I was fishing couple weeks ago with friend east of Kellys, 42 ft of water. On one rod, I had dispey #1 setting and 45' back with Michigan Stinger spoon, wonder bread pattern. Something hit the rod hard (probably big catfish), and when I reeled it in, the spoon was gone. Disappointed because this pattern has produced all season long, the next day I stopped by Cabellas to replace lost spoon, and noticed it cost $3.00 more than all others. For some reason, I opted not to buy, and just use my other patterns to finish out the season.
Last Saturday my son came into town and wanted to go fishing for a few hours. We went back east of Kellys in same general area, tied on perch pattern stinger spoon, set dipsey on #1 setting, 48' back. I've learned you have to check lines every 15 minutes or so to make sure little fish aren't being dragged around all afternoon. When I reeled it in, I could see in the distance that indeed something was hanging on the lure. But when I got it in the boat, it was another stinger soon wonder bread pattern, ie the same one I lost 2 weeks earlier. There was no fluorocarbon leader attached, just the spoon with treble hooks caught on each other.
Was it my original spoon?, or someone else lost lure? Have no idea, all that I can say is I'm going to retire that lure as a keepsake.