On my winter break I was able to check out a couple of fishing shows. It was at the Let’s Go Fishing show in Collinsville, IL that I got to hear a seminar by Lake Fork Trophy Lures Pro Kelly Jordan on fishing the Lake Fork Flutter Spoon. Kelly is recognized as one of the best ledge fisherman on the Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament Trail. He has used the Lake Fork Flutter Spoon to score top tournament finishes on Kentucky Lake and Lake Guntersville.
One of the tips that Kelly gave on fishing the spoon was to position your boat on the deep side of the ledge. This is because you want to make sure that your spoon is able to fall off the ledge instead of working up hill. The reason why is that you want to get some water under your bait because almost all the strikes that come on the spoon will be when the bait is falling back towards the bottom. Rarely will a bass pick a spoon up off the bottom that is just sitting there. When the bait is on the bottom there isn’t any action and it looks pretty unrealistic, however, if you give the bait a couple of short pops while ripping it up off the bottom the hunk of metal comes to life. It and gives off a lot of flash and vibration which triggers big bass into striking.
The cool thing about fishing spoons according to Kelly is that often times when you pull up on a spot you are going to be able to catch the largest fish out of the school on the first couple of casts. Other presentations sometimes take a lot longer to trigger the bigger fish into striking. I have a theory as to why this is the case. We all know that larger bass like to position themselves underneath small bass that are chasing shad because they like to be able to pick off dying baitfish and get an easy meal. When the spoon flutters down it looks just like a dying shad and it is so inviting for a big bass because all it has to do is swim a short distance and open its mouth.
Kelly said that there are a lot of different colored spoons out on the market but really you just need to have either a silver or gold colored spoon. He said that the shinier the better. Also when gearing up for spoon fishing make sure that you have at least a 7 foot rod in a heavy action. Typically the longer the rod the better. You want to be able to pick up slack in your line really quick because the bites will be coming on the fall. You can also throw a heavy line because you want to really be able to snap the spoon up off the bottom. It is not unusual for him to fish the bait on 17 to 20lb fluorocarbon. Spoon fishing on ledge lakes isn’t a finesse presentation and it is a great alternative to cranking and throwing a jig that most do not utilize. There is still plenty of time to make this a way of attacking your favorite offshore spots and giving the bass a unique presentation that they do not see as much.
I am really looking forward to trying this technique out on the bass down at Lake of the Ozarks this summer. The technique is rarely talked about around these parts but I know a couple of anglers that are using this technique on deep fish and reaping the rewards. In order to get your hands on the best spoon on the market visit Lake Fork Trophy Lures.
Spencer Clark
