Author: Brian Koshenia

If your like me than you probably have an addiction to spoons. I almost always have a spoon on during the ice season. Spoons bring more to the table than a jig in my opinion.

Spoons come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Some have smaller spoons attached that flare out the water while jigging them. Some have rattles inside for calling in fish in murky water. Some have a bullet like profile and they shoot straight up and down in the water while others have a slender wavy profile that allows them to flutter as they fall giving the impression of a dyeing bait fish. Some have feathers on them and some have colored beads on them.

The larger profile of a spoon generally attracts the more active fish who are on the feed. Fish that wont just nibble the bait but will come in hot and just smash the spoon. Spoons are made for almost every specie of fish. Everything from Crappies to Lake Trout. You can tip the spoon with everything that you can tip a jig with whether it be a whole minnow, a minnow head, wax worms or even plastics.

While using a spoon you can utilize many different cadences. Sometimes the fish like long, fast jigging with a free fall back down. Sometimes all you have to do is quiver your rod tip enough to make the spoon just bounce in the water. I prefer to give the fish long jigs and a flutter down until I have their attention. Once they move in, I will change that to a quiver while slowly rising up in the column until they commit. Your cadence will depend upon spoon size and the species you are targeting. It will also depend on the mood the fish are in.

When I buy a new spoon I like to fill a pitcher of water up and drop the spoon in and bounce it around in there so I can see exactly how it acts in the water. This will give me a good idea on how to use the spoon in most situations effectively.

A little advice, you can never have enogh spoons!

I hope this helps you in your future fishing endeavors.

Good luck and tight lines!

Kyle Lynn

Snyder’s Lures

Team IFM

My wife and I just recently took a trip to the Red Door Resort on Mille Lacs Lake with 2 other couples who are good friends of ours. The weekend was filled with fish, food, and good times.

As we made our way up there Friday afternoon we stopped for lunch and found out one of the couples would not be able to make it untill the following morning. After lunch we continued our way to the lake. Made a quick stop at Johnson’s Portside Bait and Tackle in Isle for bait and another quick stop at Nitti’s Hunters Point Resort to see a friend and pick up a new rod from him.

As we pulled into the Red Door I started to get excited to get my wife on the ice as she has never caught a fish from this lake and I knew she was determined to grind the lake out untill this happened. We quickly checked into our cabin and unloaded the trucks of our bags and hit the lake.

We decided to try a smaller flat about 3 miles out from shore that had a 31′ hole in the middle of it and boy did it pay out! Jeff and I started drilling holes in a big circle around and through the hole in the flat and before long we had fish topside. While we were drilling Lisa and Amy started to drop lines in and as if the fish had heard my thoughts my wife hooked into a beautiful Mille Lacs walleye. Funny part is, is this walleye bit her depth bomb and held on for dear life untill he hit the ice! The look on my wifes face was enough for me, if had we not seen another fish all weekend I couldn’t have cared less. She got her first walleye on Mille Lacs.

As the evening progressed I managed to miss 3 fish and ice 3 more walleyes and a rogue fat crappie that in my opinion was incredibly lost. Around midnight we returned to the cabin for some hot dish and cribbage.

The next morning we headed down to Nitti’s for the United Way tournament and met up with Tyler and Nikki. We decided to head back to the same spot we were at the night before. We marked fish consistently but was unable to convince them to bite. Tyler and I decided to move just off of the flat into the basin and within 10 minutes Tyler managed to hook into a big fish. After what seemed like an eternity we caught a glimps of a monster walleye on the end of the line. With a little coaxing and some luck he iced a 27 3/4″ walleye. After some quick pics and some high fives she was safely released back into the water. This was the only fish caught that day.

That night we took a break from fishing and found ourselves at The Good Life Cafe on Liberty Beach for dinner and drinks. Then we returned to the cabin for more games.

The next morning my wife and I headed out for one last quick expedition before heading home. We tried a flat about 1 mile south of where we were the day before and within the first few minutes I was able to ice another pig walleye and my wife lost one that we can only assume was comparable to mine.

After that we headed home back to our kids with another great weekend of fish and memories behind us. We are all already planning our next trip to Mille Lacs Lake.

Kyle “Willow Daddy” Lynn

Snyder’s Lures