Recently purchased some spoons from PenTac's successor and am lookin fer advice on what size/type single siwash hooks to use. Any advice will be very much appreciated.

Floated the Hoh this last Sun we hooked three Summer brats, a few nice cutts and several dollies. Oh, yeah...gonna try the Samish this weekend and will advise if any kings are showin' yet.

Remove Elwa dams now!
Roger

RRR,

Good choice in spoons, if you got some black oxide let me know how they work, I have not done well with them.

I use 2/0 for the spoons; I'm trying the VMC bronze hooks this summer to see if MorTac's theory on fish short striking the silver Gamus holds water. The Gamus are definately a superior hook, but I am looking for more stealth for the summer.

For spinners #5 - 1/0 or 2/0
#4 - 1/0
#3 - 1/0 or 1
Never used a size 2 or smaller.

I fished the Hoh last week and got 2 brats myself, 1 on a silver plate MorTac spoon and 1 on a full size 6" pink worm, drifted.

Keep us posted on the Samish.

TK

[This message has been edited by TK (edited 08-18-2000).]

TK at times I've done real good with the black spoons and spinners.The thing that I do instead of buying them is I take my silver hardware and bury them in the dirt for 1 to 2 weeks the oxidization isn't completely black it seems to have small silver streaks in it.

Is there a number or web site for this company? If their a good spoon, I'm game up. Thats if your willing to hook us up?

TK, Thanx fer the info on hook sizes. I, too sometimes want more stealth and have found the black hooks by Gamakatsu to work well and they are way sharper and don;t seem to corrode as fast as the bronze ones.



------------------

TK, I purchased some Pierce Hooks from Cabelas last year, an english company, I think. They have a black nickel finish, a shorter shank than gammys, and are sharp out of the box. I use them on certain plugs and spinners, for the same stealthy reasons you do. I think I ordered them from their tackle catalogue. If you are interested, and can't find the catalogue, give a holler on this post, and I will dig out my catalogue,and give you the order #s JCB, Mortac advertises in every STS I hve read recently, should be able to get their site info in that magazine.

A couple of URL's for you guys:

Mortac
Email: mortac2@valley2.valleyint.com
Website: www.mortac.com

Fisherman's Shack
I've been told by others on the Board that the silver plated spinner blades sold by Fisherman's Shack are better than Mortac's blades (which I've not purchased, only their spoons which I've yet to use): www.fishermanshack.com.

Tk
I like to take a file to the black spoons and scar them so some of the brass comes through or put some small color dots on them to give movement effect on the black background. Yellow is my favorite dot color. I guess my black spoons aren't really black
Tight Lines

------------------
Marty
Steelheader.net marty@steelheader.net

i usally bend some of my spoons at about a 25 degree angle. it gives them more wiggle action.

I can't say that I've ever had a fish "short strike" a spinner. I don't fish spoons much but I know that they both trigger the same kind of strike. A fish that hits a spoon or spinner most likely doesn't care about the insignificant flash given off by the hook, especially if you're using black hardware. As for stealth, in my opinion you can best acomplish this by downsizing. I own 2 colors of spinner in sizes 3 through 6. Gold and silver. 90% of the time I'm fishing a 5 or 6. unless the water is really low and clear, or there are other guys throwing hardware. At times I'll add color dots as Marty talked about to the inside of the blade. Most of the time though if I want more presence I'll tie on a bigger spinner. You should see the looks I get when I'm tossing a #6 spinner in Steelhead green water at medium flow.
I enjoy drift fishing and float fishing too, but if there is a fish present and a spinner or spoon is swung through its comfort zone correctly, that fish will hit 99% of the time regardless of time of day or water temp.
no better teacher than time on the water, and have confidence in what you're doing!
good luck

Now these are TIPS guys, good job.

I have never experimented with tape or tubing on my hardware mainly because I don't want to increase the number of variables, because then you don't know what actually caused the fish to strike, the #4 size, the brass blade, or the green tape. But I would definately try some "killer" tape/tubing combos that you guys have found for steelhead, salmon, or dollies.

Erik, this is MorTac's theory, not mine. I thought it had merit; I could definately see a fish focused more on a shiny silver 2/0 hook rather than the black spoon in front of it. I like a guy who thinks he has a 99% chance of hooking any fish in a drift though; they call that confidence in what you're using.

I fished the ultra low and clear Calawah two weeks ago and learned alot about how fish react to different size and color spinners. You wouldn't believe how many fish turned around and "pecked" my spinner from an odd angle, not getting hooked. I had a couple of fish come from out of nowhere and "bulldog" my spinner without opening their mouths, like a bull does to a red cape, and continue on to the next drift. Very fun to watch.

I got a row of silver plate planted and some Pierce hooks on the way, thanks guys.

TK

For you guys that like spinners try zigzag lures inZillah, WA. They have saome of the best silver and gold stuff I've seen. (They usually advertise in STS).

I've recently purchased some spinners from mepps that are called "see best". They're designed by an opthamologist (Colin K, or somesuch) and the basic theory is intriguing to say the least. Any one heard of these and/or tried them.

Thanx,
Roger