Tiny spoons

After meeting up with Jeff the other day and recalling his comments on some small spoons he had purchased from Chris at Finesse Fishing, I made sort of a sampling order of several different ones.

While Chris carries an even smaller one, the smallest I bought were his Presso Vegas in the .8 gram size. Several colors.

.8 grams is .028 ounces. Super light. And, no treble (I hate treble hooks!), just a small barb-less hook.

So, I tied one of these small spoons on my shortest ultralight rod with a 1000 series Shimano CI4+, this and the 2 lbs. Sufix Nanobraid and gave it a few tosses across my wood floors. It looks to me like it'll cast pretty well. I can't wait to get it outside and down at the water for a better test. I'll report back.

And, I bought a couple of 2.5 grams (.088 ounces) silver spoons, also with single hooks. I thought these would be good for all panfish up to and including crappie, but might be interesting for the stocker trout coming soon and white bass early next year.

Developing!

Brad

You will love the spoons. I have both sizes and they are great! Cant wait to hear how fishing goes buddy.

Looking forward to the results of your spoons. Love that UL tackle.

I use small spoons a lot especially while fishing for trout. Good results using 4 lb test line with a small size 5 shot rigged about 6 to 8 inches from the spoon. Switched to a 5wt flyrod last year and having a blast!



Side Note: Still use the spinning gear also!

Pics of spoons?

Laker One/gar 1970/Jeff/All,

I took my 5 ft. ultralight down to the Lake Athens boat ramp area and fished off two of the docks this afternoon around 4:15 PM. I spent just a bit under and hour and it started getting cold so I drove home.

I caught: one bass, two nice crappie and three small bluegills.

I think I missed 3 or so solid bites where they managed to not get hooked properly. That little barb-less hook? Once they are on, they stay on. When I removed the hook each time, it almost fell out and it makes me wonder how they stay pinned . . . but they seem to really well. I hate treble hooks with a passion so I was glad these came this way.

The attached photo shows one of the tiny .8 gram spoons. I put a dime next to it for reference.

Casting distance? I was using 2 lbs. braid, Sufix Nanobraid and I'd say my longest casts were 40 to 45 feet, just solid casts, no Tarzan swings. I made several longer casts but with a tiny wind to my back.

These .8 gram spoons seem to have a fall rate of about 1 ft per second. I was fishing over grass and never hung up.

My retrieval was: cast, let it fall for a few seconds, then twitch my rod tip either parallel to the water surface or vertically. What this does is cause the spoon to flutter. If I pulled it smoothly, it had sort of an erratic motion and this could be just owing to the diminutive size of the spoon. The water at Lake Athens is pretty clear and I tested retrieval patterns in the shallows to see how they looked. All 3 species I caught seemed to hit the spoon after the twitches.

I had just finished working out at the gym, had a lot of body heat built up, the coolness out fishing felt great but I finally cooled off and it started getting cold so I packed it up and went home. It was great!

If you ultralight fish with artificial lures, this would be a strong addition for cast and retrieve angling.

Brad

I should add that Chris has a .4 grams spoon, too. Hmm? I think I could cast it with 2 lbs. braid but I can't imagine much of an advantage. I might grab some on my next order just to give it a go but I like these .8 grams spoons just fine.

Several of us on this forum do business with finesse-fishing.com and Chris carries only high quality gear and tackle. He seems very knowledgeable. No, I have no business relationship with the company, just a retail buyer.

Here are some more pics. The Crusader spoons (top) are larger: 2.5 or 4 grams. The Daiwa Presso Vega in the .8 grams (middle) is one I bought several of. And, I went ahead and captured a photo of the .4 grams spoons (bottom), too.

There are more. Go check them all out.

Brad

Thanks for posting those pictures and your results. Doesn't sound like too bad of an outing!

JigandJeep,

Every time I grab a single rod and reel, a little Plano box of assorted ultralight tackle carried along inside a small tackle bag, then head to the water? I rarely have much more fun than this.

Sure, there are a few times each year when bass fishing on big lakes is super fun, or chasing white bass seasonally, and a few other circumstances. But, for day-to-day, every day just going out to catch some fish of multiple species, going out ultra-light is hard to beat.

I prefer the same sort of minimalist approach when I go out in my canoe or kayak where my equation is: Less stuff = more fun.

Brad

Awesome thread. Thanks Brad R. for sharing! Good job Sir.

+1

For casting on light spinning gear stick with the .8g and above. The .4g are the same size as the .8g just lighter and won't cast as far. . That said, if you want to go against the purist mentality, get the .4g for your fly or tenkara adventures. Amazing success casting these on fly gear! Shhhhhhh!!! It's a secret. Lol! Guaranteed to [censored] off your fly snob buddies.