Northern pike will often eat jigging spoons and can be a real bother when fishing this presentation for walleyes. Vertical jigging is best if you can drift an edge or work it with your trolling motor. Again, I will pop the spoon off of the bottom about two feet and allow it to flutter back to the bottom, allowing it to sit for a few seconds before repeating the presentation. I also vertical jig with a spoon, especially when fish are in deep water on a hump or along with a sharp break. I also like to allow the spoon to sit on the bottom for a few seconds before snapping the rod tip, as walleyes often grab the jigging spoon while it is lying still. I have caught a surprising number of fish right at the boat doing this. Sometimes walleyes will follow the spoon to the boat, so I always vertical jig it a few times just in case. When fishing the bait, I am popping the rod tip and then allowing it to fall to the bottom before repeating the process until the spoon is to the back of the boat. This position allows me to work the spoon from shallow to deep. I do this by positioning the boat at an angle towards the edge of a break. My favorite presentation is casting spoons along sharp-breaking shorelines or sand cuts as well as weed edges. Of course, I must then make some changes in the tackle, which I will explain later. If the forage is smelt, alewives, cisco, chubs, or fishing for trophy walleyes, I will increase the size of the spoon to match. I also like to use the no-equal when pitching in weed pockets as they do not get hung up as often as the shorty. If the forage is longer than an inch or two, I will fish the no-equal in those same two colors. The standard colors and adjusting to a local lake color are what I prefer. Many painted or holographic spoon colors will work in certain lakes. If small crappies or perch are the preferred forage, I will use a spoon with green tape otherwise, I prefer a bare, non-painted, or taped spoon. I use silver in clear water and gold in dark or stained water to match the color of the forage fish. My go-to spoon most of the time is the Hopkins Shorty in the hammered silver or gold weighing a quarter or half-ounce. As we all know, however, walleyes can get pretty finicky at times, and it becomes critical to have the right spoon.
When fish are aggressive, walleyes will hit most spoon designs if the overall length and profile come close to what they are eating. I have fished, tried, and tested most of what is out there in the angling marketplace for jigging spoons for many years. However, if you are fishing the Great Lakes or other bodies of water with larger forage, then bumping the spoon up will put more fish in the boat. So if that is the size fish you are targeting, staying with a spoon with that size profile is very important. I always want to try to match the forage that walleyes are feeding on, which is why color and size matter.įor example, most walleyes weighing five pounds or less prefer to eat 1-2 inch forage. Jigging spoon color, style, weight, and design can make a difference, so choosing the right spoon for the body of water you are fishing is very important.
#Castmaster spoons how to
Thanks to my tournament successes catching walleyes with jigging spoons, I can rarely do a fishing seminar without folks asking me to explain how to fish with a spoon.Īlthough the jigging spoon presentation may seem simple, there is a correct way to work a jigging spoon.
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