Striper Spooning Question, Setup?

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Dungee

Dungee

Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Got into our first spooning action in late July and have been itching to try it again. I want to put together a good setup dedicated to spooning. My question is, is straight flouro the best as you are sometimes trying to locate the bite through the column or is a leader on braid sufficient? If so, what length is best? Long or just a few feet? All we had was mono and it was working but I think that was more a factor of the time of year etc.. I’ve heard Wayne and others say flouro is key, especially at other times of the year. Thanks!

Preston

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For striper spooning I would recommend a medium heavy bait caster in the 6-6 to 7-0 range. You definitely want to use fluorocarbon when spooning for stripers. Fluorocarbon can be used as a main line on bait casters quite easily and would recommend as such if you're doing you spooning with bait casting gear. I don't like it as a main line on spinning gear as it is a bit stiff for spinning reels IMHO. On spinning tackle I use braid or Fireline as a main line with a 15 to 20-foot fluorocarbon leader. On my bait casters I use fluorocarbon as my main line except for my top water rig on which I use braid because it floats. :)

Ed Gerdemann
 
I think any line will work. That being said I catch a lot of stripers year round on spoons and my favorite setup by far is Seaguar 12lb Florocarbon bait caster with Cotton Cordell 3/4 oz silver spoon. In fact I got into a boil last Saturday morning and caught more spooning than on the surface.

Glad to see you slowly coming over to this side...
 
I think the most important thing is to use a bait casting reel because of the faster pickup. I use six pound braid with fluorocarbon leader, my brother ties his spoons directly to 12 pound braid. We catch about the same number of fish when the stripers are boiling and actively feeding. I don't think you can get away with tying directly to braid for any other kind of fishing at LP but when boil fishing, anything goes.
 
I have used a line counter reel with 12 lb fluro and medium heavy rod for years. I think the biggest problem is line twist with spooning. I will sometimes tie in a swivel 3 to 4 feet above the spoon to remedy the twist. I tie the spoon directly to the line or tie in a clip. Tying a swivel to the spoon may interfere with the flutter action of the spoon and cause it to " helicopter" down instead of flutter. A good line counter reel takes the guess work out of hitting the fish school seen on sonar.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
All we had was mono and it was working but I think that was more a factor of the time of year etc.. I’ve heard Wayne and others say flouro is key, especially at other times of the year. Thanks!

Preston
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I've also head Wayne say "don't leave fish to find fish". My point? "All we had was mono and it was working...". I'm a firm believer in KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't make things harder than they are. If you want to use flouro, then go for it. Or use mono. Often times it's all about what you have confidence in.

I would never recommend tying directly to braid. Snags happen. :(
 
PBH said:
I've also head Wayne say "don't leave fish to find fish". My point? "All we had was mono and it was working...". I'm a firm believer in KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't make things harder than they are. If you want to use flouro, then go for it. Or use mono. Often times it's all about what you have confidence in.
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Totally agree with this PBH. Although I finally did transition to braid as a main line I've used almost exclusively mono leaders which for some reason gets a bad rap. Its just what I have confidence in. I just remember multiple instances in which people have said that because of the flouro leader they were catching fish right next to where mono users weren't. Of course this might only apply to bait etc., and that is usually used in reference to somewhere on the south end of the lake which is a completely different fishery than the far north in my opinion.

I love the Tactical Bassin youtube channel, I think its one of if not the most informative fishing channels out there and they agree on the leader front. Sometimes I think we give to much intelligence to fish. I've always thought, "if they can see and care about what your line looks like, then why havent they made invisible hooks yet?"


Reed said:
Glad to see you slowly coming over to this side...
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Very excited to continue improving and learning about spooning, it was a blast! We will continue to be as versatile as possible, and this becomes another tool in our box we can use, my hope is it allows us to have very successful trips throughout the winter to bridge the fall to spring gap.
 
I use 20lb power pro braid . Using medium heavy bait caster high speed retrieve. With a 6-6 to 7-0 rod. The reason I tie my spoon straight to braided line it does not make any difference when Striper's are really schooling under the boat and I catch just as many fish. I have found that if I use mono I will get cut off by other Striper's trying to take the spoon away from the that is hooked, or as I am speed reeling up thru the school I could get cut off by the gill plates if using mono. The 20lb braid has solved that problem and we catch just as many fish. Also added bonus I don't have to net the fish with 20lb braid. Just flip them up into the boat onto the deck. It Works for me. Happy Catching hope you guys get into another good spoon bite, it is so fun.. :)
 
Like others have already posted, I use a medium heavy rod with a line counter reel. I have a 6-6 and a 7-0 rod. I like the 7-0 a little better but the 6-6 fits better in the lower half of my rod locker. The line counter helps a lot when seeing suspended fish on the graph. I used to use straight power pro braid but after being out fished several times by others using a fluoro leader I switched to straight fluorocarbon and now I that doesn't happen anymore. I use 15lb Seaguar InvizX. This setup works well for bait fishing too.

I use lighter Seagaur InvizX on my spinning reels. It is the only fluorocarbon I have been happy with on the spinning reels.
 
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