The Spoonpluggers Forum

On my first Spoonplug outing, recounted briefly in another post, I used a Penn 109 loaded with 12# NO-Bo on an old heavy action 5' rod, figuring it would work well for my first 2 sizes in the shallows, it did, a couple of 12" bass caught, BUT: I had trouble keeping track of the amount of line out with all the other things going on: first time fishing in this boat, trying to keep that little 500 working as shallow as possible while avoiding shore, rocks, weeds, hangs, and such.I had up to 3 colors out (i think). Some of you old timers could have had some good laughs watching my display of boatmanship and tackle control. I outfitted my brand new Spoonplugger rod with a Daiwa sg17lca line counter reel spooled with 17# NoBo, and got to work with size 3, caught a bass and 2 white bass ticking bottom in 6-7' of water. With the line counter. i found that i could easily put that bait back precisely to the same depth very easily. I did have 1 pretty impressive backlash due to a sudden hard snag at pretty fair spped, i goofed and disengaged the spool, and well, you know the rest. Seems to me the disadvantage created by the spool disengaging fom the handles was offset by the precision gained in depth repeatability with this reel. Thoughts?

Everyone has their own personal preference. I use a linecounter on my wire line setup. The only problem with them is you can accidentally hit the reset button, putting it to zero, and then you're not certain how much line was out.

Counting passes works also, but if you're constantly adjusting line lenght, which most of us do, then you run into "now was that 12 layers or ten?" But both styles work well.

As for disengaging the reel while trolling, on the smaller sizes, I do it. The hooks are small and you want to be able to immediately give line when a fish hits. But with the larger lures, I engage the reel and loosen the drag. It's just too tiring on the thumb after a long day of trolling if you don't.

No experienced spoonplugger would laugh at your boat control. We all "remember when"! It will become second nature with experience.

Bassdawgie,

I too have the Daiwa Accudeapth LC17. I absolutely love it! There's no guessing with how much line is out and I personally haven't had the problem of accidentally hitting the reset switch. I always have the drag set loose enough so when I get hung it starts peeling line out that way you don't have to worry about hitting the button. Boat control will come. The more you do it the better it will feel. In fact, you will find out that the only place you really feel comfortable in your boat is trolling. Sounds weird but you will find out the more you do it.

This year I started using Okuma brand line counter reels. They seem much more rugged than the generic Cabelas ones I had before. They are $79. However if you go to the Bass Pro website you can get the a slightly less quality Okuma for 49 or 59 dollars. I have seen both together and would be happy with either one.

Don't get the smallest, I think the next largest is what most people I know are using.

Looks like the 17 or similar is going to be the ticket, I also have a 27 series Daiwa that i had spooled up with nobo for a quick backup in the event of a nuclear backlash, think i will spool it with the wire, and round me up another 17, one for 12#, 1 for 17# nobo. Saw some Ambassadeur 5500 and 6500 line counter reels on ebay, for 109.00, may pop for one of those,I started my fishing career with a 5500 casting reel, and still use it on my spoonplug casting rod. The 5500 line counter is a weird looking thing, but the add says it is "palmable", and that would be a plus for all-day comfort. Anyone have/use one of these?

Bassdawgie wrote:On my first Spoonplug outing, recounted briefly in another post, I used a Penn 109 loaded with 12# NO-Bo on an old heavy action 5' rod, figuring it would work well for my first 2 sizes in the shallows, it did, a couple of 12" bass caught, BUT: I had trouble keeping track of the amount of line out with all the other things going on: first time fishing in this boat, trying to keep that little 500 working as shallow as possible while avoiding shore, rocks, weeds, hangs, and such.I had up to 3 colors out (i think). Some of you old timers could have had some good laughs watching my display of boatmanship and tackle control. I outfitted my brand new Spoonplugger rod with a Daiwa sg17lca line counter reel spooled with 17# NoBo, and got to work with size 3, caught a bass and 2 white bass ticking bottom in 6-7' of water. With the line counter. i found that i could easily put that bait back precisely to the same depth very easily. I did have 1 pretty impressive backlash due to a sudden hard snag at pretty fair spped, i goofed and disengaged the spool, and well, you know the rest. Seems to me the disadvantage created by the spool disengaging fom the handles was offset by the precision gained in depth repeatability with this reel. Thoughts?

I am a real old dog at this game, friend. (that picture of me is around 1980, I think....I was 42 then..now I am 72)
Let me share some laughable stuff with you.
When I started doing this spoonplugging thing it was back around 1964-1965, I think. My main goal was to find a way to fish deep deep water to load up on big bass...I didn't need a book to tell me that's where the fish spent most of their time. Any moron could determine that if they didn't hit in the shallows there was only one other place they could be.
So, I loaded up with that old lead core line, a box full of spoonplugs, and headed out into Lake Lanier, with my trusty green box Lowrance Flasher, to "work the channels" and the submerged treetops 40 feet deep in 80 feet of water.
First time out with the wire in the depths, I lost maybe 15-18 spoonplugs, got the wire line tangled in the prop off and on all day, got marker buoys tangled in the prop, got laughed at by bass pros (yep they were around then, just not in 150HP boats), lost an entire rod, penn reel with wire over the side when I got hungup and didn't have the drag loose enough, invented a whole new vocabulary of curse words, and caught ZERO! Yep, you read it right....ZERO!
After getting home, I hit the telephone line to Hickory NC to consult with the high priest himself, Buck Perry. (you could do that back then).
He gave me the horselaugh and says..."Boy, get back into those sizes up to 100 and stay off that wire until you've got some mileage under your belt". I obeyed, and on subsequent trips, I toyed with the wire a little and became GREAT at running a 100 or 200 on a short line of wire for good lure control on the troll. Must have caught THOUSANDS of LM bass in the next 2 years. Oh for sure I burned up a lot of gasoline but it was cheap then and I didn't care...I was wallowing in glory and fish, showing off, winning money in match up gambling contests against other so-called big shots, impressing the girls, being on TV, in the newspaper, etc etc etc.
All because Buck told me to obey...thats the word..OBEY. And I did just that.
It's a growth process and can be a pain in the butt getting there. For what it's worth I am STILL dogfood when it comes to working anything over 35 feet.
Keep at it and keep growing....hope you have a lot of success.
Regards,
Douglas Bush

A reply from Douglas Bush himself! I am new to the board, but I have read many of your old posts with interest, appreciate your insight, experience, humor, and attitude. I was going to post a thread to see if anyone had heard from you, but you beat me to it. You doing any fishing or thinking about it? Last post i saw you were crappie fishing with a cane pole or some such..I am learning to run these Spoonplugs on a little local lake, and having a ball with the "stragglers".I am intend to "obey and conquer" this lake, by the book. I am up to 100 size, and though i am carrying the wire line rig around like Barney Fife carries his bullet, i will not break it out until i gain competence with the mono.I do not want to repeat your early experiences with the wire. Anyway, great to see you back in the mix, do not deprive us so long again of your presence. And, by the way, you have to have a 250hp motor to be a pro now...Regards, Dwight

Bassdawgie wrote:A reply from Douglas Bush himself! I am new to the board, but I have read many of your old posts with interest, appreciate your insight, experience, humor, and attitude. I was going to post a thread to see if anyone had heard from you, but you beat me to it. You doing any fishing or thinking about it? Last post i saw you were crappie fishing with a cane pole or some such..I am learning to run these Spoonplugs on a little local lake, and having a ball with the "stragglers".I am intend to "obey and conquer" this lake, by the book. I am up to 100 size, and though i am carrying the wire line rig around like Barney Fife carries his bullet, i will not break it out until i gain competence with the mono.I do not want to repeat your early experiences with the wire. Anyway, great to see you back in the mix, do not deprive us so long again of your presence. And, by the way, you have to have a 250hp motor to be a pro now...Regards, Dwight

I have always been an advocate of "controlled straggler fishing" using the troll. By so doing, you're almost like a vacuum cleaner out there, missing very little and learning the bottom of that water at the same time. But again, water color as always is going to be the big influence over what you accomplish.
Also, you better be sure you're doing this straggler fishing near a genuine STRUCTURE SITUATION or a decent movement could occur while you're out wandering around and you'd miss it. (you have to keep on checking and re-checking the structure situation)
They used to print a little booklet on STRUCTURE SITUATIONS which I told Buck was mis-titled. It should've been called "Places To Do Your FIshing"
In good water color, you can almost bankrupt a lake with 200's and some wire....you'll only need a small amount of wire out there to hit the 8-10 foot level and you can always wind in some of it and run that 200 on a shorter line behind the boat. How short is short? I like to have it maybe 8-10 feet behind me in the wash of the engine. Even in the winter, IF the water is muddy....just slow down the speed of the engine. The fish will do the rest.
Have fun and enjoy life.
Regards,
Douglas Bush

DouglasBush wrote:

Bassdawgie wrote:A reply from Douglas Bush himself! I am new to the board, but I have read many of your old posts with interest, appreciate your insight, experience, humor, and attitude. I was going to post a thread to see if anyone had heard from you, but you beat me to it. You doing any fishing or thinking about it? Last post i saw you were crappie fishing with a cane pole or some such..I am learning to run these Spoonplugs on a little local lake, and having a ball with the "stragglers".I am intend to "obey and conquer" this lake, by the book. I am up to 100 size, and though i am carrying the wire line rig around like Barney Fife carries his bullet, i will not break it out until i gain competence with the mono.I do not want to repeat your early experiences with the wire. Anyway, great to see you back in the mix, do not deprive us so long again of your presence. And, by the way, you have to have a 250hp motor to be a pro now...Regards, Dwight

I have always been an advocate of "controlled straggler fishing" using the troll. By so doing, you're almost like a vacuum cleaner out there, missing very little and learning the bottom of that water at the same time. But again, water color as always is going to be the big influence over what you accomplish.
Also, you better be sure you're doing this straggler fishing near a genuine STRUCTURE SITUATION or a decent movement could occur while you're out wandering around and you'd miss it. (you have to keep on checking and re-checking the structure situation)
They used to print a little booklet on STRUCTURE SITUATIONS which I told Buck was mis-titled. It should've been called "Places To Do Your FIshing"
In good water color, you can almost bankrupt a lake with 200's and some wire....you'll only need a small amount of wire out there to hit the 8-10 foot level and you can always wind in some of it and run that 200 on a shorter line behind the boat. How short is short? I like to have it maybe 8-10 feet behind me in the wash of the engine. Even in the winter, IF the water is muddy....just slow down the speed of the engine. The fish will do the rest.
Have fun and enjoy life.
Regards,
Douglas Bush

Douglas, I have one of those little Structure Situation books tucked in my tackle box, got it off of ebay, along with a good part of my Spoonplugging equipment, even got my trolling boat there. Thought i would refer to it on the water, but so far the excitement of those spoonplugs tinkling along the bottom and ocassionally being stopped cold by a beefy lm has kept it pristine in my box.I will try that short wire line tactic next time out, just to get the feel of it. Are you saying that those bass can be had on a short wire line in this cold, muddy water? Temp on my study lake is high 40's,and the color is well-stained by recent runoff.Ihaven't bankrupted this lake, but i have made a few withdrawals. Mostly release them unless mortally wounded by my rough treatment.Hey, how about writing a book about your fishing/spoonplugging career/life, bet it would be a good read, and i would buy a few of them.

My friend, didn't you read what I just posted?

*In good water color, you can almost bankrupt a lake with 200's and some wire....you'll only need a small amount of wire out there to hit the 8-10 foot level and you can always wind in some of it and run that 200 on a shorter line behind the boat. How short is short? I like to have it maybe 8-10 feet behind me in the wash of the engine. Even in the winter, IF the water is muddy....just slow down the speed of the engine.*

That is what I just posted.
That water temp. you mentioned is telling me you're thinking about things of lesser importance instead of dwelling on the things that really matter.
water color
water color
water color
water color
structure situation
structure situation
structure situation
and YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS the fish can be tracked down with controlled straggler fishing if the water color is muddy or dingy and you're on a structure situation.
As far as me writing a book? well thats already been done by the guy who invented all this stuff in the first place, Buck Perry.
Anyway, I'm not all that good of a fisherman....John Bales would clean my clock in a heads up battle for a cash bet...but I'd for sure make him EARN the money.
Although I am better looking than he is and have gravitas.
Regards,
Douglas

Douglas, Yes sir, read every word, it is just that there catching bass at trolling speeds in cold, muddy water that i wanted to make sure that i had understood you correctlly before risking freezing my body parts trying this out. I am used to catching my winter bass on jigs and blades, and not doing too well in the cold,coffee-looking stuff, better in the moderately stained waters.I mentioned the water temp because there is not much discussion of it in the study materials except "slower speeds are called for, make it bump", etc, and your post was really the first time that i had heard any of you experienced pluggers talk about it. As far as the book writing, i agree there is plenty of hard information in the study course, green book, newsletters, forums, etc to keep a man busy for a lifetime. I was requesting that you write a book about your personal experiences, tournament fishing, learning to spoonplug, gunfights, etc, or just treat us to a online short story every month or so,for our (and your) entertainment and edification. Might not be the kind of thing that would make the Newsletter, but i but we would be laughing our butts off! A book might make you some retirement money though. Thanks for the tip, anything i catch that way will forevermore be dubbed a " Bush Fish" Dwight

John Bales made a great comment on here years ago as he held up a string of hawgs.
"when is it too cold to troll? NEVER"
Thats about it.
Me

DouglasBush wrote:John Bales made a great comment on here years ago as he held up a string of hawgs.
"when is it too cold to troll? NEVER"
Thats about it.
Me

Now that is some real food for thought. I had planned to use my winter fishing trips concentrating on the mechanics of running those plugs, with not much hope for catching many bass, supposing they would not take the lure at trolling speeds. This changes everything....

Keep in mind the seasonal migration changes and the water temperatures. Colder the slower. You MAY need to troll something other than a Spoonplug. I like Shad Raps and LOVE the DT series. Get the depth with the slower speeds they are just awesome lures.

I can't imagine you not catching fish all year long down there.

Douglas,

Is that photo reversed?? I know the photo used to run in the old "Tan Series" newsletters, and I have always thought the photo did not look quiet right. Douglas you look fine, but I do remeber you wearing your watch on the left arm.

TN Dave