Striper Spoons

[wayne gustaveson]

The best striper jigging spoons are those that fall with a zig-zag motion on the way down. That looks like an injured shad heading toward the bottom.
The ideal weight is 1.5 ounces when fishing down to 60 feet or 2 ounces if going deeper than 70 feet.
The lures shown here include War Eagle, Bomber slab, and CC spoon.
The plain lead color spoon is made from the mold sold by Janns Netcraft. We make our own spoons and then paint them white and add a little flash.
Many spoons work but there is a fundamental difference between jigging spoons shown here and retrieving spoons such as Kast Master and trout spoons that provide a better swimming action on the retrieve instead of the fall. I will add some more pictures here soon.

 

[wayne gustaveson]

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The best striper jigging spoons are those that fall with a zig-zag motion on the way down. That looks like an injured shad heading toward the bottom.
The ideal weight is 1.5 ounces when fishing down to 60 feet or 2 ounces if going deeper than 70 feet.
The lures shown here include War Eagle, Bomber slab, and CC spoon.
The plain lead color spoon is made from the mold sold by Janns Netcraft. We make our own spoons and then paint them white and add a little flash.
Many spoons work but there is a fundamental difference between jigging spoons shown here and retrieving spoons such as Kast Master and trout spoons that provide a better swimming action on the retrieve instead of the fall. I will add some more pictures here soon.

Here is a bit more detail for spooning for stripers:

The spoon is 3 inches long but the big heavy duty hook hangs down 1 inch so the total length is 4 inches. Weight is 1.5 ounces. I have a similar spoon that is a bit longer and weighs 2 ounces. That one is for fishing deep schools at 100 feet or deeper. The spoon is made from a common mold made to produce slab spoons. These are a common type of spoon with many different paint jobs applied.

You can see that I also use a heavy duty snap rather than tying the line directly to the spoon. That works great for me and may even give the spoon more freedom to "swim" near striper schools. I drop the spoon to the bottom and then jig it up about 1-2 feet and let it fall (Swim) back to the bottom. The spoons have a better action as they fall rather than when they are retrieved. They fall with a side-to-side motion that looks like and inured bait fish trying to swim away.

I use 12-pound test fluorocarbon line on my level wind reel which is a medium heavy action rod. If using a spinning reel I use 8 pound test fluorocarbon line (Monofilament line is visible while fluorocarbon line is invisible. Switch over to Fluorocarbon if you have not done so already.

When landing a fish less than 5 pounds, I use the medium heavy rod spooning rod to swing the fish into the boat rather than using a net or grabbing the lure with your hand and lifting it into the boat. That allows the rod to flex as the fish is pulled out of the water and swings into the live well or ice chest. I don't recommend this to all but it works well for me.