New Lure Review - Ben Parker Jigging Spoons

All winter long, the guys at Mouths of the Merrimack research lures and techniques used in other regions of the country to try to apply them to how we fish for stripers. Throughout the years, we have tried many new lures and techniques that have been tremendously successful (and about an equal amount that has failed), making fishing even more exciting. One of the big winners this year has been the Ben Parker Jigging Spoon. I first saw the spoon used by some freshwater striper fisherman on YouTube. I showed the boys, and they all bought a few to test out, and now after a month and a half of hard use by myself, Dan, Capt. Mike and Capt. John, we have concluded that we have found a real winner here!

Ben Parker Spoon Basics

The Ben Parker jigging spoons come in various sizes and rigging options. We are using the 3.5 oz model in various colors (Hammered silver has been my favorite, followed by white.) I first learned to buy the less expensive "freshwater" version. The hooks on the saltwater version are thick and beefy, and hard to set the hook with the softer slow pitch jigging rods we use for this technique. The saltwater hooks are also tricky to remove, even with pliers. The freshwater hooks are plenty strong enough and have the benefit of some flash tied to the hook. My hook-up ratio with the freshwater rigging was much higher than the massive saltwater hook. I think the thinner wire penetrates better with the softer rods we use, and the added flash gives fish a better "aiming" point toward the hook end. In either case, the stock hooks and split rings rust very quickly, so Mike and I swapped out the stock hook with 5/0 4x VMC treble hooks and Owner split rings. Mike even tied some flash on the replacement hooks. I'm still toying with the idea of adding a secondary assist hook near the top and will report back on its effectiveness.

Capt. Mike’s custom hooks have increased hook-ups and hold up better in a saltwater environment.

Using specialized gear helps with the effectiveness of fishing the spoon. Luckily, my primary striper rods are Tsunami Slow Pitch jigging rods, which are ideal for giving the spoon the proper action. I prefer conventional set-ups for this type of fishing as it allows more control of the spoon on the drop, where most hits happen. Braided line is necessary to give spoons the proper action. I am using 30# Nomad Pandora metered line this season, which I am thoroughly impressed with. It's silky smooth, holds knots well, and is more abrasion resistant than other braids I have used previously. Plus, it changes colors every 30 ft, so I know exactly where my baits are for various types of fishing. Before attaching your spoon, tie on a 6 - 10 foot leader of 30# monofilament or fluorocarbon for abrasion resistance, stealthy presentation, and shock absorption from the crushing hits you will experience. I have been using monofilament while fishing the spoons.

We have used Ben Parker spoons primarily in situations where we would typically be drifting live bait. Are the spoons as effective as fishing with live or dead bait? No, but it provides a great alternative when tides won’t allow you to get bait first or you can’t find those pesky mackerel. As I will describe below, one can put together a solid trip using nothing but spoons. During some “testing trips” and charters, we fished all four anglers with spoons and crushed it!

How to Fish the Ben Parker Spoon

Ben Parker Spoons are not your typical vertical style of fishing. You do not need to be straight up in down, like “butterfly” jigging. As a matter of fact, the spoon fishes better when you have some scope in your line.

In theory, fishing the spoon is easy. You drop it down to the bottom as you drift over a school or some structure, and jig your rod in long, slow sweeps with a slight snap at the top of your jigging motion. The snap gives the spoon a little extra “kick” on the upswing, where it turns parallel to the bottom and flutter slowly on its way back down. It is IMPERATIVE that after you snap your rod at the top of your swinging motion, your line will be slightly slack for a quick second, but then you must “follow” your line back down, remaining in slight contact with the spoon. Too much slack on the drop, and you will miss every hit; however, too much tension will cause you to lose the fluttering effect. It’s a dance that you have to practice a bit to get right. Once you start nailing stripers on the drop, you know you have the motion down pat. Even though the majority of the hits come on the drop and flutter, you will sh*t your pants when you get a monstrous hit on the upswing, so be ready at all times! The slow pitch rods and jigging motion lead to some insane hits! I almost lost a rod overboard on a super aggressive 30” fish once!

When drifting in faster currents like the mouth, remember to drop some line back every few minutes to maintain contact with the bottom. Once you feel you are scoped out too far, reel it in and drop it down again. BUT WAIT!!! We found that a lot of times, stripers will chase the spoon right up to the boat! So I adapted a new technique whenever I want to reset: I burn the spoon quickly for about 10 cranks, then drop it back to the bottom and jig a few times. I will repeat that motion till the spoon is back at the boat. The amount of success using this technique has been productive and something you should be doing when spoon fishing!

Situations for Spooning

We have been playing around with different situations when using the Ben Parker Spoon for the past six weeks. I feel confident, through trial and error, that the following situations are where the spoon fishing truly shine.

Drifting - Think of precisely what you would be doing when drifting mackerel with egg sinkers in channels in water between 10 - 30 ft, but replace the live Macks with spoons. As long as the current is not too strong and you can maintain the bottom effectively, jigging follows the same basic principles when drifting bait. I just put an order in for the Super Magnum version that weighs 4.5 oz with the hope I can fish stronger currents and get more bites.

Opportunistic Transitioning - One of my favorite situations to fish the spoon is when I unexpectedly mark fish while moving spots. It takes two seconds to stop the boat and throw down a jig over the school you marked. In fact, the 45” striper in the picture at the top of the post was my first drift using the spoons on Memorial Day, which was the exact situation I just described. This past week, we have been doing the same when marking fish in open water on the beaches with success.

During Top Water Feeds - When my customers have been casting lures at surface feeds, I have been in the back of the boat trying to get bigger fish off the bottom. Last week, I was able to nab two keeper stripers when all the top water fish were in the 24” - 27.5” range during a short lived morning feed.

Around Pogy Schools - Even though pogies have not been here in the numbers we are accustomed to, when we did have some schools out front earlier in the year, the gold hammered spoons picked off a few quality stripers and some schoolies. Just ask Maria how effective they were for her one morning when she nailed a 45” striper under a school of pogies thirty seconds into the trip!

When You Can’t Get Bait - Sometimes, with an early morning tide, you have to make a choice to either get bait and miss the tide or effectively fish the tide using other methods. With mackerel being a considerable challenge earlier in June, my confidence in the spoons allowed us to have some fantastic trips without leaving the river to get bait! If you can’t find any bait, you can put together an excellent outing by drifting spoons so you don’t go home empty handed. One day, my Dad and I went on a dedicated spoon trip drifting the mouth using only spoons. We caught 4 slots, an over, and a bunch of schoolies in 90 minutes on a relatively slow day for the fleet. That is a very solid trip! The picture below is from a charter where we drifted spoons for the entire 4 hour trip and hammered stripers. The pic is of a 43” striper that INHALED the entire spoon! It was fish #1 on a double hook - up and as I was trying to the get the spoon out (I had to cut the line and pull it out through the gills) the second fish was on its way in and was a legitimate 50” that could have eaten this fish in the pic. I got a good, long look at it as it was just out of leading range and unfortunately the hook pulled.

Mackerel?! - Earlier in the year, we got our first mackerel of the season ironically while drifting the mouth casting sluggos. As we drifted and my customers were crushing fish casting lures, I was jigging off the side during the drift. What surprised me was late in our drift, I couldn’t keep the mackerel off the jig! We started dropping saki’s and filled the live well. We were doing this over the next four days and inspired me to drop the jig down while looking for mackerel in our typical haunts. The flash of the spoon attracts the macs so well, Mike has ordered a smaller set of similar spoons to put at the end of his sabikis. I must admit that the finicky schools have mackerel have seemed to hang around his boat longer that most guys out there and I will give it a shot as well.

Trolling - Although I haven’t tried trolling the spoons, Capt. John Parkhurst has been playing around with the idea and has been catching fish. He is having his customers jig the spoons as he is under way and has caught some fish on it!

What The Guys at M.O.M. Have to Say

Capt. Mike - These spoons are fanatics for low-current situations when marking schools of fish under your boat. The ability to drop the lure into the water quickly has yielded some tremendous catches. As a side note, they are great for getting spooled by tuna!

Capt. John - The strike is f****** awesome! It’s like getting a shotgun blast to your arms!

Dan - Spoon fishing has proven effective to replicate a variety of bait fish. Not only has it proven effective on trophy stripers but has shown to be a mackerel magnet that attracts schools to the boat. What I love about it is the reduced need for live bait when you are short on time to put a successful trip together. Spooning is an easy and fun new way to catch striped bass.

Johnny V (Chris’s Dad) - I can’t believe how well these stupid things work. I had to buy a few fro myself after my trip with Chris.

Capt. Chris - I caught and landed my first sturgeon (accidental snag obviously), stripers of all sizes, and mackerel on this thing. What else can you ask for?