# Bluegill Smackdown w/ my new PB



## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

I hit the water yesterday afternoon with only about 2 hours to fish. Decided to keep it relatively close to home due to the time constraints and l am sure glad l did. I drilled my usual 6 holes and went to grab the flasher to look for fish and when i turned it on NOTHING happened. Then l realized i must have left it on the last time i used it. So well i was reverted back to the days before i had the technology. I caught a few smallish gills around 6-7 inches then decided to switch it up to a HALI spoon which came highly recommended by my good buddy at Angler Supply. Best decision i could have made. I ended the trip with 5 more gills all over 9 inches with the biggest one topping out at just a shave under 10 and a half inches plus a bonus largemouth. What a great trip that is one i wont soon forget. I know i will probably catch sh*t from some of the members but all the fish were released unharmed to be caught another day.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Love those Hali spoons. Just about all I use.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

fshnfreak said:


> I hit the water yesterday afternoon with only about 2 hours to fish. Decided to keep it relatively close to home due to the time constraints and l am sure glad l did. I drilled my usual 6 holes and went to grab the flasher to look for fish and when i turned it on NOTHING happened. Then l realized i must have left it on the last time i used it. So well i was reverted back to the days before i had the technology. I caught a few smallish gills around 6-7 inches then decided to switch it up to a HALI spoon which came highly recommended by my good buddy at Angler Supply. Best decision i could have made. I ended the trip with 5 more gills all over 9 inches with the biggest one topping out at just a shave under 10 and a half inches plus a bonus largemouth. What a great trip that is one i wont soon forget. I know i will probably catch sh*t from some of the members but all the fish were released unharmed to be caught another day.


in my book catch and release is a good thing if your not going to eat them. on our dec trip ice fishing in fl we released a bunch of black drum and sheep head. just kept what we wanted to eat and a few to bring home and released the rest. had a great time catching them.
sherman


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

I see you leave me out on the hot spots. haha Nice catch and sounds like a fun trip! Not even sure what a Hali spoon is, will have to check it out.


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## TDD11 (Aug 5, 2015)

What color Hali spoons do you guys use? Maybe I should add a couple to the ole ice tackle box.


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

Nice work! It looks like you had a good day. I have been taking my nephew a lot this year and i let him use my Vex most of the time. I don’t love fishing old school but watching him get hooked on ice fishing is worth it to me. I love Hali spoons. I like the fish shaped spoons also. Here is a link to the catalog http://www.halilures.com/todl/web-esite-2011-1.pdf


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

the color that has worked for me yesterday and this morning was a natural perch pattern odd looking spoons but they work.


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## TDD11 (Aug 5, 2015)

What sizes are must-have?


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## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

Tipping them with what? 

Nice catch..


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Slabtastic! Nice job.


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

Ok, have seen the Hali lures in magazines (thinking In-Fisherman) in the past. Did a quick search and doesn't look like a whole lot of places sell them. FishUSA maybe being the only major outlet and they have a pretty limited selection. They have some interesting winged jigging baits too. (sorry if i hijacked)


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## TDD11 (Aug 5, 2015)

Fin Feather Fur in Ashland had some Hali brand stuff in their ice fishing section - I saw it, but I don't know how much of it or how good of a selection it was. I just remember seeing that brand packaging.


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Just a thought for you spoon guys. I make my own out of copper and brass tubing. They are flattened in a vice to desired thickness and filled with lead. The contours are cut with tin snips and hand filed smooth. They are fun and easy to make and sure are a lot less expensive. The best part is that they work great! I've made hundreds of them over the years. The dimpled ones are done with a cone sanding bit on a Dremel tool.


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

I have been tipping with either waxies or spikes.


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## Stampede (Apr 11, 2004)

What depth of water were you in and what depth was you catching them? Drop off, on a flat, weeds?


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## Raylaser (Apr 8, 2015)

All Eyes said:


> Just a thought for you spoon guys. I make my own out of copper and brass tubing. They are flattened in a vice to desired thickness and filled with lead. The contours are cut with tin snips and hand filed smooth. They are fun and easy to make and sure are a lot less expensive. The best part is that they work great! I've made hundreds of them over the years. The dimpled ones are done with a cone sanding bit on a Dremel tool.
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Nice work there All Eyes!!! From one Renaissance Man to another, that's some great stuff!!


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## slipsinker (May 21, 2012)

very ingenius,and those look great too!


All Eyes said:


> Just a thought for you spoon guys. I make my own out of copper and brass tubing. They are flattened in a vice to desired thickness and filled with lead. The contours are cut with tin snips and hand filed smooth. They are fun and easy to make and sure are a lot less expensive. The best part is that they work great! I've made hundreds of them over the years. The dimpled ones are done with a cone sanding bit on a Dremel tool.
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## All Thumbs (Apr 11, 2004)

fshnfreak said:


> I know i will probably catch sh*t from some of the members but all the fish were released unharmed to be caught another day.


nice size blue gills- even if you had kept them, i hope no one would say anything. growing up, the only fish i knew existed were blue gills and catfish. our fish never made it to the freezer, they were always eaten within days. i never knew dad had a size limit but the smaller ones were thrown back with his standard comment "its too little to mess with cleaning for two or three bites". for me blue gills are way more tasty than even walleye (must be my upbringing).


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Raylaser said:


> Nice work there All Eyes!!! From one Renaissance Man to another, that's some great stuff!!





slipsinker said:


> very ingenius,and those look great too!


Thanks a lot guys! I've made rattle spoons, blades, and these hybrid spin-blade baits out of metal tubing also. Available at any hardware store in different diameters. To date, I have caught 13 different species of fish on these metal tube creations.


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## 25asnyder (Dec 10, 2016)

How do we put an order in I’ll take one of each


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

25asnyder said:


> How do we put an order in I’ll take one of each


Thanks for the interest, but I don't want to get into selling baits here. Also didn't want to hijack the thread, but thought you fellow spoon guys might be interested in the idea of making your own. A standard jigging spoon is fairly easy to make. The tricky part is filling the small opening with lead. The metal has to be heated a bit first so the lead flows and fills the entire cavity before cooling and plugging up. Here is a picture that shows the small amount of room to pour into once the tube is flattened out. The bottom end (not shown) is crimped closed prior to pouring. Once cool, I crush both ends in the vice then drill the holes. Use tin snips to cut the rough shape and hand file the edges smooth.


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

dont worry about hijacking the thread i am not "ONE OF THOSE GUYS" besides that is some awesome work on those baits. i am thoroughly im pressed with your ingenuity. to answer the question about the depth i have been fishing 24- 27 fow above the weeds....lol


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

here are a few more pics from yesterdays adventure.


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

fshnfreak said:


> dont worry about hijacking the thread i am not "ONE OF THOSE GUYS" besides that is some awesome work on those baits. i am thoroughly im pressed with your ingenuity. to answer the question about the depth i have been fishing 24- 27 fow above the weeds....lol


Thanks! I'm a big fan of jigging spoons and use them year round. Hopkins spoons such as the No=equal's were always my favorite. After losing more than my share of $4+ spoons, I decided to try making my own. The first time I used them was on Atwood lake many years ago. I will never forget that first fish as it thumped my ugly spoon good and hard. (My first few spoons were a little crude) Thought at first it was a nice Saugeye, but soon realized it wasn't fighting like one. It ended up being a 17" white bass which is the biggest one I've ever caught there. That day turned into a very good one as my spoons also caught tons of wt bass, crappie and saugeye. It was all down hill from there, and I made what seems like a million of them.


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

Yes it is great, something special when you catch fish using something you hand crafted. I started making small flutter spoons last winter using mostly smaller size spinner blades. Nothing extra fancy but they work. Me and my wife caught most of our gills and crappies using them.


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Skippy said:


> Yes it is great, something special when you catch fish using something you hand crafted. I started making small flutter spoons last winter using mostly smaller size spinner blades. Nothing extra fancy but they work. Me and my wife caught most of our gills and crappies using them.


That's awesome. Yes, it's a cool feeling for sure. Once I started carving my own wood crankbaits, it became quite addictive. The Tackle Making section of OGF is what got the ball rolling for me. There are some amazing hand crafted baits on display there, from many very talented people.


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

See if these pictures come up.















Like I said, nothing fancy but they work. Those other clips I came up with during a cold night casting for saugeyes. Broke off a jig and trying to tie a new snap on with my cold BIG numb fingures I just had to find a better way to hold on to those small snaps and still be able to tie the knot. Anyone ever try tieing stinger hooks without sticking themselves ? Can be used on pin-muns tiny jigs, most small things. Have some sodered to #10 wire and a few that are epoxyed on.


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Nice Skippy! Any bait that catches fish is beautiful in my eyes.


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

Out of complete coincidence, a buddy sent me a couple shiny slab spoons he added in with an order of jig heads he poured for me. They are some kind of leadfree blend. We had not even mentioned spoons at all in our recent messaging, he just threw them in as gifts. I painted them up as soon as we were done eating.


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## fshnfreak (Feb 24, 2007)

Now Attica if you were to add a 1-2 inch stinger hook to those and a split ring on the other end you would have basically a HALI spoon.


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

Just needs a chain link to a hook


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## addicted to fish (Jan 14, 2012)

All Eyes said:


> Just a thought for you spoon guys. I make my own out of copper and brass tubing. They are flattened in a vice to desired thickness and filled with lead. The contours are cut with tin snips and hand filed smooth. They are fun and easy to make and sure are a lot less expensive. The best part is that they work great! I've made hundreds of them over the years. The dimpled ones are done with a cone sanding bit on a Dremel tool.
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