WU-202: Spooning for Walleyes - Part 1

by Tod Conner

A nice walleye netted and caught with a spoon.

When people think of walleye fishing they generally conjure up images of bouncing a jig, dragging a crawler or maybe trolling a crankbait. Few people, however, consider spoons for walleye for some unknown reason. It's time to change your thinking. Spooning for walleye can be just the ticket. Spooning for walleye is a year-round sport, whether jigging or trolling them. Here are the variations, techniques and tricks of spooning.

Pictured are Hopkins spoons.

Jigging Spoons - this method does call for a hungry, aggressive fish. I use Hopkins jigging spoons about 98% of the time. I have been using them for about 10 years and they are just my favorites. There are others on the market that will work as well. The Hopkins ½ to 3/4 ounce, "No Equal" is one of my favorites in either gold or silver.

These spoons will cover most situations from deep water to shallow flats. There are two basic ways to fish a jigging spoon. Vertical jigging is the first method and the most popular. This technique works well in deep water, especially on sharp drop-offs. You let the spoon fall to the bottom, then snap the rod tip up sharply from one to three feet off the bottom with a quick wrist-jerking action. Then let it fall and flutter down. When it's falling, it looks something like a darting minnow trying to escape from a predator. When your line goes slack as it hits the bottom, snap it back up again. The fish will usually grab the lure on the drop, but you won't normally feel it strike until you come back up on a snap. Then - bang - there he is! If you watch your line closely as it's dropping you might notice it stop early or move to the side. In this case set your hook immediately. Most of the time you won't have to set the hook because as you're jerking the spoon back up, you'll automatically set the hook if the fish has grabbed it. To rig a jigging spoon you should use a good quality snap on the lure. This will give it a little looser action in the water. You should also tie a ball bearing swivel up the line about 16-24 inches from the lure to reduce the twist. Line for spoon-jigging should be tough. I use 14, 17 or 20 pound test monofilament. Twenty pound Fire Line also works well. The heavier the line, the slower the spoon will fall. However, if you are fishing in an area with a lot of zebra mussels, you'll definitely want to use a FireLine leader or even a fine wire leader.

Jigging spoons isn't just a walleye technique. You'll find yourself catching a real mixed bag including walleye, northern pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, white bass, sheephead, rock bass and any other aggressive game fish.. Anything that will eat a minnow will hit a spoon. Another way to use a jigging spoon is in shallow water. Cast it away from the boat and retrieve it with a hopping, jigging action, snapping it again every 2 to 3 feet. Let it hit the bottom and jerk it off the bottom quickly towards the boat. Then let it free-fall. As it's falling, reel in the line and get ready for another snap. This method works well if the fish are up on a flat feeding, and you cannot get close to them without spooking them. You can work a jigging spoon in rivers, inland lakes and the expanses of the Great Lakes.

Slow Current rivers are best suited for jigging spoons. Work the edges of the breaks that drop into the main river channels. Eddies, caused by current breaks, are also a great place to pull a fish with a spoon. Work the area thoroughly before moving. You can work an area quickly with a spoon and cover a lot of water.

Questions and Answers

1. Do other colors besides gold or silver work well? Yes, sometimes I will experiment with colored tape and have had good luck with both green and purple prism. Also add a small eye to the spoon on the hook end. 
2. What rods do you use? I like to use a very fast-action 6'6" to 7' medium heavy St. Croix Avid casting rod. You are going to want the lightest weight rod that you can find that still has power. I like using bait-casting reels with the flipping feature, also.
3. What kind of line do you use? I use 20 pound Solar Fire Line. In most cases it gives me the visibility and is strong enough to straighten out the hook on a snag. If the fish are neutral, I shift to a 20 to 30 pound Trilene Solar mono, so the spoons drops more slowly.
4. How shallow would you use the spoons? I have caught fish in as little as 3 feet of water on windy days, if the wind is stirring up the sand or mud on the flat.
5. Why do fast-current rivers cause a problem? You can fish a spoon in a fast-current river, but you lose a lot of action, and it is hard to stay vertical when the spoon darts around a lot.