Spoons
Lure · Last reviewed 2026-08-10
A curved metal blade that wobbles and flashes as it is drawn through water — the oldest and simplest artificial lure design still in use.
A spoon is a piece of curved metal with a hook at one end and a line attachment at the other, and it works because of the shape. Water flowing over a curved, asymmetric plate creates unequal pressure across it, which pushes the spoon to one side until it flips and the process reverses. The result is a continuous side-to-side wobble with a flash on every rotation.
That is the whole mechanism, and it explains everything about how spoons behave. A deeply-dished spoon has more lift and wobbles wider and slower; a flatter one wobbles less and runs faster and deeper. Retrieve too fast and the spoon spins rather than wobbling, which looks like nothing alive. Retrieve too slowly and it does not work at all.
Spoons are heavy for their size, which makes them cast well into wind, and they have no moving parts to fail. They are as close to indestructible as a lure gets.
- Depth range
- From just under the surface to several metres, controlled almost entirely by how long the spoon is allowed to sink and how fast it is retrieved. Heavier spoons for their size fish deeper for a given retrieve speed.
What it does in the water
A side-to-side wobble caused by unequal water pressure across a curved plate, with a flash of reflected light on each roll. The action varies with the depth of the dish, the thickness of the metal and the length-to-width ratio: deeper dishes give a wider, slower kick, and thinner metal starts working at a lower speed. Above a certain retrieve speed the spoon breaks into a spin, which is a failure mode rather than an action.
How it is worked
A steady, moderate retrieve is the starting point, fast enough for the spoon to work but not so fast that it spins. From there, pauses are the most productive variation: a spoon on a slack line flutters downwards on its side, and a great many takes come the moment the retrieve restarts. Sink-and-draw — letting it drop, then lifting — works the same principle deliberately.
What it imitates
A spoon imitates a small fish only loosely, and does not really pretend otherwise. What it reproduces convincingly is the flash and the erratic rolling of a fish that is injured or panicking — the specific visual signature a predator is looking for. That is why the flutter on the drop is so effective, and why a spoon works on species that have never seen anything the shape of a spoon.
Where it stops working
- Spins rather than wobbles above its working speed, killing the action entirely.
- Introduces line twist without a swivel, particularly at higher retrieve speeds.
- Poor in heavy weed and over snags — treble hooks and an exposed body collect everything.
- Little scope for varied action compared with a soft plastic or a jerkbait.
- In very clear water and heavy pressure, the flash can be a deterrent rather than an attractor.
Where to go next
Fish it catches
African tigerfishHeavy spoons are the traditional tigerfish lure on the Zambezi and its lakes, casting far and flashing hard in the turbid water the fish hunts in.
Arctic charChar in the sub-Arctic lakes and rivers are taken principally on small spoons and spinners, and the flash carries in the clear, low-light water they occupy.
Atlantic salmonThe traditional spinning alternative on high or coloured water, where the flash and vibration reach a fish that cannot see a fly. Its legality varies sharply by river and by season and is a matter for the local authority rather than for this record.
Chain pickerelA small weedless spoon is the traditional pickerel lure and reaches into the weed beds the fish ambushes from, which most treble-hung lures cannot.
Chinook salmonTrolled spoons are among the principal artificials in the Pacific salmon troll fishery, and their action is chosen to match the speed the boat can hold rather than the other way round.- Coho salmonCoho chase harder and shallower than chinook and respond to a faster, brighter spoon — the same category answering a different fish with a different retrieve speed.
Golden mahseerHeavy spoons cast and swung across fast Himalayan river currents are the classic mahseer lure, and the weight is a response to the flow rather than to the fish.
Hampala barbSpoons are used alongside spinners for hampala in Southeast Asian rivers, taken by a shoaling predator hunting small fish in current.
5 more
- Huchen Fish
- Lake trout Fish
- Nile perch Fish
- Northern pike Fish
- Roach Fish
What these connections rest on (13)
Practitioner consensus — 13 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
African tigerfish
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the line and tackle classes used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Arctic char
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Atlantic salmon
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- Trout & Salmon — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Fly categories and their application to river salmonids.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation — Richard Marriot, 1653 (Reference work)Relied on for: The long documentary record of artificial-fly fishing for trout and grayling in English rivers.Background and mechanism onlyPassage read and verified
Chain pickerel
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Chinook salmon
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Coho salmon
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Golden mahseer
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the line and tackle classes used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Hampala barb
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the line and tackle classes used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Huchen
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- Freshwater Fishing — Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Lure and spinning practice for freshwater predators in Britain and northern Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary British and European lure practice for this species in the weekly angling press.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Lake trout
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated North American lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the tackle conventions used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Nile perch
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Recognition of the species as an established sport fish taken on artificial lures, and the line and tackle classes used for it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated lure practice for this species.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Northern pike
A practitioner claim about which lure family answers this species' feeding or holding behaviour.
- Pike and the Pike Angler — Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Lure categories and their application in pike fishing, treated at length.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Pike Anglers' Club of Great Britain guidance on pike care and handling — Pike Anglers' Club of Great Britain, 1977 (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Contemporary pike lure practice and the handling consequences of each lure type.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Roach
Long-established convention with an explicit mechanical rationale, independently described.
- Pike and the Pike Angler — Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Spoon design and the visual signature it presents to a predator.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Freshwater Fishing — Macdonald & Jane's, 1975 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Spoon and spinner selection in British predator practice.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Understanding it
- Spinner or spoon: two different ways of making flashA wobble rather than a rotation: slower flash, lower-frequency displacement, no lift, and therefore a lure that can be counted down and fished at any depth.
- What lure action meansA spoon is the simplest demonstration of the principle: a curved plate in moving water cannot travel straight.
What these connections rest on (2)
Practitioner consensus — 2 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Spinner or spoon: two different ways of making flash
A mechanism edge from a record to the reasoning beneath it, resting on practice reported consistently across independent sources rather than on experiment.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK coarse, match and lure angling practice as reported by practitioners, including tackle convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling practice as reported by practitioners, including tackle, bait and lure convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
What lure action means
Spoon behaviour is the standing teaching example for lure action across traditions.
- Pike and the Pike Angler — Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Predator angling practice on lure choice, retrieve and terminal tackle.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary coarse and predator angling practice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Instead of this
What these connections rest on (1)
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Spinners
The trade-off is described independently across lure sources.
- Pike and the Pike Angler — Stanley Paul, 1981 (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Comparative characteristics of spinners and spoons.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary comparison of metal lure families.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
History and culture
What these connections rest on (1)
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
The development of artificial lures
A record joined to the history behind it. Historical placement rests on the documentary and scholarly sources cited; where the tradition is living rather than documented, the claim is kept at the level those sources support.
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK coarse and match angling practice as reported by practitioners, including competition formats and tackle development.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling practice as reported by practitioners, including tackle development and the commercial relationship.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly