Spoons skating

[NookieRookie]

New to the site. Relatively new to big water trolling. Been out a few times for early season Browns and noticed that a few spoons in the spread were skating on the surface of the water. Needless to say they weren’t catching much but the attention of some seagulls. They were out 120 unweighted and hooked to big boards. Speed issue? Swivel issue? 

[whaler1]

Or just shouldn’t have been running them that way


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[NookieRookie]

You mean unweighted? Or am I really catching sarcasm on my first post to the site..

[wishinfishin]

You mean unweighted? Or am I really catching sarcasm on my first post to the site..

You might be catching more if that's how you respond on your first post.
Good luck

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[C3M]

I am assuming it has to do with a combination of speed and your spoon weight (flutter spoon or equivalent). The only thing I run off big boards unweighted are plugs like bayrats or rapalas this time of the year but most often its 1 to 3 color lead core or snap weights added to monofilament.

[bluegiller]

I run spoons off my boards all the time with no added weight. I only do it early and when fishing really shallow.. stingers , dw Super Slim's only go down about 2 to 3 foot but catch tons of fish in skinny water. Pirate 44's ot nk's small spoons will get down 5 to 6 foot .. I will run a couple spoons and a couple of stick baits off my boards..if you want to get them deeper try a split shot about 5 foot in front of it ...just be carful letting them.out to fast when your in shallow or you will hang them up . Another good spoon move in shallow is put then back like 20 to 30 feet back and set rigger a couple foot above bottom. So if your in 8 foot of water put them down 6 ..and in 10 put them down 8 that can be a killer

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[NookieRookie]

Just seemed to start on the last two trips. Been running unweighted spoons (stingers, dws, and moonshines) since mid March with no issues and good hookups, but have since been coming up to the surface, can see the V wake. Not all of them just a couple, but often enough to have me scratching my head. Little hesitant to run any cores for fear of hanging one on a turn in shallow. Thought it might be a common issue and I’m just missing something simple. 

 

 

[bluegiller]

Only two things I can think of is speed or line size. I run 12 on my spring rods. Thicker line like 20 might do that. Or just going to fast. That's about the only things I can think of. Like I said I have for years run spoons off my boards and never had that problem.

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[Gill-T]

A few factors that others have already touched on.... line diameter (heavier mono floats), spoon weight (paper thin spoons skate), spoon shape (northport nailers have a extra twist in the blank that allow them to dig into the water), and speed you are trolling. 

[whaler1]

You mean unweighted? Or am I really catching sarcasm on my first post to the site..

Maybe a little of both. If you want to run unweighted spoons on boards and they skate either weight them or run something different.


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[Sk8man]

Taking into account the things already mentioned it could be added that In addition to the line diameter, weight of spoon - the length of line out can also affect the spoon if out long distance as a belly in the line can be created that forces a light spoon upward and offsets the pull of the board. You can run even the lightest spoons by adding a large split shot (or more if out deep)  about 3-4 ft above the spoon. It serves two purposes: a) it holds the spoon down a couple feet and b) it can accrue weeds or debris  that keeps it off the spoon. It also can be beneficial with floating stickbaits to keep them down below surface.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Sk8man

[Jim's Jewel]

You need to put a jet diver in front of them.  I run 40'.   They come with a chart to show how much line to let out for a given depth you want to run.   I like the Big Fish Tuff Tru-Trip Deep Divers.

 

https://www.franksgreatoutdoors.com/big-fish-tru-trip-deep-diver-c-trutrip?gclid=CjwKCAjw1v_0BRAkEiwALFkj5rn8T-cvmXHE4xFNAOffrWXymi_cjGkpBA_znj5JpCrSi031Pd8PghoCUOAQAvD_BwE

[Yankee Troller]

Some spoons have a tendency to do that. You'll learn which ones do and which ones don't. We keep those spoons for our divers so they are short leads. We don't run many spoons flat lined, but a small split shot 6-8' in front of the spoon can get that spoon under the surface. I've had what your talking about happen on long rigger leads with this particular spoon. Generally, longer than 40' and down less than 6-7'