Spoon up a summer lunker

on July 06, 2014 at 12:51 PM, updated July 06, 2014 at 7:14 PM
Spoon, spoon-jigging, bass on spoon.jpgView full sizeSpoons are another effective tool for fishing deep water in summer on the TVA Chain. 
When one of the major tournament events on the Tennessee River system was won by an angler throwing a spoon over 10 inches long, it reminded a lot of anglers of what they may have forgotten: Spoons can be just the ticket for feeding a lunker largemouth in mid-summer.

While the size of the spoon may have raised eyebrows, the tactic of spoon jigging is no news here. When the fish are deep, a slab of metal is one quick way to get to them, and the fluttering of a spoon as it sinks is a reasonable imitation of the big shad that big bass like to eat.

The original jigging spoons were compact but relatively heavy, usually 2 to 4 inches long and weighing ½ to 2 ½ ounces. The classic is the Hopkins Shorty, but new models like the Horizon Ghost Minnow and the Bass Pro Shops Strata are also effective. The ¾ ounce size was probably most popular on most waters down to 30 feet or so--heavier spoons penetrate deeper water better, however. And on the TVA lakes, bigger, flat metal spoons like those from Strike King have proven many times to catch bigger bass.

Using a jigging spoon is a bit tricky; it takes a touch that some anglers never learn, and perhaps that's why the spoon is not a more popular weapon.

First, you have to find areas where the fish are likely to be with your depthfinder. Cover on channel edges at depths of 15 feet and more are a good place to start, particularly if you see clouds of bait around the cover. Shell bars and jumbled, rocky drop-offs can also be good.

There are two approaches to spoon fishing. When fish are suspended in deep water, you position the boat directly over the fish and drop the lure straight down; you can actually see the lure on the sonar screen as it drops into the depths. When it's down where you see the cover or the bait, put a mark on your line with a waterproof magic marker; this will make it easy to stop the lure at the right depth on future drops.

Now, simply flip the lure upward in a series of short twitches, until you've raised it about three feet. Now let it flutter back towards bottom as you lower the rod and "feel" it down--you don't want to affect the fall, but you want to stay in touch with the lure rather than letting it fall on a completely slack line.

The reason for this is that the strikes almost always come on the fall, and if you don't have slight tension, you won't feel the hit. Bass are quick to eject the hard spoon if you don't hook them immediately, so it's crucial to feel the take--often, it feels like a bream has nipped the bait, just a slight tick, but the bass that has inhaled the lure may weigh 5 pounds or more. And he may be in a school of several dozen--once you get on the fish, you can often load the boat on that one spot.

The second tactic is casting to bars and points, allowing the spoon to flutter to bottom, and then snatching it back up into the water column, then slack-lining to allow it to flutter down again. The lure comes back to the boat in a series of hops. Again, the strike is always on the drop.

Braided line gives you the best chance to feel a spoon bite, plus using 30- pound test or more also gives you a better shot at getting your spoon back when it snags a stump, which they do with some frequency. If you practice the tactic often, you'll probably also want to invest in a lure retriever--even with braid, they can't all be sprung loose.

Frank Sargeant can be contacted at