Secret Spoons

[striperman36]

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

[quick decision]

I am not suposed to tell.

[big jay]

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.

[taJon]

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.

[quick decision]

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

[PoPin Plug]

Originally Posted by striperman36

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...

[slapshot]

Originally Posted by quick decision

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.

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by big jay

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

[MakoMike]

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.

[big jay]

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.

[big jay]

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".

[Mr. Sandman]

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.

[big jay]

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).

[ProfessorM]

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

[quick decision]

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

[big jay]

ProfessorM - you can borrow one of mine.

Check your pms's

[tynan19]

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.

[echoisland]

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.

[Little Round]

Some use TLD's

[keeperreaper]

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.

[ProfessorM]

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.

[MTC]

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

[likwid]

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

[STRIPERSHAWN]

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

[MTC]

Still waiting on mine?

[MTC]

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

[big jay]

what color did u go for?

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

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?

[MTC]

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...

[BasicPatrick]

Originally Posted by keeperreaper

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.