SPINNING FOR THE GAME-FISH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18888, 14 October 1929, Page 3

SPINNING FOR THE GAME-FISH.

SPOONS ARE BEST LURE YET CONTRIVED. (By PISCATOR.) Perhaps the oldest and most successful lure for all game-fish is the spoonbait. Even so, there are many anglers with whom the spoon is unfamiliar, and the shortage of this bait in the fishermen’s kits is very noticeable. Most anglers, when buying this lure, will walk into a tackle-shop and simply ask for a spoon, and anything in the neighbourhood of the size they want satisfies them. If it were a rod, fly of reel, they were buying, it would be a different matter, because the angler reads of, and recognises, the importance of these articles. There is more in a spoon, however, than a mere flash of metal. In the hands of an angler skilled in its use it becomes a living thing, flashing and sparkling in its endeavour to escape its hungry pursuer It ceases to be a mere piece of coloured metal, it becomes an animated lure bringing death to its pursuer. It has long been kn<?wn that gamefish show considerable interest in the flash of metal, and it is upon this fact that the lure was based. One of the first types of spinner was an imitation minnow, made of wood, with a metal screw revolving where its “innards” ought to be. Later, the metal type of “flash” offering appeared, and then came the idea that the metal might be used to attract the fish to a hooked lure that followed. Thus, the idea was to use a piece of metal to attract the fish, but not to catch the fish. The spoon “teaser” was used a considerable distance above the baited hook, and the many-spooned trolling lure of the present day are derived from this idea.

Of course the most striking differences in spoons are to be found in the shapes of the blades; there is the old fluted type, the kidney-shaped blade, the hammered blade, and the more recent smooth blade. The blade of o\ T al pattern casts its reflection in a; general direction, and it is the direction in which the flash is thrown that counts. Soon the round spoon came into use, to be followed by other shapes. The round spoon spins very: wide from the shank, throwing its flash well towards the front, and thus, as the fish approaches from the side the flash disappears. On the other hand, the slim blade, spinning close to the shank, can be seen by the fish until the time of connecting with the offering The oval blade, being the happy medium, is the standard bait. Round blades are used, as “attractors” to draw attention to a feathered or baited hook, while the slim blade is the lure itself. For sluggish streams the round spinner should be used, as its resistance in the water is greater than that of t-he slim spoon, and thus it takes less current to spin it. The slim spinner should be used in swiftly-running water, its resistance being small, and permitting it to slip through the water easily. Water resistance, at a given speed of retrieve, is an important factor in the depth at which the spoon will

[miiiiinmiiiiniiimmiuiiimnitiuimimiiimmiiiiiimmriniiuinniiimiiiirmuii travel. Other things being equal, the round blades do not travel as deep down as the slim blades, and to get depth it is necessary to add weight, or retrieve more slowly. Then comes the colouring of the spoons. Probably the commonest combination is silver on the outside and red inside, although copper and silver, gold and silver, and gold and red are also used fairly often. Sometimes, where a gold spoon will not rise a single strike, the silver lure will catch fish, or vice versa.

For slow-running streams, a spoon mounted with a single long-shank hook suspended from the split ring does not catch in the weeds as much as the spoon mounted with a tripod, although many anglers prefer the tripod hook. For small streams, where the fish do not run more than about 21b, the spoon should not be more than threequarters of an inch long, otherwise the fish cannot take the bait properly, and although the fisherman may get plenty of “touches” he will very rarely hook the fish. Some spoons, for fishing in the big rivers or lakes, are fitted with tripods both fore and aft. For these fittings the round type of spoon is generally used, its greater water resistance enabling it to carry heavier fittings. Again there is a combination of both the round and slim blades; the round blade, set in front of the other, being used to attract the distant fish which, as soon as it comes near to the lure, loses sight of the front spinner and turns its attention to the slim spinner on which the hooks are mounted. When the fish are striking hard, and from the side, they often hit the slim blade too high, and it. is then that a change to the round shape may prove beneficial.