8/20/22 Bink’s Spoons for crappie fishing

Daily Fishing Log For August 20, 2022

General Info		Weather / Water Conditions
Date	August 20, 2022	Air Temp	80s-90s	Current Generation	Minimum
Fisherman	Intel Resources	Water Temp	upper 70s/low 80s lakewide	Current Generation	Minimum
Hours Fished	See below notes for more info on Bink's Spoons!	Sky	Sunny	Water Clarity	Slightly Stained
Fishing Overall	Good	Wind	Light	Water Clarity	Slightly Stained

Fish Caught
Total Caught	Total Keepers

Size/Weight (Pounds)

Baits Used
Keepers	Other Fish
Bink's Spoons

Bait Colors
Keepers	Other Fish
White Scale

Location/Presentation/Structure
Bink's Spoons has been around since the 90s and used across the country, but especially in the midwest from Arkansas all the way up to Minnesota and Wisconsin. You may have seen other reports discussing Bink's Spoons in previous months. For the rest of the year, we will have a post about Bink's Spoons every two weeks and how to effectively use them on Truman Lake and beyond for crappie and many more predator species. Bink's Spoons were made popular by their creator, Darrell Binkley, on Norfolk Lake. There, he uses the spoons to target many species including crappie, walleye, white bass, hybrids, and stripers. They will hit it on the fall most of the time. Humps from the dam to KK island have been producing fish. You'll want to check for a thermocline which usually looks really noticeable on a graph whether you're using 2D, downscan, or livescope. It's going to look like a lot of clutter and be a fairly solid line. On Truman, you will most likely see it on the lower end of the lake within 5-10 miles of the dam. It will be somewhere between 18-23 feet of water most of the time. Below the thermocline, there is very little oxygen, so many of the hybrids and white bass will sit just above that line.

Location/Presentation/Structure

Bink's Spoons has been around since the 90s and used across the country, but especially in the midwest from Arkansas all the way up to Minnesota and Wisconsin. You may have seen other reports discussing Bink's Spoons in previous months. For the rest of the year, we will have a post about Bink's Spoons every two weeks and how to effectively use them on Truman Lake and beyond for crappie and many more predator species. Bink's Spoons were made popular by their creator, Darrell Binkley, on Norfolk Lake. There, he uses the spoons to target many species including crappie, walleye, white bass, hybrids, and stripers. They will hit it on the fall most of the time. Humps from the dam to KK island have been producing fish. You'll want to check for a thermocline which usually looks really noticeable on a graph whether you're using 2D, downscan, or livescope. It's going to look like a lot of clutter and be a fairly solid line. On Truman, you will most likely see it on the lower end of the lake within 5-10 miles of the dam. It will be somewhere between 18-23 feet of water most of the time. Below the thermocline, there is very little oxygen, so many of the hybrids and white bass will sit just above that line.

Fishing Notes
Bink’s Fishing Report: If you’re looking for dinner, tie on a 1/4 oz white spoon and head for the brush piles and catch some crappie like the one in the photo. Tip the spoon with a minnow for extra attraction! White Scale is a good color in the cleaner water, drop it to the top of the brush pile and hold it there until you feel the thump! For Hybrids and white bass, this is the time of the year to get out the jigging spoons. For Truman, you’ll more than likely be fishing 0-20 feet of water for hybrids and white bass so the 1/2 oz spoon will work just fine. In clear water, you need to be using one with a lot of white. In stained water, a darker color will work best. Match the size with the size of bait they are feeding on that day (Real important). Last but not least, while jigging, raise your rod over your head and let it fall all on slackline! Now, another technique you can use is skipping the spoon on top of the water. This is a method to employ when you see schooling fish at the surface. You throw your spoon out and keep your rod tip high in the air while reeling as fast as you can to get that spoon skipping on the surface. If you aren’t able to skip it, you will still have a good chance of hooking into one if you keep it within the first foot of the water column while they’re schooling. For example, right now on Stockton, there are massive schools of white bass surfacing and many folks target them by skipping spoons. The fish will “shark” the bait, meaning they will chase it and smash it from the sides until eventually they eat it. Makes for a heck of a good time. More on crappie: Summertime patterns are still on! Put that jig away and go pick up your spoon and some minnows. Crappie are out on the main lake mud flats on timber and they are eating those spoons tipped with minnows up left and right. Down on the lower end, you can find them in the shallow Corp of Engineers brush piles and old fence rows with very good consistency. The lower Grand in the Long Shoal area has been especially good in 20-25 feet of water with fish sitting halfway down on large pole timber. The spoons provide a great benefit to fishing around brush as well. If you are tired of getting snagged while dipping minnows down in all of those trees and brush, get you a Bink’s spoon with a single aberdeen hook on it. Or, swap the treble hook out yourself on the Bink’s spoon you already have with your hook of choice. Then, simply tip that hook with a minnow and drop the spoon down into the structure. When using the spoons, Jeff Faulkenberry recommends hooking the minnow behind the eyes, not through them because when you go through them, they are much easier for a crappie to steal off your hook. He hooks them below their jaw and out through the top of their head bone and says you can usually catch 2-3 crappie off the same minnow that way before you have to change. The other benefit to the spoon is if you get snagged, you can easily just use the weight of the spoon to knock it off the snag and retrieve the bait. This procedure can work with the treble hook, but not as well. Crappie fishing continues to be good overall lakewide, but the biggest numbers of fish reported continue to be from Long Shoal down to the dam area. Trees with large, outreaching branches are holding quite a few fish. As you get closer to the dam, the Corp. brush piles are great places to target anywhere from 7-15 feet of water. There are several brush piles right along the dam that can be quite good, especially now that the lake level has come back up. Some of them were starting to show out of the water with how low it was. In the upper part of the Grand above Bucksaw, some of the guides have limited out with their clients in less than 5 feet of water. All colors of Bink’s Spoons are reported to be working, but favorites are Albino, black/white, all white, chartreuse, blue/white and green/white. If you can find where the small ditches are coming in off the bank into the flat, those will be key places that fish like to stack up if structure is present. Lot of manmade stake beds up above Bucksaw to be found in those little spots. Pull up to the tree or brush pile and just slowly drop that spoon down the side. You can visit this link to browse the Bink’s Spoons Catalog: Bink’s Spoons Website

Fishing Notes

Bink’s Fishing Report:

If you’re looking for dinner, tie on a 1/4 oz white spoon and head for the brush piles and catch some crappie like the one in the photo. Tip the spoon with a minnow for extra attraction! White Scale is a good color in the cleaner water, drop it to the top of the brush pile and hold it there until you feel the thump!

For Hybrids and white bass, this is the time of the year to get out the jigging spoons. For Truman, you’ll more than likely be fishing 0-20 feet of water for hybrids and white bass so the 1/2 oz spoon will work just fine. In clear water, you need to be using one with a lot of white. In stained water, a darker color will work best. Match the size with the size of bait they are feeding on that day (Real important). Last but not least, while jigging, raise your rod over your head and let it fall all on slackline!

Now, another technique you can use is skipping the spoon on top of the water. This is a method to employ when you see schooling fish at the surface. You throw your spoon out and keep your rod tip high in the air while reeling as fast as you can to get that spoon skipping on the surface. If you aren’t able to skip it, you will still have a good chance of hooking into one if you keep it within the first foot of the water column while they’re schooling. For example, right now on Stockton, there are massive schools of white bass surfacing and many folks target them by skipping spoons. The fish will “shark” the bait, meaning they will chase it and smash it from the sides until eventually they eat it. Makes for a heck of a good time.

More on crappie:

Summertime patterns are still on! Put that jig away and go pick up your spoon and some minnows. Crappie are out on the main lake mud flats on timber and they are eating those spoons tipped with minnows up left and right. Down on the lower end, you can find them in the shallow Corp of Engineers brush piles and old fence rows with very good consistency. The lower Grand in the Long Shoal area has been especially good in 20-25 feet of water with fish sitting halfway down on large pole timber.

The spoons provide a great benefit to fishing around brush as well. If you are tired of getting snagged while dipping minnows down in all of those trees and brush, get you a Bink’s spoon with a single aberdeen hook on it. Or, swap the treble hook out yourself on the Bink’s spoon you already have with your hook of choice. Then, simply tip that hook with a minnow and drop the spoon down into the structure. When using the spoons, Jeff Faulkenberry recommends hooking the minnow behind the eyes, not through them because when you go through them, they are much easier for a crappie to steal off your hook. He hooks them below their jaw and out through the top of their head bone and says you can usually catch 2-3 crappie off the same minnow that way before you have to change. The other benefit to the spoon is if you get snagged, you can easily just use the weight of the spoon to knock it off the snag and retrieve the bait. This procedure can work with the treble hook, but not as well.

Crappie fishing continues to be good overall lakewide, but the biggest numbers of fish reported continue to be from Long Shoal down to the dam area. Trees with large, outreaching branches are holding quite a few fish. As you get closer to the dam, the Corp. brush piles are great places to target anywhere from 7-15 feet of water. There are several brush piles right along the dam that can be quite good, especially now that the lake level has come back up. Some of them were starting to show out of the water with how low it was. In the upper part of the Grand above Bucksaw, some of the guides have limited out with their clients in less than 5 feet of water.

All colors of Bink’s Spoons are reported to be working, but favorites are Albino, black/white, all white, chartreuse, blue/white and green/white.

If you can find where the small ditches are coming in off the bank into the flat, those will be key places that fish like to stack up if structure is present. Lot of manmade stake beds up above Bucksaw to be found in those little spots. Pull up to the tree or brush pile and just slowly drop that spoon down the side.

You can visit this link to browse the Bink’s Spoons Catalog:

Bink’s Spoons Website

8/20/22 Bink’s Spoons for crappie fishing

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