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