Avoiding Snags

[manitoubass2]

You can MA, just not as much. You only need a quick little pop with the rod tip, it doesn't have to be a dramatic pop off bottom.

If you want to learn that "popping" technique, or what I'd call a jigging retrieve, practice with jigs.

The one thing about a spoon, is when you pop it, it with flutter back down slower then a jig.

Keep a really close eye on your line to see when it makes bottom contact(if your using braid, youll also feel the bottom contact), as soon as it does, give it another little pop. As you get closer to shore, speed up your retrieve abit, and your pop as well.

I'm not a huge spoon guy on the soft water, although I love fishing them vertically through the ice. But, ripping a spoon shallow in mud bays, around rock in the current at bends and ambush spots can be deadly for bass and pike. Even better yet if you can find a mud bay with a stream flowing into it. Absolutely deadly for pike at ice out when they are spawning or getting ready to spawn.