My FIL was given a large quantity of old spoons...off the top of my head Superiors 5/7/8, Tom Mack 6/6.5/8, LJ Wonder 7, JHS 6/7. Plus a couple of onesy twosy outliers...McKnight, LG Johnson (smaller sizes), and others. Colors are brass, 50/50 brass copper, and gold bronze.
Red bear is the best for the first stage of polishing, and flitz for the final. I've not tried any chemical pretreat for the really corroded ones but will try the ammonia/water trick this winter.
They work. Boy do they work. We brought home possession limits this year for quite a few folks from a week at WH, and 90% of those were on identical two of these big old spoons. Troll one at 190 and the other at 220 outside. More than a few doubles. Way nicer to fish offshore than the flasher/skinnyg that everyone else was using, and no cohos. I like plugs too, but these troll better at a bit lower speed than what plugs like, with less blowback.
These all need some sort of carbon steel attached to them as an anode. I use the big hairy blued mustad siwash hooks, and find that the #8 spoons could use an even bigger hook than the biggest 8/0 95151 3x blued mustad. Don't use a SS hook unless you have a separate CS or aluminum "jump ring" (see ebay...chainmail accessory) crimped to one of the end rings. I bend a *slight* beak into the hook tip, and bend a *slight* offset into the hook. Not many lost fish with these.
Overnight storage on the boat...I fill a nalgene 1qt (1L for you metric types) with saltwater and throw them in. This will leave them a bit clouded and the hooks rusty, but you can easily wipe away the dull cloud with a cotton t-shirt or dry paper towel, and the rust on the hook disappears after it fishes for a bit. They always come back out of the water shiny with a dull black hook. I'm sure there's a better way (hydrotone etc.) but this works for me. Have also read in one of the old-timey troller books to put them in a galvanized bucket full of saltwater when not in use. I've used same spoon/hook for several trips, with no hook breaks or issues. Like I said, they might look rusty, but wipe off the loose rust and put them in the water, the hooks turn black again quickly. No problem keeping them sharp with a file.
I'm looking for a large bare or blued steel hook alternative to the 8/0 3X mustads mentioned above if y'all have any better ideas. The spoon lot came with some VERY large ones, probably a 10/0 in a similar shape to these newer mustads, but very few of them. I've had best luck with the size 7 spoons due to the 8's being a bit tail-waggy with the same hooks. The 7s swim very nicely.
