Those look like bass to me how they're real close to the bottom and kind of lined up along
the bottom. They're right on the edge of where it came out of that creek channel and got up on that hard spot.
I just missed one. On that one cast I've had three strikes already. That's one thing I
like about a spoon. When you've got them grouped up in an area the deal is you're trying to
get the fish to be really competitive with each other. So you've got to get one fish
to get amped up to chase the spoon and bite it. That will get the rest of them started
in their own little feeding frenzy. That is when you can really get in there and jack
on them. But with a spoon what is nice about it is that it's a big profile bait. If you
lay this spoon down next to a crankbait, a swimbait, a worm, or a jig. It's a lot bigger
than those other baits. I just missed another one right there. The nice thing about a spoon
is with a lot of other baits you set the hook and miss the fish you just have to
wind up and go again. But with a spoon you just let it go right back to the bottom. Sometimes
it won't even make it back to the bottom once you get the school activated. It's just you
got one excited, he drew the attention of another and he'll come over and hit it, then
that one will miss it, and you'll swing and miss him. Let it go back to the bottom and
another one saw that, so he'll come over and try to hit it, and then all of sudden the school
is competitive. That's when it really starts to have two people because you want to keep
a bait in the water constantly.
Obviously a spoon imitates a large baitfish down there that looks injured trying to get
away. Maybe a fish came and busted up a shad and now he is wounded and he's trying to get
out of there and the other fish see it as a easy meal. Any lake that has big forage
such as gizzard shad, threadfin shad, and large baitfish this can be a really good option.
The bait is heavy. The spoon I'm throwing is actually a little bit larger that what
most people will throw just because we have really big gizzards on the Tennessee River.
So that's the nice thing about a spoon because not only can you get a school fired up and
activated, but you can actually catch the biggest fish out of that school on a spoon.
Some of the keys with it I mean it is heavy but it doesn't throw like a rock because it's
got a cup in it and it catches the wind and it will get a little squirrelly on you. It
will slice like a golf ball, and it will lay up and just stop in the wind and will cause
a backlash if you're not careful. I fish it on 20-pound fluorocarbon line. I've got it
on a medium-heavy rod, which happens to be an Abu Garcia Villain Rod.
I want top snatch it up off the bottom but the key to the bait is not what it does going
up, but what it does coming back down. I want to feed it slack and kind of watch my line.
I've got a bow in my line and what I'm watching for and I'll feel it in this rod if you've
got a good sensitive rod you'll feel it even with the slack in your line. You'll feel something
and it will be a short jerk. Or you'll see you line with that bow in it and all of a
sudden it will just lay limp. One has got it when it did that. So I'm going to watch
my slack all the way to the bottom, and once it gets to the bottom I'm going to reel up
and snap on it again.
You get one to hit it, you get him hooked, and I've kind of gone both ways on how to
land a fish on a spoon. If they're hooked just in the front of the mouth and they've
got an ounce of spoon hanging out here they're notorious about shaking their head and they'll
bang that spoon on the side of their head and get themselves free. So when I've had
some bigs one on I've found it's better to do like what those big swimbait guys do on
west. They've got a heavy rod, heavy line, a reel with their drag basically winched down,
and they just go into just winding those things as hard as the can. What you're doing is trying
to take control of the fish. Don't give him a chance to get out there with free line and
jump and throw that spoon around. He comes up to the surface you just kind of reel through
it so you're just kind of dragging him along the surface so he can't get any leverage to
be able to shake his head. The other part of that is once you get him close to the boat
like that they're going to jump here if you take that pressure off. So you either need
to go ahead and come the rest of the way with him and swing him into the boat, or you need
someone there to help you net it and land it real quick. Because nine times out of ten
if he's a big one and jumps with that big spoon on the side of his head he's going to
knock himself free.
So you just want to make a long cast. Then when it hits out there I'll try to let out
a bunch of line and then I'm going to watch and I want the bait to fall almost vertical
where it landed out there. So if it takes up all make slack I'll open up my reel and
let it take the rest of the slack until I know it's on the bottom. Essentially the way
you know it is on the bottom is your line will just lay limp on the water.
I find these places where these fish get grouped up with my Structure Scan. I'm looking for
either a higher spot that has a hard clean bottom that has been cleaned off, or I'm looking
at where a creek channel comes in and touches a point or a hump. Just some place
that a school of bass can relate to and feed on baitfish. That's what I'm looking for.
Like I said earlier these fish can be just sitting out here grouped up not really feeding
and the spoon gets them actively feeding. You get one excited and chasing it a little
bit, then another one saw it so you've got two chasing it, and before you know it you've
got the whole school going.
Got Him! I can't tell but he's acting like a big one. Yeah he's a big one!
All right, that's what I'm talking about right there.
I was going to try and lip that fish but what i talked about earlier is you get them up here
around the boat jumping and throwing the spoon. See how big this thing is? I mean he slams
this thing against his head and banging it against his head until this hook pops loose.
That's a beautiful fish. Nice healthy belly already. Already back out here chomping on
shad again. That spoon is a great shad imitator.
Thank you old girl. See Ya!