A Forgotten Old Lure? Not Hardly!

Don't tell Charlie Bruggemann you can't catch fish on a Johnson Silver Minnow, 'cause he knows better. In fact, he was telling me just two days ago over frappuccinos at Starbuck's that, right now, it's one of the most productive lures in his arsenal. And as I learned through some online research, a lot of other anglers feel the same way about this old but still reliable bait.

"I've been using the Silver Minnow since the mid-60s, especially around vegetation of any kind or areas with wood and vegetation mixed," wrote one angler. "It's a great lure for a young person or someone who doesn't have much experience because, once adjusted correctly, it's almost impossible to hang up and will come through vegetation with no problem... . Like any other bait, there are times when it works and times when it doesn't, depending on the mood of the fish. But it's worked for me for over 40 years--enough that I always have a small box of Silver Minnows stored in my boat, just in case. I have found that it works best for me from post-spawn through mid-fall."

This same angler offered one more tip. He said he sometimes removes the inline spinner from a Hildebrandt Snagless Sally and attaches it to the spoon with a split ring. "It doesn't always make a difference," he allowed, "but I have seen days that it does."

Then there was this angler who had read a magazine article that declared the growing popularity of swimbaits and chatterbaits as making his two favorite bass lures obsolete. "Au contraire!" was his retort before adding, "The news of the demise of the spinnerbait and weedless spoon is exaggerated, to say the least. I would estimate that nearly half of my largemouth bass each season, including a lot of 4-to-5-pounders, are caught on these two 'old standbys.'"

He then shared a recent guiding experience in which these two baits had saved the day for him and his guests. "The bass I had found schooled the day before on some deep weed points were gone or inactive when my clients and I tried feeding them jigs and soft plastics. With cloudy conditions this day, we moved up onto a mid-depth, weedy flat adjacent to one of the points, and started slow-rolling spinnerbaits and wobbling spoons through the tops of the cabbage weeds. By the end of the trip, we had caught a bunch of largemouth and a couple of big pike."

Finally came these words from a writer/fisherman. "The Johnson Silver Minnow has been around since before you and I wet the first diaper--specifically, 1920... . What many anglers never have realized is its tremendous potential. Too many think a lure must be fished fast to be effective for predatory bass. We also get hung up on the perceived need for a lure to have rattles, spinners, and bells and whistles. The Johnson Spoon has none of those 'fisherman attracting' features, but it does have a number of 'fish attracting' features, to wit:

     * It's slow and non-threatening.
     * Because it's slow, it's easy to catch.
     * It has a great life-like action.
     * It can be fished nearly anywhere.
     * It casts like a bullet, even into the wind.

"Once you find the 'magic' qualities of the Johnson Spoon, you'll never be without it," he concluded.

There's no denying that nearly a century after Louis Johnson created it, the Johnson Silver Minnow still stands as one of the greatest lures ever invented for fishing in weeds--or, for that matter, anywhere. Cast right into thick weeds or work pockets on the outer edge of weed beds. Also try casting parallel to the edge, where vegetation joins open water. Many strikes will come as the lure flutters down seductively after the cast. Slithering the lure over the top of weeds also produces. The Johnson Silver Minnow further can be used successfully in stump fields and areas with standing timber.

For skittish fish, use the lure by itself. Otherwise, use a trailer, such as a pork dressing, a piece of soft plastic, or a spinnerbait skirt. Wherever and however you fish it, make sure you have a tight grip on your rod as you wobble the lure past cover.