Jigging Spoons and Fall Salmon

The Salmon fishing heated up this past weekend so I thought I’d hold off on talkin’ Musky this week. (photo of veteran angler Mike Schwister with a nice King)

A combination of cold weather and rain has piled a new wave of Salmon into the Milwaukee harbor and we had a blast catching them this weekend. They were a combination of very advanced males and some fairly clean females. After seeing a lot of smaller fish early, I was pleasantly surprised to see some heavier fish this week. No supertankers, but some upper-teens and twenty pound fish.

After catching these fish for thirty-five years I generally catch a few every fall and then actually start to avoid the areas where these fish are hanging out. Its not that I don’t want to catch fish, but some of these start getting a little dark and gnarly and catching some cleaner fish is a little more desirable.

This year one of my fishing partners is looking for his first big King so we have been stalking the spawners in the harbor trying to get him locked into a screamer. What has come out of this for me is trying some new tactics and I have suddenly discovered one that has all kinds of life back in me as far as fishing late fall spawning salmon. Jigging spoons!!!

We have found that if you find a deep water seawall where the Kings are traveling you can vertical jig for them and it has been much more effective than casting crankbaits, minnowbaits, and traditional spoons.

The Jigging spoons I am using are from Do-It’s Flutter Jig mold. The mold makes ¼ to 1 ounce jig spoons in lead. But here is the dirty little secret (look both ways to make sure no one is reading!) Tin!

Casting them with 100% pure tin reduces the weight about one-third and gives them a completely different action than if they were cast with lead. It also gives them a shiny silver finish that doesn’t oxidize like lead. It’s about $9.00 a pound right now but well worth it (It was twice that a year ago!). It sounds like a lot compared to lead, but it boils down to about $.30 per spoon for the larger size jigs. Add a split ring and hook for another $.25 and you have a world class jigging spoon for under $.60. How can you beat that?

Plain silver or silver with a chartreuse accent, or pearl have been the hot colors. Drop them down to the bottom and reel up about a foot. Now lift the spoon anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet and let the jig free-fall back to its original position. Stagger the lifts but always keep the jig moving. The hits will come on the free-fall and they are spectacular. You will be lulled into the rhythmic pattern of jigging and then suddenly interrupted by a solid dead weight and a violent head shake. At that point plant your feet and hang on.

This system really imitates baitfish very well so I am very surprised that it is working this well for the non-feeders. I guess that four years of intense feeding has them programmed to take an easy shot at a vulnerable baitfish even when they aren't eating.

I’d recommend a medium to medium-heavy rod and a reel with a quality drag for this system. Ten pound test is about all you can get away with despite the fact that the fish are going to weigh twice that or more.

I am going to cut this short for today and pick up a new topic later this week. I want to talk about a quality under publicized reel that has been around for twenty years now and is still available for under $90. Also, a great Musky story from a friend that happened last weekend.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags.

Marc