Pro Tips Weekly: George Foreman pro Dan Morehead

Adding More Hooking Power to a Magnum Spoon

I jumped on the big-spoon bandwagon and got some just in time to be in on the tail end of the prime-time season for them. It seems to me that it’s another one of those typical niche-type deals where it’s a heck of a bait when they’re on it, but not so much at other times.

Will a jumbo spoon like the 8-inch Ben Parker Signature Series Magnum Spoon work this winter? Maybe, but my gut feeling is that it won’t be as productive. One reason I feel that way relates to how I fish it, which is to cast it out, let it sink, crank the reel handle four or five times, and then kill it and let it sink to the bottom. When the water gets cold, I don’t know whether that will draw many reaction strikes because it just isn’t moving that fast. In the summer, it’s another story. Whatever the season, I fish it on a 7-foot, 4-inch flipping stick with a 7.2:1 reel and 20-pound-test line.

I reel the Magnum Spoon along the bottom because it’s hard on my shoulder when I rip it all day like some do. Actually, I’m not really fishing it along the bottom all the time, because depending on the water depth and the angle, I’m bringing it up off the bottom when I turn the reel handle. I haven’t had a chance to see how the spoon looks in a swimming pool when I fish it the way I do, but I imagine it covers a lot of water as it falls back to the bottom. It reminds me of a Storm Wiggle Wart – how it hunts to one side, then another for about a foot and a half from center, and then returns.

The thing about using a spoon that weighs 3 ounces, which is what the Magnum Spoon weighs, is that fish are going to use it as leverage to throw that treble. You can figure you’re going to lose half the fish you hook, but that’s the price you pay if that’s what the fish want.

Some guys have taken to putting a treble hook up near the middle of the spoon on the topside to cut down on lost fish. Here’s the process:

• Use a Sharpie pen to mark the center spot where the treble will go.
• Drill a small hole there.
• Using the hole as the center, they take a Dremel rotary tool and cut across the spoon, below the hole, for about 1/4 inch.
• Make two parallel cuts about 1/2 inch long each on either side of the hole and going toward the line-tie end – perpendicular to the original cut. Now there’s a U-shaped flap with a hole in the center.
• Pull out the flap with a pair of pliers.
• Add a split ring to the hole.
• Attach a treble to the split ring. Use a hook that’s a size or two smaller than the hook that comes with the spoon.

Maybe this modification helps hook more fish and reduces the number of fish you lose. I’m told it doesn’t affect the action of the spoon, so I’m going to try it. One thing I know is that you better be ready to lose some spoons, because if it gets attached to a stump or something, it’s hard to get loose. A regular plug-knocker won’t work when you get it down there, because even when it reaches the top of the spoon, it’s still about 8 inches from that bottom treble.