Spoons have been around a very long time. Back when I first started bass fishing in the early 70’s the only kind of spoon fishing that I did, or can remember being done at all, was the use of casting spoons. Lures like the Johnson Sliver Minnow with a piece of pork rind attached to the hook were casted to shoreline targets. They had (and I guess still do) have a strong wobbling action that looked pretty “fishy” in the water. I did manage to catch of few bass on these even though in those days I was primarily as plastic worm fisherman.

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Today, the most common form of spoon fishing for bass is either with a jigging spoon or a flutter spoon. While these are not really beginner techniques, I wanted to have a complete overview of all the bass catching rigs on this website. Both of these techniques are used once bass have been located, usually on humps, ledges or steep points.

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A jigging spoon is lowered to the depth that the bass are located or preferable feeding and jigged up and down. Jigging spoons are quite heavy and are designed to get down to depth quickly and jigged quickly in front of feeding bass. They range in weight from 3/4 of an ounce to several ounces.

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Flutter spoons are made out of thinner metal and usually larger than jigging spoons. They are designed to be lowered to the bottom (or to the level of suspended bass), then raised quickly with the rod and allowed to flutter down. They come in small sizes of only a couple of inches like Johnson’s Slama Spoon up to large slabs of metal six to eight inches and larger.

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When the rod is raised (or sometimes violently jerked up) and the lure starts fluttering down it’s best to allow a little slack in the line to allow the lure to ‘float’ down naturally. This is done by following the line down with the rod tip but just leaving a little bit of slack as the lure falls.

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The smaller spoons can be fished on either baitcasting or spinning gear, usually with fluorocarbon line, although mono or braid can work too. The larger spoons need to be fished with baitcasting equipment and a fairly stout rod with a fast tip.

Some spoons come only in nickel or chrome while others will have color, usually just on one side.