Spooks vs. Pencils

[Frankiesurf]

When is the proper condition to use a spook over a pencil popper? I have used both but have had limited success wth the spooks. I know it's a walk the dog technique, as is the pencil, but why do I have more success with the pencils? Is it due to the cupped front end? I love them for largemouth but haven't really had any stripers on them.

[ilovetwofish]

I also do a lot better with the pencils to bad I lost three of them this weekend.Maybe they resemble bait fsh more then the spook.

[jim sylvester]

Personally, I see fish missing spooks a lot more than pencils (if they are worked correctly)

Have had good sucess with spooks though as well...one in particular that can raise the dead

[Redsoxticket]

Originally Posted by Frankiesurf

When is the proper condition to use a spook over a pencil popper? I have used both but have had limited success wth the spooks. I know it's a walk the dog technique, as is the pencil, but why do I have more success with the pencils? Is it due to the cupped front end? I love them for largemouth but haven't really had any stripers on them.

pencil poppers don't have cupped fronts.

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Redsoxticket

pencil poppers don't have cupped fronts.

Well, most have a slight cup, but it is usually out of the water. Gotta wonder, however if he is asking about poppers (rather than pencils) vs spooks. As asked, I think pencils are better plugs when you want to raise more commotion, cover more distance, or fish in current. I like them better in strong winds or cross winds over spooks and also in low light conditions. I like spooks better on calmer sunny days and clearer (or shallower) water. I think a spook is generally more of a finesse plug than a pencil, although a slow gently worked pencil can be very effective in the same conditions. With either plug, I find better success if I vary the retrieve with starts, stops, twitches and fast spurts than if I maintain a steady rhythmic retrieve more than 10 or 15 feet at a time. Regular poppers, I don't fish much (except on rare canal outings), but every year I read about massive fish eating them during the day (and sometimes night) in the hands of novices, I look at how popular 8" poppers were back in the early days of plugging, and I get a queasy suspicion in the pit of my stomach that I may be missing out on something.

[JamesJet]

I have had success with spooks in back bay / calmer shallow water. The same as freshwater bass that side to side can call them in. With a pencil I find a splashy commotion causes more strikes than the slower way of working them. Another consideration is that pencils cast like missiles and are great when teh fish are out there. IMO each has its place and I rarely carry both in my bag at the same time, I use them for different places.

[BigFish]

Numbscull summed it up beautifully! I always have both in my bag...always! Sometimes they want the pencil and sometimes they want the "Blitz Seeker"........both devastating when the fish are active!

[JamesJet]

I always have both in my bag...always!

Maybe I should start!

[fishbones]

I agree with Numbskull about the pencil making more of a commotion. I used to do pretty well with spooks in a particular area but only in daylight. Also, it seems like the blues can't resist them at times.

I always carried pencils in my bag, but never had any luck so I stopped using them. Early this year, I decided to dedicate myself to using pencils and I haven't looked back. I've done great with them during light and low light conditions in both calm and moving water. They seem to become less effective when it gets really dark, and then I switch to the needles and metal lips.

[JohnR]

I know a spook that on the right conditions can raise the dead too, especially if the spook is white and the dead neading to be raised are during that first sliver of light. Pretty cool to see a F.A.C. mirror finish on the water get erupted by a larger bass coming 2 feet out of the water crushing a spook!

Spooks may be more temperamental in specific conditions, like most plugs. I have some I fish when the water is slow, some I fish when the water and wind have more movement. Different conditions require a different Spook .

[teezer]

I do better with spooks myself. The bigger the better, all white.

I also find fish will hit it even when the angler can not make it walk the dog.

I have fished them in white water and all kinds of dirty water and I have not found a big difference.

[Flaptail]

If i had to make a choice and the end result was being relegated to only one of the two I would choose the Pencil Popper over the spook any day of the week. It's more versatile, can be used in more situations and in the hands of someone who really knows how many ways there are to employ one, it's a deadlier plug.

This year and last I couldn't go wrong with either a Bigfish Pencil or a Gibbs Pro series 2 oz especially in yellow.

The Bigfish pencil can work just like a spook anyway.

[seadogg]

it's really hard for me to decide which of these two plugs i like the best. i've had some great days on both, but each certainly has it's place. i've found that in light currents and shallower water, the spook is a real killer. white is my favorite, but i also keep a yellow or chartreuse for those cloudy or murky days. generally i'll fish a steady retrieve, but when the fish are finicky, i walk the plug in wide, sweeping arcs, pausing often. the strikes are often explosive on this type of retrieve, usually at the pause or just as the plug resumes movement. as for pencils, i absolutely love them. this season (primarily in the spring), i fished an Al Gag's "It's Alive" in pogie color, and didn't take it off for two months. i ended up crushing fish early in the season, especially in the canal the first week of june, landing a solid 34.5 pounder in the mix. what i like about the Al Gag's is that they are not only cheaper than other plugs of its type, but the colors are as lifelike as any i've ever seen, and the hardware they feature is the best on the market (VMC hooks and big 3D eyes). another of Gag's is the sea special, a canal style (flat bottomed) pencil which proved itself to me as a formidable weapon in areas of swifter current. for pencils i have a few retrieve methods. the standard is to retrieve with a steady-ish rythm, tugging at varied lenghts to give the plug a more naturally erratic movement. the other retrieve is for finicky fish and is similar to the one i described with the spook, slooooow and wiiiide, pausing frequently. i feel that the idea behind catching finicky fish is to give them a lure they can catch, rather than one they have to expend a whole lot of energy to obtain. lastly, i've found that pencils can be deadly, and i mean deadly at night. fish them like a needle, almost at a crawl, occasionally pulling back in a quick sweeping motion then pausing. hits are subtle, so avoid slack in your line. i'll put a lid on it now, but i hope this info helps a bit.

[Tagger]

I think there's alot of criss cross in the 2 plugs as far as weighting . who's spook ? who's pencil ? To me a spook should be the winner hands down if your looking for a plug to walk on top . Proper weighting dictates how much effort you have to put into working the plug and how well it walks . Best results from a spook would be little effort to produce a tight "S" walk on top .. We all have our favirote .. No secret who mine is .(jigman).. Works best in moderate to flat water..
People look for different things from pencil poppers and are buying and making them to suit themselves. A few examples of different pencil poppers looks are
1. walkers .. weighted much like spooks .. sit like 45 to 30 degrees dead in the water.. some folks like to walk them ..
2. slappers .. Some fishers look for a slapping action of the kneck of the pencil slapping at the water .. this is a comotion ..
3. bouncers or canal pencils .. Lots of fishers on the canal prefer a dead arse heavy pencil popper like a Hawg Hunter that the tip is just exposed at rest ,,to even a sinking or slow sink custom pencil popper .. This pencils action I call "trying to get the hell out of the water look " sitting low .. and rising to exit .. or bounce.. #3 might shine in the canal but be very dissapointing as a walker.. so many different plugs that look the same in your hand but far different in the water . Alot of people call Bernzy's Surf Howdy a spook .. Bernzy will tell you himself its not a spook, even though you can walk it . Most tend to sit almost straight up and down at rest similar to the bait it was fashioned after.. Cordell Howdy.. a stickbait ... There's no wrong .. its all good .. I carry a spook and a pencil .. as well as my jiggys cast the pencil is still the reacher ..

[MVbluefish]

Spooks always get me the most memorable topwater explosions. Sunrise in rough water has brought me many spooky acrobat feastivals over the years. It is true there are a lot of misses but the excitement they cause is worth a miss or two.

[stripercrazy]

I've been haveing better luck with spooks this year in the prov river...big bait...spooks to 6.5 oz 9-10 inches...I think spooks have better action, but pencils more distance...both are great plugs...in the river the pogys are 1/2 dead and the blues are picking them off...there not acting like a reg popper...more sideways movement swimming in circles when the blue is on them they dart left or right and swim as fast as they can with there forehead just about breaking the surface..I've been slow swimming pencils with there nose sticking out, with good luck...but there really hitting spooks...slapping them back and forth and then slow swimming them. one place there may be up to a 100 people in a line and who ever's throwing a spook is catching 5-1 over reg poppers.....funny thing is most people don't have spooks, the people on the fourm boards do.

[stripercrazy]

heres thimber w/a 7-8 inch,2-3oz spook caught fish. with that light action rod and a spook(red ceder)with alot of pop...thimber out fished us all that day

[nightfighter]

Friday night, rain, cloud cover, a little less surf than expected, was fishing local reef beside TDF. I had a number of hits on topwater and swimming plugs. But surprisingly, when I pulled out a white Salty Big Dawg spook, it out fished eels four to zip...... weird but good for me. Haven't heard what Kevin did ater I packed it in at 11pm.
That said, pencils are the lures I have most confidence in at dawn and dusk. But always have a spook.

[Finaddict]

Excellent, excellent points above - for me it depends upon the situation. My preference is always start with a pencil popper and I too vary the retrieve throughout the retrieve and then at other times by cast ... either super thrashy kicking up a lot of water while trying to keep them in the same spot as long as possible, sometimes slightly less thrashy and a little faster or sometimes just like a spook - with long and slow zig-zagging backing and forth across the water.

I find in faster currents and around the white water, kicking up extra water raises the fishs' attention more readily than working the plug too quickly without kicking up enough water.

But there are many times when the spooks will outfish the pencils ... you have to try them both each time you are plugging if one doesn't work over the other.

Similar to Nightfighter above, I found the spooks this past weekend were far more effective along the shoreline I was fishing.