B.A.S.S. Federation Win Uncovers “Secret” Spoon

Ohio Fishermen Champion Snakie Spoon,
Bait that is Gaining National Acclaim

When the Ohio team won the Northern Divisional B.A.S.S. Federation tournament in 1988, team members relied on a secret weapon – the Snakie Spoon.   The lure accounted for more than half of the 114 pounds of bass the team caught during the three-day event, and gave them a victory margin of more than 12 pounds.

The contest took place on Lewis & Clark Reservoir in South Dakota, a body of water that attracts more walleye fisherman than bass anglers.  Although the walleyes may be abundant on the main lake, the bass favor the shallow, weed-infested backwater sloughs that are ideal for weedless spoons.

“We selected the area before we even left Ohio,” said team member Bob Mosier, one of Ohio’s leading tournament anglers.  “It was about 20 miles from the dam, where the river actually comes into the lake.  From that point on up about 10 miles, there were a number of old oxbow, backwaters and swampy areas.  We were fishing emergent weeds.  Coontails, basically, and a kind of cattail reed.”

Ohio team captain Ron Perrine was responsible for putting together the winning pattern.  He began catching bass immediately during the first day of practice on the Snakie Spoon, a lure that only a handful of Ohio anglers had access to.

“The key,” recalled Perrine, “was finding pockets 10 to 15 feet back in the cattails.  The bass were spawning and feeding.  You couldn’t throw right into the hole, because you’d spook the fish in the clear water.  You needed to cast beyond the fish and into the weeds.  A spoon wouldn’t snag with this presentation.  Then you pulled the spoon into the hole and let it flutter.”

Largemouth bass readily hammered the spoon, and Perrine was pleasantly surprised when he also took smallmouth bass on the lure.  He told other Ohio team members about the pattern and passed out Snakie Spoons.  Soon the entire team was on the fish.  While the bass would also take plastic worms, the spoon could be fished faster and allowed the team to cover more water.  The result was a convincing victory.

Other spoons also may have worked, but not nearly as well as the Snakie Spoon, according to Ohio bass fishermen who know the virtues of this spoon.  The lure was invented by Jack Smith, an Ohio angler who wanted a better spoon for fishing aquatic vegetation in Ohio and Canada.

Smith marketed the spoon locally for a few years, but stopped because he became more interested in fishing than making lures.   He later sold the dies for the spoon to Ron Perrine, who briefly marketed the lure and stopped so he could spend more time fishing.

The few anglers fortunate enough to obtain some of these spoons fished often and hid them from their closest friends.  The lures were especially hoarded by anglers who fished Ohio’s Indian Lake, a shallow canal impoundment with lush fields of lily pads.

Word got out about the Snakie Spoon after the South Dakota tournament, and Perrine was swamped with inquiries about the lure.  He began manufacturing the Snakie in earnest and now sells them nationwide.  What makes the Snakie different from other spoons?

• Action - This light, brass spoon is slightly longer, thinner and has a deeper curl at its base than other weedless spoons.   The design gives the lure a more pronounced wobble even when retrieved slowly or allowed to flutter.
  
• Colors - The Snakie Spoon is available in 12 colors and 2 sizes, including the typical chrome, gold, black and white, and not-so-typical chartreuse, yellow and red.
  
• Adjustability - The nose of the soft brass spoon can be bent up slightly to give the lure a wider wobble.  Snakie Spoon addicts claim that this subtle adjustment makes a big difference.