The Zara Spook....what is old is new again.....

[RumRiverRat]

I used to fish Spooks a ton for Green and Brown Bass. Seems with the explosion of new lures and techniques these days that some of the classics have been forgotten.

I have had a Zara Spook in a frog pattern on one of my rods almost all season.

Fished it a ton over the 4th of July weekend and put a bunch of Green Bass in the boat.

I now think I have a perfect setup for throwing Spooks. A Revo SX 6.4:1 paired with a Abu Garcia Vendetta VTC73-6 7'3" Medium Heavy rod and 50 pound Power Pro.

You can make very long casts and stay off spots to avoid spooking fish.

I have caught fish during early morning predawn calm as glass to high noon with a slight chop on the water.

If you get a fish to roll on a Spook and they miss you can almost always get them to eat a plastic stickbait or Fluke style bait put in the same spot.

Spooks can be used to quickly locate pockets of fish on weedlines and then you can slow down and saturate the spot with a jigworm, weightless stickbait, Jig and pig/craw.

Anyone else use Spooks a lot?

[Superduty]

I don't use them a lot, but have one tied up for sure in clear water or anytime smallies are in the mix.

[Raider4ever]

One is on at all times. My favorite topwater lure. A bazillion sizes and colors. I too like the frog pattern but also the iridescent purple one for whatever reason. One of my big confidence baits. They ROCK!!!

[BassNut33]

I have to agree as well, I really teh like the spoke in the bone white pattern.

[MNpurple]

Spooks are my favorite topwater lure and see the water quite often. Although most colors get some attention, below is my favorite pattern. I couldnt find it for a while so when I located it online, I bought five of the same color just in case! I was out recently and wasnt having much luck with the spook. On one of my casts I got a pretty nasty backlash. The spook sat motionless on the water for about 30 seconds while I worked out the backlash when it got hit. That was the key, let it sit there 20-30 seconds, motionless. Even when its not moving the spook catches fish!

[Ufatz]

Cast my first Zara Spook in 1947 using a steel rod and a Pflueger Supreme reel loaded with 30lb. test black braided nylon line. Also use Injured Minnows a lot.

Still use both lures....no new ones, only vintage old wooden models off hsolist.

These new young fish ain't any smarter than the old ones......still bite those oldey-timey plugs.

Oh. We use Shimano Calcutta TE 200GT reels now and wonderful Loomis rods so it ain't like us old buggers don't learn new tricks. Ha Ha!!

Lift 'em up. Take a look. Let 'em go.

[vern]

That's cool that you still use those old baits Ufatz. I loved the Spook before the milfoil hit the metro lakes. My other old favorite was the Torpedo. In the 70's & 80's I threw the Torpedo on the Minneapolis lakes & caught tons of bass. Jitterbugs & Crazy Crawlers were fun too. I mostly fish flukes & frogs for surface baits these days.

[Fever]

I too have in a way re-found my spooks and rapala skitter-pops. I think more so this year due to the weird weeds and the fact that the water on most lakes is up. I too toss mine on 7ft med heavy baitcasting equip with 50lb power pro. Just wondering if people tie the rapala knot when they throw these to get better side to side action? I don't and still get my spooks to walk with rod held at about 10-11 o'clock and quick twitches of the wrist. Fun lure for first or last light as the strikes are often pretty agressive.

[RK]

Hiya -

I love spooks. Probably don't throw them as much as I should. Have caught a lot of muskies on bass-sizes spooks too. One thing about walk the dog topwaters (and this is true for both bass and muskies) is I think fish will come up farther to hit them than they will any other type of topwater. I'll throw them over 15' of water if it's clear, and fish get up a pretty good head of steam when they're coming up from that far down so the hits can be pretty spectacular.

I throw spooks (and poppers for that matter) on a 6'9" medium-heavy glass crankbait rod. The glass really helps with hooking fish - they get a split second more to suck it down before the rod loads up. I'm pretty trigger happy on the hookset, and the glass helps counterbalance a jumpy angler. Plus I just think I work the bait better with a rod that's a little slower. I throw them on 17# mono with a 6.3:1 reel. Tried braid for a while, and didn't like it a bit. Went back to good old XT.

Along with spooks, prop baits are another lure that is seemingly forgotten. I'd hate to be without a Devil's Horse or a Boy Howdy...especially for smallies.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[RumRiverRat]

I don't use them a lot, but have one tied up for sure in clear water or anytime smallies are in the mix.

A great clear water bait.

I have had smallies smash them when fished over 10 to 15 foot of water on Mille Lacs.

Great bait to work over cabbage flats as well.