So, given that RVRFSHR seems to be out of commission (temporarily? permanently? anybody know?), I was wondering if anybody had a good lead on where to get good, affordable spoons for salmon/steelhead fishing?

I got some "Mor-Tac" spoons at Three Rivers the other day, but they were $5 per nickel-plated spoon, if I recall correctly (not including the Black Friday discount).

What's a better option?

Temporarily out of stock on most spoons right now, MPM...but we plan on being fully stocked up around the end of the year.

Fish on...

Todd

Good to hear! I was worried.

Not the best, but if you need a quick fix....Cabelas has their "game fish" spoons for $3 a piece.

If you like the Steelee style (tear drop) spoons, half fast sells them at a reasonable price, I think Bi-mart carries them

Thanks for the other suggestions. I've got a handful of RVRFSHRs and a couple other brands on hand, so they should last me a couple more trips. Hopefully RVRFSHR will have more available by the time I need to stock up on more.

Could try R&B, never purchased them personally but they look decent enough.
I've had luck with the blue fox Pixie spoons, ~3 each.

I'm a fan of the cheap teardrops though, I usually get those out whenever I feel the need to lose hardware in boulder fields.

i enjoy spoonen the teardrops when guys are foating bobbers.

R&B makes a quality spoon, give Rob a call if you find yourself in need before rvrfshr's supplies are replenished.

+1 on r&b. They make some nice colored ones, too. I have a purple hammered one I'm planning on fishing this weekend.




Willy

R&B...

I hate to do it but I will likely order from R&B while RVRFSHR replenishes their stock. I have never used them but if nothing else, I will get to try a new product/customer service and compare it with PenTac and RVRFSHR, which I like both very much.

In a pinch, I did try some Cabela's spoons and wasn't overly impressed although I did get them at a discount so it wasn't all bad. Probably won't order Cabela's spoons again if I can avoid it however.

You will be more than happy with the customer service from Rob Brown (R&B). And he generally always has what you need on hand or will go out of his way to make a "custom" order for ya. His spoons and especially his spinners are top notch aswell...

Yeah, a quick glance at their stock showed everything I would get is currently available. That is a good start.

here in the Couve area R&B spoons and spinner products are in every shop. well stocked too. i really like irridescent colors of his spoons. the cerise spoon looks to be a cohokilla.

Pen-Tac.Good luck,
SZ

Since this turned into an R&B lovefest I will chime in. Rob's silver plating is bitchin', does it himself. I really like his plating on the .032 french blades with the hammered inside.

Yeah, R&B looks like a good option for silver & brass 50/50s that cost less than the Pen-Tac/BC Steel silver & gold 50/50s.

I have had great success dealing with the folks at R&B. Just placed an order today as a gift for a farmer who let me chase some geese on his land.

I am pretty happy with R&B spoons, they work well for me fishing Ca north coast. I used to use Pentacs almost exclusively but the last time I got some the plating seemed poor at best so I tried R&B and have been happy with them. Too bad they don't do smooth finish anymore though...

Pentac had some bad plating runs a few years ago because the plating company they were using burned down and the new plater hadn't gotten the finish right. At least that's what Sarah told me. The last order I received was good and I believe they've worked the kinks out. There is no better winter steelhead spoon than the BC Steel. It has sharper angles than the others and therefore has more action in the current.
Regarding affordability of spoons, ordering them in bulk is the only way to go if you fish them a lot. I pay about half what I see them going for in the stores. Makes it easier to let them bang the rocks where the fish are hiding!

The 50/50s still seem to run about $6 per spoon if you order online, which is awfully steep.

Yeah it is! I don't use that one. The silver fishes just fine in winter!

Thanks for all the nice words every one!

WildChrome is half right on this stuff. Pen-Tac was using a plating company called Merit Enterprises. They do alot of different things and are one of the companies I used years ago. I referred Bobby to them back when they first acquired Pen Tac. The plating division of merit burned down a short while later.

I know it will come out that this is not true and I never helped them and all the other competetive BS that comes in this industry but the shop managers name is Mike Eye and he would confirm that as well. Merit is still around but they never rebuilt their plating division. last I talked to them, they had no plans to do that.

Also I gotta call you out on this. BC Steels edges are NOT sharper then R&B's! Just for the record. BC Steel Spoons are excellent spoons! But the old stuff from Jed davis was very sharp while the new stuff resembles the rounded edges like the little Cleo.

RB

my r&b spoons certainly have sharper edges then my pen-tacs that is for sure. i have new and old pen-tacs to compare them.

i cant say enough about r&b spoons. i bought a handful a couple years back when i ran out of silver rvrfshr's. the finish on them is great, i have been beating the hell out of one particular r&b spoon for a couple years and the finish still holding up great. i cant believe i havent lost it yet

i cant say that for my pen-tac's, a few of those are BEAT! looking. and they hardly get fished these days sense i bought r&b's.

i still fish my rvrfshr's 90% of the time though for everyday fishing and exploring new water in search of snags . only becuase i have a few hundred dollars worth. so i can afford to lose them.

but for those deeper holes, where i lose the feel of rvrfshr's i always grab my r&b's. the sharper edges really allow a person to feel the spoon work in deeper slower water. braid helps too

I just got done putting together a bunch of spinners and spoons from R&B and I have been nothing short of impressed by both of these products. I will definitely be ordering from them again in the future.

Rob,
I said sharper ANGLES, not sharper edges. Since you mentioned it, ........

Wild Chrome,

Is that a nickel or silver plated BC Steel? It looks pretty dark in that photo...

That's the polished silver. I shot the photo with the flash at an angle so you could see the Pentac and R&B logo's. The matt silver would have been hard to see the logos on. You can see a comparison of finishes in this photo:

http://www.pen-tac.com/images/photos/spoon2_large.jpg

Pentac's polished finishes are extremely polished compared to the other brands. They throw more directional light (like a mirror), but less diffuse light. I think which is better depends a bit on the conditions and the fishes' mood. My favorite silver finish is actually Blue Fox's, as they are semi-polished. I do find R&B's finishes to be very good.

Wild Chrome,

Thanks for clarifying that. Thank you for the compliments.

The pen tac white silver is great plating. The polished silver is not highly polished. It is thinly plated over nickel. The darkness it gets is from the nickel effects showing through the thin plating. This effect is very similiar to the effect of water filtering light and the light hitting the spoon from only one direction. as it would under water. Take that same spoon in a dark room, place it next to an R&B or a RVRFSHR with the lights out and put a direct light on it like from a flash light. The Polished silver pen tac will turn dark like in the photo. The RVRFSHR and the R&B will stay fairly bright just like the blue fox blades will. The reason for that is the absence of Nickel vs the thin silver over nickel.

A while back i had a company run me some sample 50/50's. They returned our parts plating over nickel. The plating looked beautiful! But the nickel under plate meant dark spoon underwater. This is a pic of one of those samples next to our standard 50/50 silver brass and next to our 50/50 silver copper





These are the same spoons taken into a dark room with the lights off and the flash on. Notice when the surrounding, room filling light is replaced with a direct light, anything plated over nickel turn dark. Notice the natural silver over brass or copper holds brightness and visibility. Take your tackle box in a dark room with a flashlight, turn out the lights and see whats been disappearing.

Under water in winter conditions, lighting is dark and light is one directional not surrounding so all finishes thinly plated over nickel have very little attraction qualities.

Now we have all been told the great statement that silver reflects X% of light and gold X% of light and copper and brass and so on. So if this statement is true which of these 3 silvers are reflecting what % of light? They are all three pure silver platings, but you can see the results are different!

In order to obtain "proper sidewall", I've resorted to taking all my spoons, cutting them in half, pounding laterally with 5 lb. rock, and triple stacking. Very poor results thus far...also no longer very affordable.

(Anyone think by applying a rasberry crush/milky silver-30/70-Van Halen/David Bowie finish pattern, I might could boost my hook up rate?)

this thread has taken a turn down nerd avenue!

the heater is a good touch.


lets make a quick turn at the end of nerd ave. head onto hot chick blvd.

hey r&b doesnt it seem like you just ripped off a rvrfshr spoon and put your own stamp on it? Took the hammered pattern and even took the same hook's and threw them on yours? Then just dipped them in your basement with some lure dip or something?

Hey Big O,

There are a lot of differences between R&B spoons and Rvrfshr's. Different curves and shape in many ways. Even different thickness. R&B 2/3rd ounce spoons are about 30% thicker then Rvrfshr's heaviest spoon. I have been doing this for about 12 years now so I didnt show up yesterday. I usually stay off this board because rvrfshr paid to advertise here, but I was brought up so so I joined in.

Rvrfshr didnt start hammered spoons they have been around for probably over 50 years. Heck before rvrfshr hammered spoons there were Mor Tac Hammered spoons so I guess by your estimate, rvrfshr ripped off Mor Tac?? I wouldnt say that at all.

The hooks are Matzuo and I have also been using them for about 5 or 6 years.

A lot of assumptions but that's cool. I didnt say anything negative about rvrfshr or pentac just stated useful information that fisherman who want to catch more fish could use. Take it or leave it.

i always thought everybody ripped off J.Davis. his pentac blade and bodies styles are all copied.

nowaday whats seems rather the norm by most, is how to not be relible on orders.

also Pen Tac torpedos were a take from the old classic two piece torpedoes of the late 70's.


Way back when.....

Rob has been around and knows his stuff.

Been in his shop and must say it's impressive. He does all of his own plating, painting and assembly. Works his butt off and makes a great product.

R&B spoons have a different bend than RVRFSHR. There both awesome spoons. I have caught plenty of fish on both. Each has it's place.

Saweeeeeeeeeeeet!

Moving on...affordable spoon rod?

FE2...next ...Affordable swivels for spoons?
<-----Hot chick

Damn you broke that chit down huh r&b. No assumptions just questions... I'm just some punk ass kid that don't know what the fuk I'm talking about. Looks like a good product though... I'd fish them

Triple stack is the new double stack. Do it.

Honest question, how many spoon fishers actually pay attention to the advertised weight of the spoon when making a selection? Personally, I have a box full, and grab the one that looks about right. Make it fish the way you want by managing line tension and angle to the current. I couldn't tell you want any of the spoons in the box actually weigh. Thin ones are for shallow/fast water, thick ones are for deeper/slower water. Or some combination there of...



All I ever needed to know about spoon fishing Todd told me. It went something like "here, tie this on, chuck it out there, and keep it off the bottom." I asked him to set me up with his preferred array of weights and colors and haven't really thought too much about it since.

I learned steelhead fishing on jigs under a float but I'm a hardware convert. I just wish I had the money to buy all the spoons I need. As far as affordable hardware rod, I use a an affordable Okuma Connoisseur 10' (stiff) noodle rod that has had its tip broken off, so it's a little shorter, and it is lighter than the more heavy duty 10' 8-15 Fish Eagle II. My set-up is versatile enough to throw light spinners or heavy double stacked spoons because I use 10 lb p-line on a rear drag Tica spinning reel.

Well Rob,
I do understand the differences in plating times and how polished vs matt is obtained. I was using the term "polished" because that's a term everyone could recognise without going down what Brewer called "Nerd Avenue" (how did you get that picture of me anyway, Brewer?) I cannot speak for Pentac and how they do their plating, so I won't. I do not think their plating is the best, nor the worst. I did notice in the photos you provided that you have your spoons convex-up and the other concave-up. Certainly, that affects how they photograph. I won't argue your point that plating over nickel gives less flash than brass or copper. I believe that's true.

Regarding affordable spoons, here's a tip I haven't seen mentioned. Go to Dick's when they have one of their big sales. At the fishing counter, they have free tide tables. On the back of the tide table, there's a coupon for $10 off any $50 purchase. They don't have Pentac, RVRFSHR, or R&B, but they do have Little Cleo's, Dick Night's, and everything Blue Fox. You'll often find these 25% off during a sale, plus you get the extra $10 off if you make a $50 purchase. I make a lot of $51 Blue Fox/Little Cleo purchases there. I like the bigger Blue Fox spinners for slow or shallow water and the smaller Little Cleos for low water.

In water like this, finish is semi-moot. Any spoon or spinner that gets down to the fish's level and stays there awhile with good action is gonna get bit.

Just go to Goodwill, buy spoons, cut handles, drill holes, done.

Close to accurate, but no waterfall?

Dude needs to be holding a can of Tecate, too, with carne asada stains on his Grind Magazine t-shirt.

Fish on...

Todd

Great, first the Japanese buy up all our high quality roe and drive prices up, then our own women take our spoons

No 2/0 Sickle Siwash either but nobody's counting ??

Well, they had better be using clip-ons or it could get a little bloody.

Coley,

That is by far one of the most incredible hardware boxes I've seen to date! Good on ya! Mine looks nothing like that...

I have rvrfshrs and r&b spoons. Every now and then r&b have some really nice sales where you can get a nice amount for cheap. Great customer service too.

killer spinner components too--still have a few

Thank you for the order!

You will notice some differences in hand but this may get you excited if you liked the Stilly spoons.

Bling! Looking pretty darn good.

I'd love to see R&B advertise here.

Only reason I didn't place the order I wanted this fall was that I didn't end up going North.

Already got a good stash of PenTac's and RVRFSTR's, but I was gonna try out the R&B's this year.

Oh well, there's always next year!

PS. I'm almost embarrassed to post a photo of my spoon box. Almost.



Amen! Damn Herzog's oily hide. The 50/50 is almost as stupid as a stacked spoon. Almost.

Hmmm, the 50/50 jig.....it's GOTTA be the latest and greatest next-best steelhead catching lure!!!! I'm all over that!

R & B, Do you offer any both sides smooth spoons? Primarily interested in 50/50 and Copper 2/5 & 2/3.

I have a couple hundred blanks in smooth 2/3oz that could be brass, silver or 50/50. I am out of solid copper blanks in the smooth two side. I will have more again later in the winter.

I am very limited on 2/5 oz smooth probably just a few dozen if that. I have lots of the stubbies in 3/8oz in copper as well as brass, silver or 50/50. Could also do some of those in 50/50 silver copper.

End O Year is almost here...new stock in next two weeks? or go elsewhere for Holiday Spoon Cheer??

I remember spoon-doggin' Halloween double stacks (copper/chrome black) with summerun and T-Rip on a rising Skagit a few winters back. Scored some nice dollies and steelhead that day.

Rvrfshr hoochie-spoons have also scored some nice coho.

Mebbe time to get some wet.

I like to keep a few of these in my vest, for those special slots.....


Gibbs Ironhead



Koho




Look at those freaking hooks, these bad boys are all business.


c/22

R&B, have you considered the 33/33/33 option? say a 3rd silver, a 3rd brass, a 3rd gold.

that would be B1TCHEN! also a industry first. you could charge 7$ a blade. suckers would be all over that, you could call it the StreamFister. of STRMFSTR, with my Fister signature pic stamped on the backside.

Jesus Brewer! The STNKFSTR? sounds like you are into some weird chit...

thats about right! about 2/3s weird chit. 1/3 extreme wierd chit!

People are way ahead of you!

http://www.bradsjigs.com/pictures/greatlakesjigs/glbig2.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n561/climzalot/IMG_0094.jpg

No not really but you could run for president with that pitch. Tell every one you are gonna re make the tax system with a 33/33/33 program. Tax 33% of all income 33% of all life savings and 33% of a persons fishing tackle stash!

Sounds like a wiener for ya!!!! and no not the skyping congress man type a wiener

I have smooth brass blanks in 2/3oz so i could make polished brass, polished silver or 50/50. I only have smooth copper in Stubbies right now.

Current date: 2/14/2012...

BnB, they've been showing up slowly this week, some are on the site now, and the rest will all be there by the end of this week.

Fish on...

Todd

He didn't say *which* year

I got an absolute heart attack hit on a 2/5's R&B white matte silver spoon yesterday. Damn fish almost ripped the rod from my hand. I have no idea how I didn't stick that fish good with a hit like that. Either way that's the first time I've used an R&B spoon and I was impressed. I noticed immediately the better feel it had compared to a lil Cleo. Just a slightly more pronounced thump which is nice.

R&B has a special deal on their spoons now. 25% off and free shipping on orders over a certain amount.
I recently made my first order through R&B. I used to order from RVR but their [Bleeeeep!]'s been outta stock for too long.

Still waiting Rob,,,, placed an order for a 20 pack 2/4/12...Leaving Monday for a 6 dayer out west....
Let me know if there's an issue so I can make other arraingements. thanks
Order Information
Order ID: 1412
Order Date: 02/04/2012
Order Time: 11:16:58

mikek

just call him, they'll make it right. good people, good prices, sometimes a little slow on the delivery.



willy

Hmmmmm...