Being a slow study, I paid as much attention to my assortment of Silver Minnow Spoons as my black lab does to table manners. I mean, I treated them with the thoughtless neglect that a shy boy would show an unattractive girl at a school dance. The fact that the Silver Minnow Spoon has been catching fish for over one hundred years was lost on me. I fished Lake Texoma with an Okie army buddy of mine. Sometimes, a good ol’ boy would join us, and man, could he catch bass! All he ever used was a 1/4-ounce Johnson Silver Minnow.

I became a born-again Silver Spoon fan while fishing Lake Wapello near Ottumwa, Iowa. Wapello is a darn-good bass lake and catch-and-release is the rule. The fishing was slow that day, and in desperation, I tied on a Silver Minnow. My third cast brushed the edge of some sunken cedars and got me two bumps and a savage strike. I fought and landed an honest 3-pounder. I caught and released three more nice bass before calling it a day. 

I fished the Silver Minnow a lot last summer and caught bass, big crappies, a northern, channel cat, and walleyes in lakes all around southern Iowa. This is what I learned.

The Johnson Silver Minnow comes in various colors and sizes from 1/16- to 1 1/8-ounce. I mostly fish silver, and in murky water conditions, go to gold. I favor the 1/4-ounce for bass/walleye fishing and the 1/16-ounce is a killer for crappies. 

This time-tested lure has a 35-degree curved bottom that, when retrieved, imparts a wobbling motion that entices game fish but won’t roll over or twist your line. It rides through the water column with the hook up. The hook’s position and a wire weed guard make the spoon virtually snag proof. You can confidently cast this lure into sunken timber, rocks, and lily pad beds with the confidence of seeing it again. That’s where big gamefish will be, laying under sunken trees, besides stumps, and cruising sunken cedars for minnows. To catch those lunkers, your lure must go there.

Another reason to use a Silver Minnow instead of, say, a 1/2-ounce jig is that a jig with the hook riding down will pick up moss the size of a softball. Also, if you have five- to six-dollar lure hooked up, you’re going to try and save it. All the jerking from the rescue effort is going to spook any fish within twenty feet. 

The tackle I use for spoon fishing is the same I use for worm fishing. I throw a 6-foot, heavy-action worm rod, an Ambassadeur 5000 casting reel, and 25-pound-test fluorocarbon line. I tie my spoon on with a loop knot. Remember: The weakest part of your fishing line is the knot. Tie carefully!

I learned to fish the Silver Minnow by casting over and past underwater structure (and you can cast this baby a mile). After the lure hits the water’s surface, count down “one thousand one, one thousand two….” To go deeper, increase your count until you get bit or hit something. The spoon will stay at the same depth during your retrieve. If the speed of your retrieve is proper for the design of the minnow, your rod tip will twitch in a regular movement.

Trolling the Silver Minnow is a sure-fire way to catch walleyes and bass on Lake Rathbun. I rig my 25-pound braided line with a 1/2-ounce bell sinker above a bead and a small split shot sinker for a stopper. I generally run about 20 feet of line below the stopper and tie off with a loop knot. Troll in front of the dam as close as your dare. The lure should hit bottom occasionally. This method will catch channel cats, too. Channel cats are bonus fish at Rathbun.

The smaller fishing lakes in southern Iowa are naturals for the Silver Spoon. In the brief window of time after first light and before the sun strikes the water, I like to fish the face of the dam; it’s a great time to catch the biggest bass in the lake. All members of the food chain, spurred by photosynthesis, are active. Frogs and crayfish, the favorite food of most gamefish, are hunting in the rocks and crevices. 

Hook a 4-inch strip of Uncle Josh’s pork rind strip on your Silver Minnow and make longish casts parallel to the face of the dam, about six feet out from the rocks. Let the lure sink for a four count and retrieve. Every five turns of your reel handle, stop. Let the lure drop for a two count. The bait will drop with a flutter resembling a wounded bait fish. This works! Using this technique at a local reservoir, a friend of mine landed, weighed, and released an 8 1/2-pound largemouth bass!

Another reason I like the Silver Minnow is because it is an all-season lure. During the hot summer months when the flats and tapering points of your favorite lakes are covered with moss and lily pads, tie on a Silver Spoon and cast deep into the moss bed. Try to hit any emergent object such as a tree limb or stump. 

Tighten your line before the spoon hits the water’s surface. This action will allow the lure to land gently with the hook up. Retrieve just fast enough to keep the lure on top of the moss. 

This is not a fishing method for the fainthearted. You’ll see the dorsal fin or the wake of a large bass or two, homing in on your lure. The natural impulse will be to pull it away from the fish. Don’t! Lunker bass will leap up through the canopy of moss and snatch at your spoon, mouth gaping and red gills flaring. Sometimes, the bass will miss. If that happens, keep reeling; the fish will often come back.

When the bass and walleyes in Lake Rathbun seem to have lockjaw, I often find good fish in 10 to 15 feet of water. These fish bunch up around a stump, log, or rock on an underwater ridge leading into the shallows. After anchoring my boat, I’ll lower my Silver Spoon down until it’s on top of the structure. Then I’ll raise the spoon about a foot and let it fall. Bass and cats will hit it on the fall. Try that with a spoon that ends in a treble hook, and you’d be snagged all the time.

Another good time to use the spoon is when you see a frantic swarm of baitfish swimming in the shallows. Some fishermen call the occurrence “nervous water.” The turmoil is caused by baitfish being herded by a group of bass or walleye. Cast a Silver Spoon into the minnows and you can catch a trophy fish on every cast. 

So, as you can see, there is no way to fish a Silver Spoon wrong. That’s why fishermen have been buying it for over one hundred years.

A great hunting and fishing buddy of mine is a Catholic priest. He hunts ducks and fishes for bass with the with the same fervor that he battles sin. When he had his 25th anniversary, I couldn’t attend. I send him a present—a Johnson Silver MinnowSpoon—gift-wrapped in a fancy box and tied with a bow. I thought it was appropriate!