Tried something new

Went up by the border N.E. Of North Bass and couldn't decide if we wanted to stay with the spoons or switch to harnesses so we put spoons on one side and harnesses on the other and headed East at 2.0 gps speed. Not much was happening so I decided to troll in circles with the spoons on the outside of the loop,for increased speed, and harnesses on the inside of the loop, for reduced speed. Game on! We started pulling fish on both sides! When we straightened the line of our troll the bites stopped and when we circled they hit again.Spoons were jaeger bomb regular and uv and pooh bear purple. Harnesses were Colorado dark purple blade with purple beads and 1 chartreuse bead up front. Best lead was 40 ft behind TT 40's.

We fished that area because the fish have been a little bigger as opposed to the fish we caught Friday south of the mega pack over by Rattlesnake and west of Green Island.

I have trolled in a circular pattern before when trying to figure out what speed the fish prefer on that given day. If they hit the inside we slow our speed and start trolling our line, if the hit the outside we bump the speed up and start our line. It was kind of different to use 2 different presentations that worked because we were actually achieving the speeds required for each by using the circular pattern. It helped that we were the only boat around until a couple more showed up later in the morning.

On a side note, I have about had it with the Michigan Stinger Spoons! The new UV spoons I bought started losing paint the first day out and we have broken several treble hooks this year when removing the hook from the fish! These spoons are far too expensive for made in China type of quality!

Good luck to all!

Jim

Eyezcrazy, Thanks for the tip. I will be trying that turning thing. .. I have had the same problem with the paint coming off the Stingers. No broken hooks yet.. I am .thinking of packing about 6-7 spoons up and sending back to the MS office.

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Originally Posted by Lazy Ike

Eyezcrazy, Thanks for the tip. I will be trying that turning thing. .. I have had the same problem with the paint coming off the Stingers. No broken hooks yet.. I am .thinking of packing about 6-7 spoons up and sending back to the MS office.

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As long as people keep buying them and only complaining M.S. does not have any incentive to actually fix the problem. Sending them back for repainting does cost them a little but the only way to get the problem fixed would be to stop buying their products. Why is M.S. the only major spoon manufacturer to have this problem on an ongoing and consistent manner. I refuse to roll the dice anymore with their products. Like I have said before what good is a $4.00 spoon if it is in the mail heading back to M.S. or laying on your boat dash devoid of the paint that makes it an affective walleye catcher?


I will no longer roll the dice for a spoon that I am not sure will last a couple of hours let alone a whole day of fishing. I will spend my $4.00 elsewhere for a higher quality and more reliable product.

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Originally Posted by wakina

As long as people keep buying them and only complaining M.S. does not have any incentive to actually fix the problem. Sending them back for repainting does cost them a little but the only way to get the problem fixed would be to stop buying their products. Why is M.S. the only major spoon manufacturer to have this problem on an ongoing and consistent manner. I refuse to roll the dice anymore with their products. Like I have said before what good is a $4.00 spoon if it is in the mail heading back to M.S. or laying on your boat dash devoid of the paint that makes it an affective walleye catcher?


I will no longer roll the dice for a spoon that I am not sure will last a couple of hours let alone a whole day of fishing. I will spend my $4.00 elsewhere for a higher quality and more reliable product.

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I have had good luck with Silver Streak spoons. They seem to last forever

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Originally Posted by foomanchoo

I have had good luck with Silver Streak spoons. They seem to last forever

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I agree completely with the silver streak spoons(Jr. Streak). I have been using the gale force spoons with good luck also and the paint and finish is awesome and seems to be very durable.

I was going in circles this morning too. Kept going over same spot and picking up fish. The other boats moved in and we had to quit doing that. We was west of rattlesnake. We got bigger fish going in circles. Harness on inside with Gulp nightcrawler and spoons on outside. Plucked chicken and purple rain spoons.

If when the boats move in you may be able to get a figure 8 pattern going for you. 1 of the loops (ends) of the figure 8 will be productive like your circle while other may or may not because it will be in opposite rotation. I like to use the figure 8 on flat days when there is little or no wind to fight in the one direction. I don't use it as much since changing almost exclusively to the Hatchet blades as they are effective at the normally slower harness speeds and equally effective at the higher spoon speeds.

Just make sure that you are using a large enough clevis, one that when the leader is hanging straight down and you lift the blade to the right angle or 90 degrees to the leader the tip of the blade inside the clevis does not touch the leader, and to check your leader for wear more often at the clevis if trolling at the higher spoon speeds. I have trolled them at up to 2.2 to 2.3 GPS speed without twisting with the use of a quality ball bearing swivel or swivel snap and a large enough clevis.

It looks like its time for me to switch over to the hatchet blades. I've seen some of yours and am thinking about buying a wire bender and giving it a shot. Being able to troll at higher speeds would be nice.

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Originally Posted by Eyezcrazy

It looks like its time for me to switch over to the hatchet blades. I've seen some of yours and am thinking about buying a wire bender and giving it a shot. Being able to troll at higher speeds would be nice.

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If you use the wire you do not have to be as careful. The first post was mostly for those who tie the traditional harness on a mono or floro leader. The blade has to have room to move without touching the leader and it has to be able to spin freely or you will twist the leader. With the wire your swivel will be closer to the blade, beads and hook assembly making higher speeds possible. Still need a quality ball bearing swivel as necessary equipment.