Body Baits and Spoons

[GLF]

Is there a time of the year when body baits are better than spoons? Do you fish body baits all season? Do you fish spoons all season?

[Screamin king]

I tend to do well on plugs in the early spring before the moss starts developing on the rocks. Rapalas smith wicks jr thunder sticks all do well. When the moss starts to show I switch back to spoons as too many trebles on body baits seem pick up the moss. In the fall I go to j plugs around the harbors and cover water and do well on kings

[killerbe20]

Where are you fishing out of? Southern Lake Michigan tends to do very well on body baits early in the spring fishing browns and cohos near shore. Then they can work well offshore during summer for steal head and then again in the fall for the spawning run.

[UBDSLO1]

Stick baits and cranks, smaller size spoons to start out the season, then larger sized spoons and J-Plugs as the season progresses. I tend to use stick baits early on and later on in the season, and spoons all season long. I try to match spoon size to the forage that the preds are feeding on.

[Turfwrench]

I run both all season with success. A lot of the time I will run the deep divers on a 3 way swivel with a spoon trailing behind. Sometimes they go for the body bait and others they take the spoon. Over here in the southern end of Lk Huron we get into the walleye over deep water and then the Mann's 30+ series seems to kick some butt. So in essence I kinda use the plug instead of a smaller dipsy to get a spoon down fishing off the boards. As we don't have a lot of kings over here it is effective for the steelhead, coho, and walleye.

[Screamin king]

That's a great idea, gonna try the 3 way for steelhead here in Lake Ontario when they are in the top 20 fow

[jmohunts]

I run both all season with success. A lot of the time I will run the deep divers on a 3 way swivel with a spoon trailing behind. Sometimes they go for the body bait and others they take the spoon. Over here in the southern end of Lk Huron we get into the walleye over deep water and then the Mann's 30+ series seems to kick some butt. So in essence I kinda use the plug instead of a smaller dipsy to get a spoon down fishing off the boards. As we don't have a lot of kings over here it is effective for the steelhead, coho, and walleye.

What length leaders are you using off the three way, I like this idea if you dont end up with many problems. Seems like you could do this off of riggers too.

[Turfwrench]

Usually run the deep diver on a 2 - 3' lead and the spoon 6 - 8'. Tangles have not been an issue. I always allow some tension in the line while deploying so the body bait is diving thus keeping the lures separated. Yes it will work on riggers too but you must lower slowly so the diver can dig while being lowered by the ball. Be sure your diver bait runs true otherwise it will spin and tangle.