TOPIC:

Any go to setups for spring kings? I've only caught them on spoons, but I figure there has to be some other proven setups to put out there.

The short answer is anything lol. My go to would probably be spoons.....but thin fins were catching them like mad last year. Spoons, cranks, dodger fly, flasher fly, meat rig......you name it. Have to figure out what they want, or mostly get lucky on any given day. At least thats how I feel. Our one and only king this year (19 lbs) came on an orange J-9 on a flat line.

Any go to color patterns? Spoon wise I've gotten them on blue dolphin and green bubble. Haven't figured out a good pattern for flasher / dodger / spin doctor paired with a fly, or maybe that's just not what they were looking for on the days I was running them... I have never run meat rigs, but might have to try them this year.

This time of year its tough to figure out - can almost be anything in the bag based on depth, water clarity, fish bitchiness etc lol. Greens / blues / yellows IMO......but sometimes its different.

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate it. I’m looking at targeting the ones in tight in 30 - 60 FOW while trying to get some more Coho at the same time. I’ve always ran blue and green color combos and some white flies occasionally but no luck to date except on spoons.

I have had spring kings eat everything. 00 orange dodger peanut fly, thin fins, mag spoons blue, super slims mixed veggies, j9's, flasher flies later in May. Honestly if they are around they will eat it, they are eating machines for a reason. Only think that scares me is the hooks holding up on some of those "coho" baits. lol

My two most king katchingest spring baits are a #3 mongoose(chrome w/ green/chart back) J-plug and a standard sized dreaweaver NBK spoon. Both are very effective mid on leadcores or riggers targetting the bottom half of the column. On a diver rod, I’ve had a lot of early success running an 8” old school hot-spot flasher in green chrome with a shamrock ( green, yellow, and black) Brad’s cutplug on a 36” leader. When I’m looking for kings, I’m usually trying to find a presentations that the coho will leave alone. I usually ditch the 00 dodger flies and surface planers with small body baits all together. I generally will try to match my color selections to the conditions using darker stuff on darker days or in dirtier water. Glows early and late. I lean on more natural colors, especially if the water is clear. Probably the best thing you can do is get out early and have your gear in the water before the sun is up.

Back when we could catch a 12 or 15 each day, we used #4 and #5 J-plugs. Caught the kings, coho mostly left them alone. Chrome (silver bullet) and green ladderback were the best. Water was less clear, then. Now, i still go with Chrome and some spray painted flat black. #3s and #4s since I no longer want to keep the cohos away.