The Spoonpluggers Forum

Hi All,
New here from the Northern Kettle Moraine area of Southeastern Wisconsin. Very near the western Sheboygan and Eastern Fond du Lac county border. Been fishing on and off since I was a kid, 39 weeks away from semi-retirement and just acquired a 12 ft v hull bmt. Looking forward to receiving my green book and 5 pack of spoonplugs and getting started next spring. Hopefully even doing a little this fall. Been reading here and watching some videos, and will spend the winter getting educated and getting my gear together. The boat needs some tlc next spring, but I can still fish from it now. Hope you all don't mind some newbie questions cause I'm sure I'll have a lot to ask about.

Anyway, thanks in advance for the welcome!

Welcome Tumbleweed. I’m a newbie too. This is my first season trying to learn the skills and knowledge of a Spoonplugger. It’s basically been a colossal cluster but I’ve learned a lot and caught more fish this year than I have in a long time. I found this forum a great place to ask questions and learn from others questions. Keep studying and get on the water.

Ken

The Green book and 5-pack are good starts, but you also should order some 700's and 800's for the deeper water. For example, over in Madison on Lake Mendota, we often fish 28 feet to 32 feet. At those depths, some spoonpluggers use braided line, some use single strand wire with some form of leader.

Tumbleweed,

This is my first year as a newbie - trying to earn the label of a Spoonplugger but not worthy yet. I hope you were able to get a little time on the water this fall and give it a try. I found this first year to be one of my most successful from a numbers standpoint. But, it was pretty much of a cluster when I look at my skill set related to boat control, mapping, interpretation and presentation of lures. After good counsel from this community I focused all year on the shallows and only used the 500 to 100 series. I spent most days trolling a 500, 400 and 250 but I had to short line them because of the weeds. As the season progressed and the milfoil made the shallows impossible, I fished the weed line with a 200 and 100. The thermocline set up around 17’ and the weed line went out to 12-15’ on most structure so I never needed the 700 or 800. I didn’t mind because I often got lost below 12’’. Like anything in life, I learned that I have to get good at the fundamentals before I try to get fancy. You will do well to spend the season learning to map and interpret the structure on that part of your lake with the best water color by trolling the shallows and presenting your lures as the green book describes.

Best of luck as you read, study, pass the tests, watch the videos and read through the advice given on this forum. I’m excited for your next year. The water is starting to get hard in my area (MN) so I’m idle for the next 5 months. I’m back to reading the study guides and picking up many things I missed the first time around.

Thank you Buck.

Ken

Wow idle for the next 5 months ,I can't imagine living some place like that.
How far south would you have to drive to find soft water .
Think I would have to make that trip at least couple tomes a month.

Haha. It’s funny you say that Champ. I was just thinking the same thing. I was actually able to stay out later this year and fish some more but will have to put the boat away this week. I store my boat in a large warehouse with other boats so getting it out is tough. But next year I may pull her out in March. My lakes will still have 2-3’ of ice at that time but I can drive a few hours south and fish Iowa or Illinois. I’m already going stir crazy.