Open water jigging spoons for walleyes

[fishinfey8]

I just read an interesting article about jigging spoons on infisherman's site which got me wondering...do any of you use jigging spoons as one of their regular go-to method/technique? I can't say that I have ever tried, but the more I think about it, the more I like the sounds of it. I'm thinking they could be more effective by tipping them with a minnow-head or a whole fathead? Any favorites?

[Northlander]

FF your missing the boat. The jiggin spoons on Island in the fall will get ya both eyes and crappies as well as on the river. I like the Lindy Rattlin Flyers and Rapala rattlin Spoons and the Northland Buckshots are ok at times. Smaller little cleos can be deadly.

[tunrevir]

For me it has depended on the time of year as far as the spoon. This is a relatively underutilized but succesful tool in the walleye aresenal. I tend to like cleos, heavy, compact and they cast a mile when doing a snap, drop, snap retrieve. They have a nice wobble on the fall. Crocs work but they tend to drop faster and have less wobble/flutter on the fall. I tend to go heavy and a bit faster during the summer months and as the water cools, I go more to a lighter spoon with more of a flutter on the drop versus the fast fall of a heavy spoon. You can fish spoons much like jigs, either vertical with a lift, drop, stall, hover, wiggle or alot of other variations. What you are looking for is a triggering movement. For me it tends to happen after the fall right as I snap to move the spoon up from the depths only to let it flutter or wobble back down. The cleos, work nice for vertical presentations as well especially with a shiner forage base but a hopkins spoon or a swedish pimple can be great depending on the available forage base. Cooler temps leads me to more of a vertical presentation much like ice fishing and you can go with just about any ice type lure like a pimple or rattling varmint, or buckshot rattle spoon. Angel eyes are nice when working shallower depths for both vertical jigging and casting but you will need a light action setup and a longer rod to work them on the cast. I like to stay in the 1/4 oz or less range for most of my spooning with an 1/8th oz covering most presentations. As far as tiping, again, it depends on the time of the year and the body of water. You can catch fish on a plain spoon when casting but when working vertical I always like to ad a bit of scent to entice the bite. A great technique for Winni is rip jigging spoons versus the old jig and minnow, especially when the shiners are running. Many variations, many different spoons, lots of room to experiment but it can be highly effective.

Tunrevir~

[scott b]

Casting and jigging a blue/chrome Kastmaster works for perch when they're holding deep. Lightly tapping(swimming) after it hits bottom for a little bit, then steady retrieve (no reeling), then fall, and repeat. If it works on perch it should work on eyes, but have never tried. Hmmm.

[Chode2235]

I've often wondered this, as I sit over a hole on LOW with a jigging spoon all winter, but as soon as the ice melts we always end up tying on a jig head and anchoring and jigging a lot of the same spots.

Glad to hear I am not crazy for thinking about it. Now I will just have to try it.