Product Review- Kastmaster

I have talked to a lot of fishermen who say they have never caught a fish on a spoon. A lot of guys have them in there tackle box weather saltwater or fresh but rarely use them. I thought for this reason, I would do a product review of the Kastmaster spoon.  Being close to Christmas, it would probably make more sense to do a review on a big item like a sleeping bag, fishing rod, or kayak. However, a spoon makes a nice stocking stuffer right?

Let me first start off by saying a few things. First, I don't use spoons in saltwater unless absolutely necessary ( read: 50 mph wind in my face and I can't cast anything else). Secondly, I use Kastmasters exclusively when using a spoon in freshwater. Therefore, I can not tell you if a Hopkins smoothie or a Little Cleo is as good, better or worse. I feel that a Kastmaster works well for me. If trout are hitting spoons, I assume they will hit my Kastmaster, if they don't I switch to a different color or different lure all together.

Okay, lets start... The Kastmaster is a spoon made by the Acme Lure Company ( based in Providence, RI).  They range in size from 1/12oz.- 4 ounces. Prices range from about $2.50 to over $7.00. Smetimes they cost more than that in some tackle shops.They come in a wide variety of colors.  I use three sizes. I use the 1/8 oz.for trout, the 1/4 oz for salmon and 3/4 oz. for lake trout. Of those three sizes I use the 1/8 oz almost exclusively. I only use the bigger sizes when I am at Wachusetts or trying for broodstock salmon ( we all know how that went). I use the 1/8 oz. trout fishing quite a bit. Of the 224 trout that I caught this year I caught 55 on Kastmasters. All were on the 1/8 size. I am sure the smaller 1/12 ounce would catch as many trout, but I like the castability of the 1/8. It casts a long way even into a strong wind in your face.

As for colors, I try to keep my selection real simple. I don't see the point of having twenty colors. There are two reasons for this. If I have a favorite color, then I'm going to put it on my line when I want to use a spoon, leaving the other colors to rust. Also if I have 20 options, I'll be spending more time deciding what to use instead of fishing. I firmly believe in ( KISS) Keep It Simple Stupid. For color selection I have these colors. Silver, Gold, Silver/blue and perch. I almost always start with gold. Its my go to color. I use it on sunny and cloudy days. If it doesn't work, I'll usually switch to a different lure and if I switch back to a Kastmaster I use the silver. I have never caught any on the silver/blue one, but I rarely fish it. As for the perch, I just bought it. I do think it would work well on holdover trout that are used to eating baitfish. I expect good things from that color.

I do find they work best when it is either windy or there is a little chop on the water. Thats not to say you won't catch fish with them under calm conditions, but when its calm I usually use other options. Without question, if there is a wind in your face, put on a spoon and cover some water. As for a retrieve, I usually use a constant steady one. Not to fast, just a normal comfortable speed. Of course if that doesn't work, try different speeds, I usually go slower before I go faster. I've caught many trout barely reeling along the bottom.

As for salmon, I have heard that salmon are attracted to orange so I have a silver/ florescent orange spoon in 1/4 ounce. The most popular color for Wachusett lakers is 3/4 ounce silver/blue.

To show you how effective a spoon can be, I can give you two examples.  On September 17 I went up to New Hampshire. The weather was freezing. There was snow on the mountains. When I got there the wind was cold, wet and right in your face. The only thing I could cast into the wind was a spoon. I put on the gold 1/8 ounce and started cating. I got a hit on the first cast. I caught a brookie on the next cast. In the next hour, I caught 20, also had hits on almost every cast. I could have caught more, but it was so cold and I wasn't prepared for the weather.

The other example was around Columbus day. I was fishing Fearings Pond. Unlike my last paragraph, the weather was nice. I started walking the shoreline looking for schooling trout. I found a huge school. I landed rainbow after rainbow on the spoon. I caught 18 within minutes. I was getting bored so I switched to my fly rod.

I hope this product review is helpful. I know many anglers do not like using spoons. That's okay, but if you do give them a chance, make it a fair chance. You won't catch many trout if you only give it a cast or two. Like any other lure or technique it will catch fish in the right conditions. If you have any questions or comments, let me know.