Got very well versed this year on the spoons. Started off in salmon season with coho and chinook and did very well. My ultimate goal was to be able to get steelhead on every trip out using them however. The beginning was rough, normally only getting maybe 1 fish a day and losing 4-6 spoons a day, but by the end I was only losing 1 spoon every couple/few trips and hitting 2-6 fish a trip. I would say I'm well towards my goal of being effective with them, so here's my input...
1) Crocs
Super enticing wiggle to them. The definitely look like a small baitfish. Nothing, and I mean nothing will beat these bad boys off the beach for coho, and with that being said not much beats them in the rivers either. They are a deep swimming spoon, their narrow body helps get them way down without catching water and rising up. These are good in fast, deep pools. Depending on reel-in speed however, like I said deadly off the beach. If retrieving isn't working for you, start twitching them. For some reason I would only hit a few fish retrieving, but once I switched to twitching I was into many 20+ fish days, not only on the island but on the Vedder as well. For twitching though you will want braided line, the fish hit on the flutter down and without braid (unless you can see them) it is very hard to feel and get a good hook set due to line stretch.
I would use them primarily on coho, dollies/bulls, rainbows, and cutthroat. Didn't have much luck with them for steelhead for some reason, and the same went for chinook and chromer chum.
2) Kohos
These are much more of a mid level spoon. They have quite a thick body on them, but the motion drives fish nuts. These have a very similar shape to "Little Cleo" spoons, which is all I use now for steelhead. Not sure if they imitate a fish, or just draw attention or get the fish mad, but they work. You will want a walking speed run for these, and I don't normally fish them in water over 6 feet deep although you can just adjust how far upstream you cast to get them down accordingly. If water is dirty or a super deep pool I would reccomend these over Little Cleos. These, unlike Cleo's are real silver plating and will shine and reflect light much better and actually come off silver under water. Cleo's are Nickel plated and give off a black shine under water, that being said, Cleo's are around 4 bucks and Koho's are around 6. At this point in time Cleo's are my fav spoon for steelhead, and like I said are very similar to Koho so give them a try.
I would use these on springs (good success even as by-catch during steel season), coho (went nuts for Cleo's, but for some reason the Koho's don't get as much as a response), cutties, lotsa rainbows as by-catch, and of course steelhead.
3) Kitimat
Once again, a mid water level spoon. Not too much different action then a Koho, but big time different shape. I find they have a slightly slower kick than the kohos and crocs and require a faster retrieval speed. These use to be my favourite spoon for coho, especially in the illusion colouration (the blue/green shimmer). They will also swim up in the water, best tossed into backwaters or in slow moving runs. For some reason I have gone away from using these, maybe because crocs, cleos and kohos are all that I find to be super effective/useful.
Definitely give them a try for coho. Have hit 1 steelhead on them, but as said I prefer cleos or kohos (only use the kitmat on one trip so didn't really give it a chance). Apparently the springs love em in the BIG sizes. Obviously Cutties will go for them too, and I would assume bows would be right in there with them.
4) Other honourable mentions for spoons are :
K-Wobblers - money for coho, chromer chum and springers, steelhead don't mind them
Ironheads - steel love em
RVRFHSR- worked fairly well on everything
Cheers,
Dan
Cleo
Croc
Koho
Cleo again
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Topic: KOHO Vs CROC Vs KIT A MAT (Read 13043 times)