyone is catching lots of fish but they're all undersized. Like November in Tunstall I couldnt keep them off the line but every fish was between 50 and 60 cm. Thinking back is there anything you could put down that would attract a larger keeper. Like a 6 inch spoon.
Skins88
Well-Known Member
I've had some days like this at Thrasher and the Hump. Got lots of shakers on spoons and keepers on bait. It's a real pain fishing bait on days like that but it does seem to attract a higher grade of fish. I didn't try a 5 or 6 inch spoon. Certainly would be worth a try on one side at least.
Well, my own belief is that if you stick something in front of a feeding fish's nose and it looks edible he will whack it.
If you ever look at a cleaning station and ask the guys what they caught it on, then often as not, you will get a large variety of lures .
I don't think fish are too picky -pity they can't talk.
If you ever look at a cleaning station and ask the guys what they caught it on, then often as not, you will get a large variety of lures .
I don't think fish are too picky -pity they can't talk.
The idea that the fish don't care what you put in front of them if it's presented properly runs very contrary to my experience. Sometimes, choice of spoon makes all the difference. I fish most often on a tack in Haida Gwaii where I know most of the other trollers, especially last season. As we meet going up and down the tack, I exchange information (not on the radio) with several "partners", including a couple of charter guys, .
One day about 10 years ago, with maybe 25 boats working a couple of miles of coastline and getting no results, I figured I'd try a spoon I'd seen recommended on this forum in a "Ten Lures You Need in Your Tacklebox" thread. Aside from the fishermen running anchovies and cut-plug herring, guys using spoons were trolling 5-6" Clendon-Stewarts and the like, and some had even bigger Wonder Spoons and other commercial-type hardware. Most of that summer, a 5 1/2" Clendon-Stewart in brass/nickel had been killer. However, that "10 Lures" thread had several recommendations for the 3.5" GreenGlo Coyote Spoon, so I'd ordered a few, and I put one on behind a flasher.
Bingo! As soon as the spoon was down, we were on, and as soon as we had two down, we limited out fast. There was no bite on for anyone else, so as we headed out to jig, I passed one Coyote each to three other boats, on condition that I got them back! The result was that four boats limited out, with all but one fish caught on the Coyotes, while the rest of the fleet had a very scratchy day, with only a few fish caught by the other boats. One unsuccessful boat had some 3.5" Coyotes in Cop Car, and rigged them like I told him we were rigged. Zilch.
Since other boats that were successful on the GreenGlos were of various types and sizes, with individual variations in rigging, speed, and tack, it wasn't a bunch of cloned presentations producing their results. The hardware they had down on the other side of their boats didn't produce. It was the spoon. Many, many times, it's the spoon, or the hoochie. Any one who has trolled much has seen one spoon get scarred, chewed and bent beyond recognition on multiple trips, while identical spoons on the other side of the boat get badly outfished. Show me a salmon fisherman who hasn't mourned like he lost a loved one when that Old Faithful spoon or plug was finally lost, and I'll show you a guy who needs to fish more often!
The Green-Glo Coyote was hot for the rest of that season, and did as well as anything the next year, but it's never been the same since. The last couple of years, I drop a 5" alewife imitation made in the Great Lakes area first, but if I don't feel like it's trying hard enough, it sits on the bench while we try to find something better, with a little help from our friends.
The upshot is that compared to even a decade ago, the tendency I've seen is toward smaller spoons than the old commercial-troller hardware. If you'd told me 20 years ago that sometimes I'd be running a 3.5" spoon at 60 feet without a flasher, and knocking them dead, I'd have thought you were crazy. Maybe the bait is generally smaller due to ocean conditions or herring over-fishing, and certainly the salmon are on-average smaller. Whatever the reason, the idea that just altering presentation while using the same spoon is better than giving the initial spoon a fair chance, then trying to find what's hot, runs counter to my experience.
One day about 10 years ago, with maybe 25 boats working a couple of miles of coastline and getting no results, I figured I'd try a spoon I'd seen recommended on this forum in a "Ten Lures You Need in Your Tacklebox" thread. Aside from the fishermen running anchovies and cut-plug herring, guys using spoons were trolling 5-6" Clendon-Stewarts and the like, and some had even bigger Wonder Spoons and other commercial-type hardware. Most of that summer, a 5 1/2" Clendon-Stewart in brass/nickel had been killer. However, that "10 Lures" thread had several recommendations for the 3.5" GreenGlo Coyote Spoon, so I'd ordered a few, and I put one on behind a flasher.
Bingo! As soon as the spoon was down, we were on, and as soon as we had two down, we limited out fast. There was no bite on for anyone else, so as we headed out to jig, I passed one Coyote each to three other boats, on condition that I got them back! The result was that four boats limited out, with all but one fish caught on the Coyotes, while the rest of the fleet had a very scratchy day, with only a few fish caught by the other boats. One unsuccessful boat had some 3.5" Coyotes in Cop Car, and rigged them like I told him we were rigged. Zilch.
Since other boats that were successful on the GreenGlos were of various types and sizes, with individual variations in rigging, speed, and tack, it wasn't a bunch of cloned presentations producing their results. The hardware they had down on the other side of their boats didn't produce. It was the spoon. Many, many times, it's the spoon, or the hoochie. Any one who has trolled much has seen one spoon get scarred, chewed and bent beyond recognition on multiple trips, while identical spoons on the other side of the boat get badly outfished. Show me a salmon fisherman who hasn't mourned like he lost a loved one when that Old Faithful spoon or plug was finally lost, and I'll show you a guy who needs to fish more often!
The Green-Glo Coyote was hot for the rest of that season, and did as well as anything the next year, but it's never been the same since. The last couple of years, I drop a 5" alewife imitation made in the Great Lakes area first, but if I don't feel like it's trying hard enough, it sits on the bench while we try to find something better, with a little help from our friends.
The upshot is that compared to even a decade ago, the tendency I've seen is toward smaller spoons than the old commercial-troller hardware. If you'd told me 20 years ago that sometimes I'd be running a 3.5" spoon at 60 feet without a flasher, and knocking them dead, I'd have thought you were crazy. Maybe the bait is generally smaller due to ocean conditions or herring over-fishing, and certainly the salmon are on-average smaller. Whatever the reason, the idea that just altering presentation while using the same spoon is better than giving the initial spoon a fair chance, then trying to find what's hot, runs counter to my experience.
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