10/15/22 ditch the jig, try a Bink’s Spoon tipped with a minnow
Daily Fishing Log For October 15, 2022
| General Info | Weather / Water Conditions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | October 15, 2022 | Air Temp | Back into the 70s/80s | Current Generation | Minimum |
| Fisherman | See below notes for more info on Bink's Spoons! | Water Temp | low to mid 60s | ||
| Hours Fished | Sky | Sunny | Water Clarity | Clean | |
| Fishing Overall | Good | Wind | Strong | ||
| Fish Caught | |
|---|---|
| Total Caught | Total Keepers |
| Size/Weight (Pounds) |
|---|
| Baits Used | |
|---|---|
| Keepers | Other Fish |
| Bink's Spoons | |
| Bait Colors | |
|---|---|
| Keepers | Other Fish |
| Blue/white, white scale, albino, black/white, Many Shad | |
| 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. We will have a post about Bink's Spoons every two weeks until February talking about 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. You'll even catch some big blue and flathead catfish as well. Dipping trees with a minnow tipped on the spoon can yield many crappie and is the most popular usage of the spoon on Truman Lake. For hybrids and white bass, the fish will hit it on the fall most of the time. Humps from the dam to KK island have been producing hybrids and white bass, but the shallow bite is getting close. If you find a wind-blown main lake point, or a windy point on a flat, that's a good place to start. Turnover process is mostly complete throughout a large portion of the lake. Water is very clean on the lower end and dirtier in the upper Grand and Osage. |
| Fishing Notes |
|---|
Special Note from Bink’s Spoons: New line of plastics are in. The Bink’s Power Shads come in five different colors. The website shows the Green Pumpkin/Red flake as looking almost black, especially on mobile devices. This is an issue with the image. But, the only bait that’s black is the leech. If you click on the power shads you can select the color and it will bring up a picture of that color. These baits are all infused with chicken liver and UV glow. We have had very positive feedback on these baits. Bass love chicken liver and it turns out walleye seem to also. The reaper is an awesome walleye bait but you can catch everything with them. Bink’s Fishing Report:
If you’re looking for dinner, tie on a 1/4 oz white spoon and head for the creeks to catch some crappie on the upper end of the lake. Tip the spoon with a minnow for maximum production. White Scale is a good color in the cleaner water, drop it down the trunk of a tree or to the top of a submerged piece of wood structure and hold it there until you feel the thump! Don’t bounce it around, just hold it there fairly still and let it sit in front of the crappie. It has been a very good bite in the last week in the mid to upper parts of the Grand and Tebo on the spoon tipped with a minnow.
For Hybrids and white bass, this is the time of the year to get out the jigging spoons. The 1/2oz spoon for 10-15 feet of water is best, the 1/4 oz for 10 feet or less. Reports are coming in consistently now of biting white bass in less than 5 feet of water, and for that, you’ll want to use a lighter spoon. In clear water, you need to be using one with a lot of white. In stained water, a darker color will work best. Last but not least, while jigging, raise your rod over your head and let it fall all on slackline! The shallow bite of white bass and hybrids should continue to get better in the coming two weeks as we approach 50 degree water temp. We had some 50 degree surface temps early in the mornings in the last week, but now the daytime and overnight outside temp is coming up and so has the water temp. More on crappie: Fall patterns are taking effect. Put that jig away and go pick up your spoon and some minnows. Crappie are moving towards the mouths of coves and even getting into the coves and creeks up to halfway back. They are eating a Bink’s Spoon tipped with a minnow like crazy. The spoons provide a great benefit to fishing around brush and timber 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. 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. You can visit this link to browse the Bink’s Spoons Catalog: |