http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 105
- Dress it up — Replace the standard treble with a dressed
treble sporting bucktail or feather accents.
These back-end accessories add an enticing element to the
spoon and help close the deal on indecisive bass. - The spin stops here — The flashing, twisting motion that
anchors the spoon’s baitfish impersonation can also become
its greatest vexation via frustrating line twist.
Johnston nips this in the bud with some proactive surgery.
“I recommend you always put a good barrel swivel on the
spoon’s split ring, and that’ll eliminate line twist,” he said. “Also,
if I’m throwing a hammered spoon (with a built-in line tie), I
like to put a split ring on the spoon and then add a swivel.” - Upsize the hook — Noting that he’s keen to change a new
spoon’s standard hook to an ultra-sharp Owner treble,
Johnston said he’ll often bump up a size if he’s into the big
fish. Properly fitted with a split ring and swivel, the change in
size won’t affect spoon action. - Know how to play a fish — A spoon of any size gives the fish a
leverage point that increases the throw risk. So it’s always best to
keep any fish snared by trebles subsurface as much as possible.
But when a spoon-hooked fish
grabs big air, Johnston does his
best to minimize the impact of
this escape attempt.
“When the fish jumps, give them
some slack and bow to them,” he
said. “That will take some of the
pressure off the spoon, so the fish
can’t throw it.” ■
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