Modern high modulous graphite rods, balanced ball bearing titanium reels, fused braided lines? What do all these things allow us to do that we couldn't do before? Feel the lure.
Oh sure, fifty years ago you could tell when the blades of your Creek Chub were spinning or your Silver Spoon was wobbling its pork rind through the pads. If you could see your plug or spoon, that is. But all that's changed now.
Nowadays, with tank tested lures (remember they used to be "water tested and proven to catch bigger fish") and lines with little or no stretch (so little give, in fact, that we can blow up a good knot with that big rod sweep we've all become accustomed to using for a hook set with mono). Now you can actually tell what your lure is doing by the vibration reaching your hands. It's amazing.
And a good thing too.
Because now, instead of buying a spoon and tossing it out all season, hit or miss, catch or not, you can actually learn what that spoon is doing underwater and make changes in your technique or change the spoon. Remember before, when a spoon wasn't catching, you just changed it. Now, instead, you can vary your retrieve and feel the difference. Now you can feel whether your choice of nickel steel is fluttering, as it drops, between retrieves or whether it's sinking like a lost Zippo. Now you can tell whether it's still wobbling, eighty feet away from you or just dragging home weeds.
Before, you owned one or two spoons and you used them according to which caught fish the last time out. Back then, you chose which spoon to tie on by whether it was silver or gold. Back then, you thought all spoons were basically created equal.
Now we find out they're different! Now, we can feel the difference in the performance of different spoons. And this is good.
Let's take a closer look at modern spoons and how they stack up against Cape Cod fishing. In the broadest possible terms, spoons include all of the metal: oval, curved and concave forms, plus the cast tins and machine cut rods that wobble when retrieved. Popular brands include: Kastmaster, Krokodile, Fiord, Crippled Herring, Deadly Dick and dozens of other equally intriguing makes.
The purpose of a curved, concave spoon is to wobble when retrieved. Simply that. It could also be jigged or even used as a topwater lure but those functions are secondary, albeit highly desirable at times. The factors affecting the wobble are: the thickness of the metal or weight to size ratio, proportion of length to width, profile, concavity, the hook trailing behind it and your retrieve.
Without getting too technical (or exceeding my own understanding of the physics involved), changing any of the above factors changes the width of the swing and the tempo of the action, at any given speed of retrieve.
For example, a long, narrow, straight piece of steel rod is likely to wobble relatively little. The Deadly Dick is a good example and it requires a speedy retrieve to establish a tight wobble. However this is fine for this lure, which excels on bluefish, which trigger on its fast tempo and sand eel shape.
Conversely, a thin, short, wide, curved and deeply concave spoon will easily wobble and widely so from side to side at slow speeds. The Little Cleo is a good example of this type of spoon and excels at a slow presentation with maximum flash. For years, the Cleo was the lure for deep and slow trolling lake trout in the mid-west and is only now catching on around here for stripers.
Everything else falls more or less between these extremes.
So let's say you're willing to buy a half a dozen spoons for your tackle box. This is reasonable, if you plan to fish a variety of areas: shores, grass flats, the canal, bays and open ocean waters. These places require you to take into account: depth, weeds, distance casting and wobble versus jigging ability. Does having the best spoon for each mean buying more than a half a dozen different types? Perhaps, but not necessarily. Let's take a closer look at a few of the necessities.
What should you choose for, say, the canal? Here's an area where the fishing is often best at slack water but, on the other hand, you can't count on the time you find available to fish as one that matches the tides. So you also have to figure on fishing in strong moving water. Moving deep water, that is, and casting as far as you can to get out to the middle, if you can. That means the spoon you'll want to choose will be heavy and long but with a good curve and deep concavity for a good wobble too.
You start by buying a couple that match this description in the weight that matches your rod and line (¾ oz. to 1 ¼ oz. for 14# test, heavier if you're using your surf pole) and head for the canal. Tie one on and make a cast. As you reel back at an average rate, feel for the vibration coming up the line. Fused braided line will help you here but even mono will transmit enough of this signal through a sensitive rod to your hands.
Make a half a dozen casts with one spoon and then switch to the other. All the time, feeling for the differences in these spoons' action rather than really fishing. Be sure you vary the speed of your retrieve from as slow as you can keep the lure wobbling (you have to slow down from an established rhythm to feel this) to as fast as you can reel before you feel the lure begin to spin through the water (this will be a secondary throb felt over the original wobble).
After a few casts, you'll know which spoon casts, sinks (you'd want to feel for a flutter here too) and retrieves, all with different characteristics. They won't be equal in all respects. In fact, they'll be quite different.
Then, next time you head out fishing, remember which one sinks the fastest and can be retrieved the fastest without spinning when you're on the Canal at moving water. This will be the one you are liable to fish the best in this condition. You'll also know to select the one that wobbles the best when sinking (falls slowest) and wobbles at the slower retrieve speed for slack water times.
Seems too easy, doesn't it? It's actually easier to do than talk about. And all it takes is a bit of time and experimentation for you to get the feel of it for yourself.
Is it really important to do this, you may be asking yourself? What's the big deal? The right spoon will work for anyone in the right place, won't it?
I don't think so. My evidence comes from my own experiences and those of the hundreds of other fishermen I've fished with and guided. For instance, I have a friend who rarely fished a spoon before we started fishing together almost two decades ago. When he did finally try my favorite spoon, it was a year before he was getting strikes at a rate approaching mine. Was he a good fisherman? Sure. Did he know how to get the most out of that spoon? After a year, he did. And during that year he learned to feel for the best speed of retrieve and the best action. He told me so and his catch is the evidence.
That spoon, by the way, is the blue/chrome Fiord in 5/8 oz. Best search lure I have. Light and responsive enough to skim the surface over loose eel grass in protected waters, yet it still jigs well and will sink to 12 feet or so to work the bottom on a bright day. It retrieves with a nice wide wobble at slow speeds and comes with white hair on a single hook to minimize weeds and yet ease hooking. A superior lure; I buy a gross each year for my charter business.
Another example. Last year I shared my favorite tin, the one I use on ocean stripers, with a fellow charter captain. After a week he said to me, "I haven't caught a thing on that lure, it's just not working." I was surprised and repeated how well it worked for me. The next week we talked again and he said, "You know, I wasn't catching with that tin and then suddenly it all came together and now it's producing like crazy." What was the difference? Simply this, he'd found that spoon's rhythm after time and trial on the water and he'd learned just how fast to lift and drop it for the maximum effect, by the feel of it. He told me so.
All of this spoon talk isn't rocket science but it is both a scientific and a methodical approach to understand your lures as much as possible, by their feel.
Let's continue. Next you'll want to do the same thing for the rods, tins or jigging spoons that you've done with the swimming spoons. Try a couple out and feel for: the drop rate, a flutter while sinking, and how easy it is, or not, to establish a flutter or fast wobble on the lift. Then, when you've learned about one lure or you've found a couple from the dozens available that you can control like you want to, use what you've learned to choose which one is right for: deep jigging, swimming or a bit of both. In general, here are some principles to start with. The dense, short and wide tins are best for jigging and the longer, slimmer rods for swimming. But you should decide what works best within each of these groups for yourself.
And decide by feel remember, not by guesswork and not by lure reputation. You do this according to your own fishing style, with your own gear and through your own experience. The best teacher there is.
That favorite tin I referred to above? It's a blue/chrome Crippled Herring. It's proven itself so widely over the years that last year there were a significant number of imitators, or at least look-alikes, new to the market from other makers. Try it in 1 ½ oz., if you're spinning in the 14# to 20# line class and be sure to learn how to lift drop for the best effect. By the way, it casts about a mile.
Now let's look at fishing in bays and around grass and structure like rocks and channel edges? Here you have less current to consider, shallower water and the need to keep your lure near the target area as long as possible. This means a light spoon with plenty of wobble at slow speed and probably weedless too.
Buy a couple (lighter than the ones for the canal) and then head for the boat or the shore. Follow the same process of sensing the lure motion until you reach your own conclusions.
Does this spoon wobble easily at slow speed? When it sinks, does it flutter a bit from side to side or just drop? How far and accurately can you cast it? Does it tend to catch weeds or shed them?
You can answer each of these questions with your eyes shut, literally, and then use your results to fish better in the future. (You can always start with the Fiord I mentioned earlier and compare it with others. Perhaps you'll find one that serves you better.)
Is there a place for tins and rods in shallow water? Sure, but that place is probably limited to those days when you're after blues, then any fast lure should work. Or perhaps you're running and gunning to breaking stripers and need to make long casts quickly before they're gone. Then you're choosing a lure for reasons of necessity first and action second. Still, you want the best of both. Try casting some of your collection until you figure out which one you can launch the furthest and still come the closest to your target. Then match the forage as best you can, green for sand eels and chrome for herring fry or butterfish.
Finally, in open water, where you never know what you'll be confronted with you need to carry an all purpose spoon or better the specific selection you've determined works for you. Are they in the rips or in the fast shallow water flowing along beaches? Perhaps bustin' the surface over fifty feet of depth? Or maybe feeding along the bottom, thirty feet down, after a cold front?
Choosing a spoon, tin or rod in these situations is entirely a process of experimentation and experience. But certain principles still apply.
You want to know what your lure is doing when it's out of sight. Is your spoon wobbling during your retrieve or just gliding along like a sinker? Some spoons require a sharp jerk of the rod tip to start them wobbling, especially when you've made a long cast or allowed a long sink to deep water and there's a lot of belly in the line. In this case, jerk with a big rod sweep and retrieve quickly until you feel the shake coming up your line. If you still want a slow retrieve, slow to the speed that you feel offers the best presentation, after you've established a faster wobble.
Do you need more distance than your spoon is giving you and are willing to sacrifice some presentation and action in return for getting your lure into breaking fish before they sound? Then choose a tin or jigging spoon that gets the job done and retrieve it at the rate you've learned makes it look best.
Do you need to bounce bottom to find the fish but also want to swim the lure though occasional pods of passing bass? There are tins that wobble while swimming on a steady retrieve and still have the density and quick lift and drop properties you want to feel in a jigging spoon. Let experimentation be your teacher.
We've discussed shape, construction and weight and how they influence action. The final subject is the hook. With the exception of bluefish, which are occasionally able to avoid single hooks on spoons with alarming regularity, single hooks will offer you more feel and action in your lure, without sacrificing hookups, every time. Lures come balanced from the factory to include their hooks so if you experiment changing out trebles for singles, be sure to choose the same weight hook (rather than size) or a bit lighter for the best action in the future. You can feel this for yourself and you should feel it to know your getting the maximum action.
One more note. It would seem that having a bit of bucktail on that hook is always an advantage. If the spoon didn't start with it, add it yourself or buy pre-tied trailer hooks.
So what's in it for you to go to the trouble to understand those spoons that work best and feel best to you? Oh, about three to five times the number of hook ups, I'd say, and most of the fishermen I know feel it's worth it.

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