Zara Spook Jr.

[MLB01]

Just wanted expert opinions or suggestions on when I should fish the Zara Spook and the best method to fish this lure. I have heard this lure is excellent at catching fish and want to give it a try while fishing the area around Fishbone Creek and Shell Mound area

Thanks

[krash]

I fish it all the time and everywhere.. learn to walk the dog and be patient do be caught up in the excitement to yank the lips off the fish on the explosive strike, it takes a lot of will power but wait a second til you feel the weight of the fish.

[fishindad]

Spook jr in bone is one of the best lures out there. I like fishing them in the mornings. Learn to walk the dog and you are set with that lure.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Tide1on]

Chartreuse & Silver insert

[DaveR]

Great lure. Don't horse a fish unless you have to. Those hooks aren't made fer towin. Oh and color? Whatever.

[MLB01]

I know this dumb question. Technique for walking the dog.

Thanks for the responses

[TRKpoker]

Walking the dog is very easy once you have done it once. Learning should be done in dead calm water. A pool is perfect. Basically you are going to make short pulls/twitches with a pause between. Basically the first pull will pull the lure forward and to one side slightly. The more you pause the more it will go in that direction. Then pull/twitch it and it will come forward and to the other side ...pause again and repeat back to the tip of the rod. I catch a good number of fish close to the boat with this lure. I get a lot of trout to follow this lure a long distance and hit it till they get hooked. In deeper water I will pop it hard but short and make it pop and jerk out of the water a bit giving it a fleeing bait fish look.

[TRKpoker]

Tide1on that color/pattern is the one I get the most strikes on but from the above posts I am buying a bone one next.

[jbdba01]

I'm on the Badankadonk train now - same fishing pattern as the Spook, but it seems to be a bit lazier. Meaning it will make longer wobbles about 12-16" versus the most I recall getting on a spook was about 6-8".

Also I don't just walk the dog, I mix it up. In some cases I'll do a pop let it sit 1-2 sec, pop let it sit. A year or so ago I was fishing a spook and nothing was happening; I stood up and started retrieving it as fast as I could - think tube lure speed with a bunch of wobbles. From about 10" of water this big ole red made a 20-30 yard run at break neck speed, I just kept cranking as fast as I could. When I landed the fish both sets of hooks were in his mouth sideways - that was the coolest thing I recall seeing fishing. Reminded me of 'cuda fishing on the flats in Miami. Point being don't just fish it walking the dog.

I tend to throw these missiles as far from the boat as possible; then just as it lands I'll feather the landing so the splashdown isn't huge. If the water is really still I'll try and make even less of a splash down. It's not unusual to be half spooled when I heave it.

Trout seems to like the pop, pop, pop - sit. Versus reds seem to like the pop,pop,pop,pop - slow and steady. Least that what CA Richardson says. I figure he does this stuff for a living - so I'll listen to him. Seemed to be true for me.

The Badankadonk makes a ton of noise so it may not be ideal for still waters; when I'm in that type of water I fish it less aggressive. In choppy water I fish it REALLY aggressive - especially on the first one to two pops. Theory being it takes the fish a bit to triangulate the location - might be over thinking it, but it seemed to work.

The spook is easier than a badankadonk to fish - it seems to be more forgiving when walking the dog.

Haven't had any issues with the hooks on it either.

Lastly as mentioned earlier - you will have a bunch of blows up - count on 2-3 misses (or more) per hook up. Which means if it's close to the boat you want to have the hook set off to the left or right - otherwise you'll have 6 hooks coming at ya.

Anyway - all the above is strictly my opinion; your mileage may vary.

[Rik]

John - high pitch or low pitch Badonkadonk?

[Kon Tiki]

Super Spook Jr. in bone.
Yeah.
That's the one that got me
We have a love/hate relationship.

[jbdba01]

John - high pitch or low pitch Badonkadonk?

I want to say HP; 3.5" Bone. I see the LP for $2.69 at their website. I bought it at Walmart for $5-6. I went through the checkout process to see what shipping was and it was free. So that's a pretty sweet deal. Maybe it's a holiday thing...dunno but normally shipping breaks the deal.

Regardless it's a pretty chatty lure. To me it was more erratic in the action than a spook - sometimes I felt it had a mind of it's own, but it hooked some big fish; so I stuck with it. One of those confidence things now. I tried the spook over and over...with limited success. Spook is easier to use (IMHO).

For the last couple of years I felt that subsurface lures were the ticket for quantity; now I'm looking to biggie size it. These topwaters really seem to be the ticket. Oddly I've yet to have a snook hammer one.

The nice thing is that on these windy days you can really heave these plugs into the wind.

I picked up a couple extra brand new topwater mirolures at PFTS #2 for the "Crazy Eddie" low price of a $1. For those who missed that tourney it was basically being paid to fish. The value of the lures was more than the entry fee - probably by 2-3X. With the firehouse sale after the fact it was more like 5-6X.

I'll be using those too. They don't seem to be as loud as the Badankadonk.

[TRKpoker]

I have to agree with you on the top water producing bigger fish. The guys I fish with use a wide variety of lures both sub-surface and top water. Top water tends to produce the bigger fish. My problem with top water is the afternoon bite is almost zero so I am going to start working sub-surface this year more to make longer fishing days. I just get bored with sub-surface action. Nothing like seeing a fish blow up on a top water.

[TRKpoker]

Damn just checked out that site for Badonk and thats some good pricing. Going to be using that if the prices hold after the new year.

[John]

I like the Badonkadonk in High Pitch for calmer days Low Pitch for windier days.
I rate the Badonkadonk very highly and it certainly seems the High Pitch is more effective for Redfish than the Mirrolure Top Dogs I normally throw.

I agree on the retrieves too, longer pauses for Trout and a more steady but slower cadence for Redfish. Snook don't seem to mind either way, but if I know Snook are around, I'll uses a slower sweep, so the bait moves as far as possible to the side for as little as possible forward movement.

[TRKpoker]

Never tossed a Badonk but I will be as soon as I get on the water. This has and is going to be the longest I haven't fished since March and I still have a ways to go. Wont be till next year and .....maybe I will sneak out but so much to do.