Decoy Color

[mrklean]

Its not to early to think about spearing, this will be my first year spearing and was wondering what are good decoy colors and what to look for in decoys? Thanks

[glenn57]

i prefer red and white or the decoys with like the floresent green. my personal favorites are the ones that look like a little nord. i also use a salmander decoy, its custom made.

[Central Bassman]

I agree i also like the red and white decoy most of the time. A red and orange decoy has worked great of some others in my spearing group, but i still like the red and white better.

[bassNspear]

i do like the red and white as well, but my best decoy i have is the pike looking one from Big fork, and its Orange. Cant beat it. Sorry guys, but its true, its tough to beat it.

[merkman]

What I have found is that it is up to the individual fish.

I like to have 2 decoys and one live decoy down.

95% of the time one of them will be red and white.

I have kept the same 2 decoys down all day and some fish zero in on the one and others zero in on the other. I have even noticed some prefer decoys and some prefer live bait. Size maters also, some prefer small decoys some prefer larger. Overall I think it is best to keep a variety down there.

As far as shape goes, I have read that northerns prefer baitfish that are cigar shaped (like a northern, perch or sucker) rather than round (like a sunfish) just because they go down easier and “fit” into the cigar shaped northerns stomach better. On the other hand I have seen many small sunfish in the northerns I have speared. I always take a look at the stomach contents of the fish I spear and that tells me a lot about what the “local” fish eat. Once I know this I adapt my decoys to meet the “local conditions”.

This year I would like to try a big decoy painted like a northern (maybe 3 ft long) and see what comes up to that. I am thinking that might make the big fish more territorial and come over to check out the new kid on the block. Just a thought??

[rattlem'up]

I've tried tons of different sizes shapes and colors I like the Red and white northern style bout 12" long with an egg beater attached up top. I also have used a live decoy with a stationary decoy and has worked. I've also tried misc stuff that is shiny, Door latches (gold and silver) along with putting aluminum foil on decoys. Might sound stupid but my grandpa told me to try it and dam i was suprised how well it works.

[updecreek]

Try a red eye lure with no hook? Very old guys told me this dont know but would like to?

[bassNspear]

Red/White----Orange~

[efgh]

I knew a older fisherman who fished with spoons in the winter, he took the hooks off and used the split rings to hook 3 together. If I remember right one was a red eyed wiggler , one a red-white dare devil and I can;t remember the 3rd. He told me to just jig them, raise them up about 6 in. and let them free fall or put them on a spinner and let them turn slow. I sometimes use a small red eyed wiggler under a bigger sucker, this works fairly well as I have seen bigger N.P. on this setup. The way the D.N.R.fishing law is wrote now, you can have a line and spear at the same time, I think you could leave the hook on one of the spoons. Check first though.