Pros Weigh In - Spoon Fishing Bass part 2

Posted On November 16, 2011


Russ Lane is a Bassmaster Elite Series veteran and professional fishing guide from Alabama.  He specializes in fishing for spotted bass which can behave a lot like smallmouth and a little like largemouth as well.  Here's how he goes at them with spoon:

Russ's Set-up
"I would use a spoon any time I have located a school of bass that I could not reach with a Spro Crankbait. That would be depths of 20ft or greater. My first option would be a 3/4-1oz spoon rigged with a #2 Gamakatsu EWG Treble hook. My set up is a 7'3" Med Hvy Black Carrot Stick rod, 7:1 Abu Garcia Revo Premier reel, and 20lb Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon."

Execution
I would make a long cast past the school and let my spoon sink to the bottom. Make short but quick hops with the rod. Most fish will hit it on the fall so be ready to take up line quickly. Try not to set the hook too hard. When I feel a strike, I like to reel fast and sweep my rod to the side. This seems to give me more hook ups. If this doesn't work I will turn up the sensitivity on my sonar and try to catch them vertically. By adjusting the sensitivity on my sonar I can see my spoon and a fish on the graph so that I can keep the bait at the right depth. This is much like playing a video game. You can literally see your spoon jigging up and down and sometimes times even see the fish strike.  

With the blast of winter weather sending water temps plummeting, this technique will be your best bet to get those end-of-season bass.  Try jigging spoons using both the vertical and hopping techniques around rocky dropoffs and ledges on your local lakes.  Good bets include Christina Lake and Skaha Lake in the Okanagan and Shawnigan and Thetis Lake on Vancouver Island.   

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About

Jesse Martin
Jesse Martin

Joined November 18, 2010

Jesse Martin grew up fishing for trout and salmon in B.C. but discovered a new love in bass fishing in his teen years. He currently works as both a Seminarist and Fishing Guide in the South Okanagan, and is also a Pure Fishing Ambassadour. If you have any fishy news (reports, derbies, events) that you think Western Canada should know about, shoot Jess an email at wfnwest@gmail.com and he'll put it up on the WFN site.

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