Until I made my way to the Ozarks most of my spoon fishing was done on Kentucky Lake. It was the only lake that I would fish in the summer that I would ever consider dropping a spoon down to the fish. Here on Lake of the Ozarks we have had extremely hot temperatures this past month. The high today was 108 degrees. There has been no water generation for a month so the lake has been stagnant. This has led to record high water temperatures and an increase in water clarity. These two factors have made most of the fish seek out deeper cover than they normally would this time of the year. A lot of the fish are suspending too which can complicate matters.

When an angler looks into the tackle box there are just a couple of baits that are effective when bass get into the 30 to 40 foot zone. When the fish are suspending that deep it’s hard to get a crankbait down to where it needs to go to trigger them to bite. If the fish won’t come up for a crankbait that pretty much leaves only plastics, jigs, and a spoon to target these deeper fish.

The thing about fishing jigs and plastics is that the fish see these baits on a constant basis. When the water gets hot most anglers will tie on a 12 to 10 inch worm or a 1oz jig and start to look for brush. The fish in the brush can get conditioned to these timeless presentations. While these presentations work and catch fish if an angler really wants to open up a whole new door of possibilities they need to spend some time learning to fish a spoon.

The common thing you here from a lot of anglers is that spoons get hung up really easy or that the bass don’t like them. Well I can say after spending some time with a spoon on the end of my line this summer that you can fish a spoon through some of the thickest cover imaginable and that they work great on bass on the Ozarks. I recommend bringing a lure retriever and that will eliminate a lot of problems.

The great thing about spoon fishing is that you don’t have to be the greatest angler in the world to fish them correctly. Spoon fishing for the most part just involves dropping your bait over the side of the boat down into brush and schools of fish that you are able to see on your graph. After the bait gets down to the right level you want to take the spoon and work your rod from the 3 o’clock position to the 12.’clock with a series of pumps. If you can raise the bait slowly and let the bait fall on a semi slack line the spoon has a lot more action.

If you are fishing a larger spoon like the Lake Fork Trophy Lures Flutter Spoon you can fish the bait just like you would stroke a jig. I have been catching some nice fish as of late by graphing bait and cover on my graph and then throwing a casts right over the top of it and working the spoon up and around the brush piles. I will get hung up sometime and lose my bait but most of the time I am able to retrieve my bait with a lure retriever or just get directly over the brush and shake it a little before it will unhook itself.

Most of the bites that I will get on a spoon will be as the bait is falling. Having a good grip on your rod is a must as the fish will hit a spoon like a freight train. When it comes to tackle I have been using a 7 foot medium heavy action AiRRUS Ultra XL for my spoon fishing and 20lb line. The 7 foot rod paired up with 20 lb test line works great for working a larger spoon. If I am fishing the spoon over the side of the boat with casting gear I will turn the rod over so that the casting reel is on the bottom. This can eliminate a lot of wrist strain from snapping the bait up off the bottom. When fishing a spoon with a casting retrieve you want to make sure that your bait is always falling done the drop. You will want to throw your spoon up hill and work it out to deeper water. This increases the chance that bait will be falling and maximizing the spoons fish catching flutter.

The best color the past week has been silver, white, and gold. Those are the only colors for spoon fishing that you need. It also helps to have a variety of spoons because they all have a different fall rate. The Lake Fork Trophy lures spoon works great for a big bait and gives off a slower fall with a ton of action. Another spoon to try if the fish are around the smaller shad is a strata spoon. The smaller spoons along with the big ones will catch all kinds of fish. If you haven‘t ventured into the world of spoon fishing you need to give them a try.