Making / rebuilding worn harness'

[ebijack]

Glad you like em, I run them on one side of the boat while running harnesses on the other and let the fish tell me what they want. So far the fish prefer the spoon harness. Typically I run them from .8 to 1.2 as that has produced the best. I have not run them over 1.9 mph as I have not had to. If I want to run spoons over 2 mph I just run spoons. I have not run these without meat, but would probably work with the added color flash of the beeds.

[Fringe10]

OMG maybe have i found more that i have done wrong during my time of playing a fishermen !? Ebijack i see the spoons that you made up and have to say wow never seen anything like them, i have never used spoons yet for the EYES but have a assortment of them in my box, i have mostly always cast for them normal harnesses and very rarely erie's or nuggets, i have my on boat now and have trolling gear that came with it.

first things first i see that you mentioned that you make up your harnesses with 17lbs is that the same for all harness and spoons ? i have allways thought 10-12lbs test,

second is the blade selection very important like shape and size of them ? i mean i know color and all play a role but the different type Colorado willow and all them?

so much to ask wow ive been in the dark i think my friends i fished with for many years are to square it seems

[ebijack]

Yes I use #17 test for my harnesses and spoon harnesses and my trolling line on my rods. Over the years there have been too many "fish of a life time" or good tourney fish lost due to folks not playing the fish right and just flat out over stretching #10 and #12 test mono. I don't troll with braid anymore. One of my fishin buddy's has always used #17 and he catches walleye to big bullets on the #17 so quite a few years ago I switched over and have not had a problem at all. #17 lays out straighter than #10 or #12 mono for harnesses ending up with hardly ever getting a twisted up mess like happens at times with the lighter mono. As far as spoon color, yes like everything else it can make a big difference. Size spoon harness I have not noticed that much of a difference. I have spoon harnesses from my handlining spoons to the big 4 inch spoons I have converted and they all work. Color seems more important. Like I mentioned I'm sure I have more than 50 or 60 spoon harnesses made up. Another one of my fishin partners who is hooked on the spoon harnesses just keeps his box of spoons with the treble hooks removed and ties up the harnesses end with a snap swivel on each one and just attaches the hooks to what ever spoon he decides to use. He is still getting more than 85% of his everyday on the spoon harness over regular harness( some days it's 100%). He's lucky as he gets to fish when ever he wants unlike a lot of us who have to still work. I prefer to pull meat than run regular spoons. Just my preference.

[ChinnAgain]

Is the reason for the crimp to get he top hook closer to the spoon?

[MO_]

Those look great, thanks for sharing! Are you running a snap swivel on the line from the front of your spoon up to the inline? Thx again!

[wakina]

Here is a thread from a couple of years ago!

http://community.walleye.com/showthread.php?t=2681

[ebijack]

The crimp is to get the hook as close as possible to the spoon. I use a snap on one end and a snap swivel on the other end of my 4 ft leaders using the snap swivel to hook to the spoon. Like Wakina mentions in his older post about getting the hook closer to the spoon. Over the past 12 yrs or so I have made and tried many combinations of the spoon harness but this version has blown every other version away for me. The beads between the hooks and the top hook close to the spoon is the ticket.

[DoubleD]

Ok, all of this is great information and it has inspired me to make some spoon harness' of my own. I decided to practice some techniques last night by RE tying some worn out lures. I found instructions on how to snell on YouTube but the knot didn't seem as tight as my store bought harness'. Is there a good snell instruction out there for the best knot? I also bought some blank spoons and intend on painting them with a combination of fingernail polish and/or spray paint. I'm not sure if I want to get into the airbrush business or powder paint so I am hoping my basic techniques could work. Are the spoons in the spoon harness the same size as what you would troll alone like a scorpion size or larger. Thanks again guys, especially Ebijack and Wakina for sharing your knowledge.

[ebijack]

Yes the spoons are michigan stingers style in the many sizes and warrior spoons etc, the cheap stamped handlining spoons which are the shortest ( they are will under $1 each). When I snell I use 8 to 10 wraps around the hook then back thru the eyelet, put the hook around a pair of small plyers or snips and pull the snell tight while sliding the snell up to the eyelet with my thumb nail. Once done you can cut the line even next to the eyelet and it will not come undone, it's tight!

[Hoytman86]

Ebijack, Michigan Stinger owes you some commission. I bought a few different spoons to try my hand with these harnesses, they should be here by Friday.

I also found out that they don't make any of the gold spoons ahead of time. Apparently, with gold being what it is and their cost to plate one spoon, they paint those as they're ordered in order to reduce cost. I ordered through Cold Water Tackle and they turn the entire order over to Michigan Stinger if they don't stock even one of the spoons on your order. So if you're ordering any gold plated spoons from them, make sure to allow for the extra time.