Neil Taylor, Strike Three Kayak Fishing

I think the gold spoon’s perhaps the best way to locate redfish when you’re prospecting an area for them.   It casts long distances and it gives off the “pinfish flash.”      This is just me, but once I’ve found them I usually make a switch to a soft plastic lure.    If that spoon’s moving too fast, you’ll less likely to get strikes.  If you move it with that gentle wobble, no swivel is necessary and you won’t get a lot of line twist.

That being said the spoon is not my go-to lure for redfish.

Why switch lures if you’re catching fish on the spoon?

Several reasons.

1) I catch more redfish on soft plastics than I do spoons.   That could be a personal comfort thing.   But you can stay with the spoon.   I just rely on the three inch mullet more as my redfish bait.

2) Soft plastic lures that land softer are less likely to spook a very spook prone species like redfish.     That’s my own theory on it.  The spoon landing creates a pretty good splash.

I have the same contention with snook way up in the creeks.   Some people like lures that land noisy because “mullet make noise when they jump”.     I don’t like the noise.   I like that lure to land quietly (and I’ve got a dandy for it) especially when I’m getting a cast into a tight area where a Kersplash is going to scare the digested sardines out of a snook.   This was the number one reason I stayed with the Buzz Tail Shad for so many years.   That is the quietest landing bait in all of fishing.

My early fishing career it was the Johnson Silver Minnow weedless spoons.   I had dozens of them.   I’d buy them all up when I saw them on sale.     It was a main bait for me.    I caught it all on them.   Redfish, trout, flounder, snook.   Later, Captain Mike Hakala started making spoons.    I liked what I saw and since then I am more likely to use his.    He has some great realistic patterns.    I wrote about them HERE

No question:  Long casts is a great advantage to throwing a spoon.   Weedless, a great way to keep a clean lure to present to fish.     The gentle wobble of a spoon with flash imitates the pinfish.     If you watch, you will see pinfish flash as they are feeding off seagrass blades.   The spoon puts off this same flash.

Durable, a spoon is indestructive.  Over time they can wear out, usually with rust affecting the hook.   But that takes some time and if you spray off your spoons after a day of fishing they should last longer.

In the greater classification of spoons, there are non weedless options that are useful for other species.     The silver spoon, non weedless is a great item to throw at Spanish mackerel.

 

Neil Taylor
Kayak Fishing Specialist
Strike Three Kayak Fishing
www.strikethreekayakfishing.com
Ph: 727-692-6345
Livelybaits@aol.com
“Something violent is about to happen.”

Neil Taylor
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