DIY Glo Salmon Spoons For Under $2

[CLofchik]

Right, since it's on the cusp of pier season here's a how-to on how to make up some cheap pier chucking spoons for after dark kings. With most places wanting $5-$6 for a single Cleo it helps knock down the pain of snagging up or snapping a fish off.

 

Right, here's the essentials you need. Go find some cheap spoons, I always have my eye out for sales throughout the year, but the Dollarama has lately been a goldmine for cheap lures. Don't pay more than $1 for a steel spoon, slightly more for brass. I'm a big fan of genuine unplated brass spoons, but lately they're getting harder to find.

Next pick up some glo paint, preferably glo powder coat. Luremaking.com has some decent heat & dip glo powder, the 50g jars should do up around 50 spoons. They also sell spoon blanks, but usually I can find them cheaper locally in the bargain bin.

 

http://luremaking.com/catalogue/catalogue-..._dark_heat_.htm

 

1st step, wait for the girlfriend/wife to leave the house and get everything spread out.

 

 

Next, strip off all the paint and the cheap hooks & split rings. We won't be reusing those because a big king will simply bend them like a pretzel.

Sandpaper will work, but I'm lazy so a 15min soak in nail polish remover will do the same job. Also available at Dollarama

Give the spoons a quick buff with coarse sandpaper anyway to give the powder something to grip.

 

 

Heat up the spoons one at a time, then put the powder on. I like using a torch, but a butane lighter or something similiar will work. DO NOT use something that leaves soot, like a candle. The paint won't adhere to any black sooty residue. It doesn't need to be crazy hot, 30secs over a plumbers torch is plenty. Too hot and the paint will scorch & burn.

 

 

I just dump the powder on over newspaper, just enough to give a good coating. You can gently reheat the spoon to make sure it's evenly melted, but DO NOT get it too hot, or the paint will burn. If you're finicky you can file off excess drips and fill in lumps, but really the fish don't care if your spoon is a lil' damn ugly.

 

 

Once all your spoons are coated and cool enough to handle, pop them into a 350 oven for 20mins. This bakes on the finish rock hard.

 

 

After the oven I like to give them acoupla coats of rattlecan automotive clearcoat. Even commercial bought spoons can benefit from this, they glow brighter and the hook won't chip the paint off casting. Forgot to take a picture, but y'all know how to work a spray can right? Pop them in the oven again to bake the clear coat.

 

Once they're cool enough to handle put on some 80lb rated split rings (pliers help here) and good 4/0 hooks. I like Siwash singles, good hookups and they ain't gonna bend for nothing. If you stick a King with a treble in the corner of his mouth, he'll just chew it up and spit it out all nicely bent.

 

 

Finished products, now start casting!

 

[salmon]

Great timing on that post

 

Jose

Edited August 19, 2008 by jchau53

[danbo]

Good stuff! The consensus is that the "glowing" spoon imitates the reflection of the moon on a minnows back!

[fishindevil]

Well done..great job,and im sure that they will work !!!! go get those creek bound kings !!!

[cram]

Fantastic post. Thanks for the lesson.

 

Can you really catch kings casting this way? Better at night or during the day (morning/evening)? When does the season typically start?

[Leecher]

You got that down to a science CLofchik

 

Great job and thanks for sharing

Leechman

[Greencoachdog]

Great post!!!

 

I like to heat my metals in a toaster oven at about 390-400*F instead of using the torch, more controlled and a little safer than an open flame... but each to his own eh!

[forrest]

You forgot to mention that a stove you do not use for cooking should be used.

[Wild]

Five star post!

I suppose you could use a powdercoat gun too

[CLofchik]

You forgot to mention that a stove you do not use for cooking should be used.

 

There's no nasty odour or fumes, unless you crank the stove up too high by accident and burn the lot. Just use tinfoil in case you overload them & they run a bit.

 

Five star post!

I suppose you could use a powdercoat gun too

 

Nah, that's getting too complicated!

The powder is pretty light, if I want to get fancy I have a squeeze bulb that works fine for poofing on stripes or dots. But really it doesn't make much of a differance. I've got some darker glo purple I'm looking forward to trying, but truthfully at night I haven't found salmon that picky on colours.

 

Fantastic post. Thanks for the lesson.

 

Can you really catch kings casting this way? Better at night or during the day (morning/evening)? When does the season typically start?

 

Chinook (KINGS!) fishing off the piers is definitely better at night. Wee early hours of the morning are good too, hit the piers by 05:00 and you'll have a few good hours of fishing.

The season starts........um NOW, caught this big girl last night on the hammered brass spoon in the above pics.

And yes you really can catch salmon this way, much more satisfying than soaking the dreaded marshmallow

 

[fishnsled]

Now that is a great tip. Thanks for the post and nice fish!!

Edited August 19, 2008 by fishnsled

[highdrifter]

RIGHT ON. That's a post that really hits home!

 

We should book mark this one. Better yet, have a section on the board dedicated to threads like these, so that we may retrieve them easier for future reference.

 

Roy! What about a tips and techniques section? This should be the first post to be saved here.

 

Thanks!

 

HD

[Victor]

Thanks for the very informative post! Nice fish too, it looks real chunky!

[mikeymikey]

Wow awesome!

Thanks for such a great guide!

 

Now... once you do put on that powder do you use the torch on to the powder or heat the bottom side of the spoon?

 

Also, I methods can be used to make plastics lures glow in dark?

[jdmls]

Pretty cool DIY powder coating , but I find it a lot easier to buy a sheet of glow in the dark sticker paper and cut out stickers to put on any spoon or J plug I want....Plus you can take them off in the future when you don't want the glow color....A lot less messy and a 8x11 sheet is only $3 on ebay.

[Hedfish]

Awesome post, thanks a lot!

[CLofchik]

Bump........it's almost time.

 

One fish to rule them all

One fish to find them

One fish to bring them all.....and in the nocturnal darkness of nighttime concrete with a good North wind bind them.

[highdrifter]

Dude you need a grass skirt and a coconut shell bikini top to go with that tease!!!

 

MUAHAHAH!!

 

Are we anticipating some good returns this year??!

 

cheers

HD

[drwxr]

has anyone tried to attach those small glowsticks to the spoon or to the line in front of spoon, this would eliminate flashing on every cast or so. just throwing an idea out...

[fishinguypat]

they used to sell glow paint in dollarama a few years back do they still sell it?

[Syn]

This is the most important step and essential to success of most of my "projects"!

 

"1st step, wait for the girlfriend/wife to leave the house and get everything spread out."

 

thanks for the powder coat paint info, never knew it could be applied like that to lures so easily.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Syn

[RsX]

so this doesn;t smell up your house when they are in the oven?? and how much do u need to buy from the online store?? i see the they come in 50 g bottles how many bottles for 30 spoons

Edited August 13, 2009 by E30Nigel

[chinookhunter]

thanks for the tip

[CLofchik]

has anyone tried to attach those small glowsticks to the spoon or to the line in front of spoon, this would eliminate flashing on every cast or so. just throwing an idea out...

 

I've tried using spare glowsticks in a variety of ways (attached to line ahead of Spots, Wigglers, Crazy Glued on the back of spoons), and seen a few others try similar things. None of them worked, don't know why exactly but using plain jane non-glow lures worked when glowsticks couldn't get a hit. Now plastic body baits where you can insert a stick in them worked fine, but having a light separate from the lure just didn't seem to do anything.

 

so this doesn;t smell up your house when they are in the oven?? and how much do u need to buy from the online store?? i see the they come in 50 g bottles how many bottles for 30 spoons

 

Nope, no smell at all. Unless you burn them, which is easy to do if you go crazy with a torch. Just need to run the fine line between just warm enough to melt the powder and too hot. As a rule it's better to stay on the colder side and keep gently heating the lure.

 

I get about 50 spoons per jar, doesn't take alot of powder to coat a spoon so if you don't waste too much a little goes a long way. No minimum size orders from Luremaking.com. I bought 5 jars in 2001 and ended up giving 3 away, just wasn't using that much.

 

You don't have to use powder coat, there is glo tape or water based glo paint but they're nowhere near as bright or durable as the power coat. I'm still using spoons from 2001 that have dozens & dozens of fish landed on them.