Anyone use these? http://www.striperspoons.com/
Northeast Angling was using them on this weeks show. Whaling the whales.

I never had had much time with bunker spoons so I am interested if anyone would care to brag as to their results with bunker spoons or these monsters!!

Bill

I am not suposed to tell.

I've got a couple.
I fish alot of bunker spoons, and I thought I would give these a shot. I call them the stupid spoons - I just can't take the name, and I must have been a moron to spend $50 each (they were $75 each when they first came out).
In any event, I haven't been all that impressed. To be fair, they didn't get as much time in the water as my other spoons. I'm more of a fan of the traditional reliable's or Montauk spoons - and I suppose they can't get bit in the cabin.
I will say this - they get deep fast. They drop like a freaking stone if you take the boat out of gear or troll down current, so its easy to hang up your investment. They just fish differently than regular spoons, so if you already know how and do well, not much of a reason to get them.
All that said, I know 1 guy that really likes them - the fluke pattern has worked really well for him.

ya, there was an article in something about them on montauk. the guy who makes them is trying to catch records and the author of the article said 50's were easy. too bad for the rocky coastline up here, otherwise it might be worth a try.

I know you need a realy stiff rod to make the spoon get right action.

Anyone use these? http://www.striperspoons.com/
Northeast Angling was using them on this weeks show. Whaling the whales.

I never had had much time with bunker spoons so I am interested if anyone would care to brag as to their results with bunker spoons or these monsters!!

Bill

i saw that one tooo.... they look great.... all it realy means is if you go in an area with big fish and schoolies you wont get the big fish...

I know you need a realy stiff rod to make the spoon get right action.

Hmm, the guy who makes them said just the opposite. They were using an 8 foot rod with a soft tip. The guy said to watch for the rod to pulse slowly indicating that the spoon was fluttering. If the rod tip pulses quickly it is just spinning.

The investment in the wire line, wire line reel and a new rod or too plus the 40 dollar spoons is a little tich for my blood. They did land a hammer in the mid 40s (pounds) though.

I've got a couple.
I fish alot of bunker spoons, and I thought I would give these a shot. I call them the stupid spoons - I just can't take the name, and I must have been a moron to spend $50 each (they were $75 each when they first came out).
In any event, I haven't been all that impressed. To be fair, they didn't get as much time in the water as my other spoons. I'm more of a fan of the traditional reliable's or Montauk spoons - and I suppose they can't get bit in the cabin.
I will say this - they get deep fast. They drop like a freaking stone if you take the boat out of gear or troll down current, so its easy to hang up your investment. They just fish differently than regular spoons, so if you already know how and do well, not much of a reason to get them.
All that said, I know 1 guy that really likes them - the fluke pattern has worked really well for him.

The fluke has me interested also, I do think I will fool around with the spoons I have, I too think the bucks is big for the reward, but if you hang a 60 and you know they are there where we fish.

If I ever see a bass chasing my 8 lb fluke at Sakonnet, I am gonna wish I had it livelined!!!

Anybody ever liveline fluke?

Bill

I know the guy who "invented" them, Jimmy George, he used to be two slips away from me in Montauk. He claims that his spoons are different from regular bunker spoons, and I know the ones I've seen are a lot bigger than bunker spoons. I'm not a wire line guy, hate the stuff, so you won't see me fishing any kind of spoon.

Bunker spoons take bigger fish, when you run them properly. I have a pair of rods specifically for the spoons - they really do make a difference in making the spoons dance. A few manufacturers make these rods - I have starr, but chaos, and seeker both make nice ones , and I'm sure most any shops have the blanks and specs and can wrap a nice one.
Knowing how to fish the spoons will make more a difference than the brand of spoon you actually use.

Good point Mike. He only sells the 9" model - but the one's he was using in article, and the one's he actually uses are 14". He doesn't sell them - claims they are too expensive to manufactuer. The guy I metioned that fishes them has a pair of the big ones - calls 'em "dinner plates".

I have tried one and the key is a really soft rod. If you notice the rod he was using was about 10' long and really soft, looked like an old surf rod. They said it was an 8' tallas and that was the rod he was showing during the tackel review segment but that was NOT the rod they were actually using. The key to the spoon action is a really soft rod. I have over 60 fishing rods and I don't have one like they were using...I was thinking of getting a custom one just for this lure but it seems like a hassle. I may pull the trigger this year.

He use to sell several spoon sizes, I think he had sizes up to something like a 15" 4# spoon, all I see now is a 9" 2#model.

They are not cheap either 40 bucks a pop, you hang a few of these on the stones and you begin to feel that pain in your hip pocket.

Lastly, it is all wire line fishing. I tried to troll a big bunker spoon on a downrigger with braid this season and it did not work out as well as I had hoped. I actually did catch a few fish with it but it was not the same as straight off the rod. You really need that soft lazy action of the rod to get that spoon to really swim right. I tried it on a short penn wire line rod and it was too stiff. I trolled it around squinocket point for a while and did not do much. I have to say I did not fish a lot with it. Replaced it with a Bassmaster trolling Pike and took a few fish. These giant spoons cull thru the small fish and only target big fish. You will not get too many sub 20#er's on these fluke spoons.

Another thing if you catch a 80#er on wire line does it count? I thought the IGFA forbid wire. If he his targeting record fish you think he would have legal gear.:spin:

There is another company out of CT that knocked off his spoons - can't remember the name, but they are about 1/2 the price.

Wire doesn't count for IGFA, but is allowed for State records and the Govenor's Cup.

As for "going for the world record" with wire line - sounds good when you're trying to catch fisherman (like every good lure maker does).

Hey Bill spoon's work but you have to enjoy trolling, which I do. You need heavy tackle for those giant fluke imitating spoons. Like mentioned above Soft rods are important too. Mike at M&D's made me a rod last winter and I love it. Although I have caught on regular wire rods but the key for the action is the rod. I fish the spoons mostly in CC Bay and have got several fish over 45 lbs the last few years. You usually don't get small fish on them. That guy is targeting 50 lb plus fish with those things and 400 to 500' of wire from what I have read. I make my own bunker spoons and e-mailed the guy to try and get one but he never returned my message. If anyone has one of those things would they be willing to let me borrow it so I can try making one up? Paul

I guess I was wrong about the stiff tip. Sorry.

ProfessorM - you can borrow one of mine.

Check your pms's

Jim, I believe that was mentioned in the SWS article. They will not consider a fish caught on wire. I think when the inventor uses the wire he is going for the fish not the record.

what i wanted to ask was a question about reels. on the northeast angling show, they were using levelwind reels, which would seem to be a lot easier.

i fished with a buddy using wire on his boat. he had a couple of daiwa sealine line counters rigged with stainless. they seemed to work pretty well.

anybody else use levelwind line counters.

other than the standard senator set-up, what other suggestin for reels.

Some use TLD's

Using wire on a levelwind and big spoons/fish puts a lot of stress on that levelwind and its gears. I would not recommend using levelwinds with wire. The last thing you want when dealing with big fish is a mechanical reel failure.

I can't find the article about J. George and the spoons but I do remember he uses really big Senator reels, much bigger than 113 's. He is also using lots of wire, which as mentioned above causes lots of pressure even before you have a big fish on. For regular size bunker spoons I use a Penn 112 with a steel spool and have no problem. I prefer them to the 113 which I find heavy. I also jig with these reels so I like the lighter weight. If I try the larger spoons I wouldn't use anything smaller than a 113. I prefer non levelwind reels for all my trolling, lead included, but that is just me. I like the Penn's because they are easy to maintain. P.

Just ordered 4 for my trip to VA Beach next montrh... will be using downriggers and braid

He's not the first to make big heavy spoons like that.

i will be trying level wind shamino reels next year and see if they can stand the pounding of wire line trolling over the course of a season shawn from ludlow ma

Still waiting on mine?

Mine just came in.... they are big! ... and heavy... Want to fish them with braid..,

what color did u go for?

Hey Bill spoon's work but you have to enjoy trolling, which I do. You need heavy tackle for those giant fluke imitating spoons. Like mentioned above Soft rods are important too. Mike at M&D's made me a rod last winter and I love it. Although I have caught on regular wire rods but the key for the action is the rod. I fish the spoons mostly in CC Bay and have got several fish over 45 lbs the last few years. You usually don't get small fish on them. That guy is targeting 50 lb plus fish with those things and 400 to 500' of wire from what I have read. I make my own bunker spoons and e-mailed the guy to try and get one but he never returned my message. If anyone has one of those things would they be willing to let me borrow it so I can try making one up? Paul

Did you try and make the LARGE one's?

The paperwork say's 10' wire for 2.5 feet of depth. I wpold guess 10' braid would give you 2' depth from my test that I've run on wire vrs. Braid (50lb.)

I got 2 silver and 2 Chartuse...

Using wire on a levelwind and big spoons/fish puts a lot of stress on that levelwind and its gears. I would not recommend using levelwinds with wire. The last thing you want when dealing with big fish is a mechanical reel failure.

Keeperreaper,

Have you personally had experience with running wire on a quality level wind reel. I am very interested as MANY Charter Captains in certain area have gone to using level winds and are reporting great success. If you have experience please share with us here.

Did you try and make the LARGE one's?

Not yet, Hectic right now but I will. Lots of time still. Big Jay is going to loan me one when I get off my duff and hook up with him.
As far as levelwind with wire I'd hate to try and pull a kink or over run out of a wire filled levelwind reel.:uhoh: P.

Keeperreaper,

Have you personally had experience with running wire on a quality level wind reel. I am very interested as MANY Charter Captains in certain area have gone to using level winds and are reporting great success. If you have experience please share with us here.

i've used nothing BUT level winds for wire. penn 330 gti's and 320 gti's with 45-50# wire.
the 320 is smaller but it's faster than the 330. they have plastic spools but so what, the plastic spools worke fine.
and they'll hold 400' with backing no sweat. way eisier for people who don't know how to fish wire to use a level wind. just the first 10 feet or so letting it out is tricky but no more so than any other wire setup.

Learn something everyday

BP,
I have had 2 levelwind failures with the gti series. Both times the levelwind froze due to stress being placed on it from the wire and had to be sent in for service. Also the plastic spools will crack from time to time because the wire actually works like a vise around the spool and backing but I have yet to have that happen to me. I also find that it is easier to fish with a no.49 reel (I think that is what it is called) because there are less places for the wire to get hung up on when offloading the wire into the brine and its narrow profile . It takes about 5 minutes to learn how to let wire out without getting an afro in it. Maybe those two reels were anomolies but I won't go back to them for wire fishing applications. But if people are using them with success keep it going. Just an observation based on two bad situations. Those reels were both fished hard but not to the extent of a charter reels usage. Hope this helps.

I just watched the northeast angling with these "secret spoons"

they did catch some big fish but 50 bucks for a piece of tin... geesh..

i think the secret in the spoon is how he gets people to shell out that kind of dough...

on a side note.... for some expert fishermen and still not to know how to handle a fish you are throwing back is just sad.

http://www.neangling.com/2006Shows/TWMontaukStripers.htm


http://www.striperspoons.com/Bunker_Spoons.htm

FWIW, I had a pair of Penn Senators that my grandson had trouble using because he'd get the wire all balled up in one spot and they would jam. So I got a 330GTi for him to use.

Now I use two 330GTi's and the Senators are in a drawer in the cellar somewhere.

I've never had a problem with the GTi's loaded with wire; I drag bunker spoons all over the place.

Good to know. Thanks