Raspberry Carbon Trolling Spoon:
It's actually a record for all the Greats Lakes (including: 8 States, 5 Lakes, and 2 Countries)
It came as no surprise to us that a new state record Salmonoid was wrangled using an iconic fishing lure, the spoon. In hindsight it also should not have been a surprise as a number of people reached out to tell us “congratulations on your spoon catching the New State record!”
As honored and humbled as we were, one after another, we corrected each compliment in turn. Let us state this right up front that the new Michigan record was not caught on a HangryBrand lure. Thank you all who recognized the design and thought it was ours. The fish was caught on a Moonshine lure (aka Raspberry Carbon). Congrats is also in store to the Moonshine Crew (Captain Chuck’s II is already sold out I’m sure as who wouldn’t want a copy of the fishing lure that caught the State record in their tackle box).
Word spreads fast in fishing communities like Ludington, and shortly after the morning of August 7th, 2021, word was out. Luis Ricardo Hernandez Martinez aboard the vessel ‘Ice Breaker’ with captain Bobby Sullivan, caught a world-beater Chinook (King Salmon). His catch officially weighing in at a whopping 47.86lbs would best the long-standing, 43 year record from 1978 and do it with nearly 2 pounds to spare. For more details read also the Michigan DNR’s publication here: (https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-86469-565607--,00.html).
Manistee and Mason Counties are without question, world class fisheries. If that wasn’t abundantly clear prior to 2021, it certainly is now. Manistee County is home to the record Brown trout (41.45lbs, 2009). Mason County was already home to the Atlantic Salmon record (32.62lbs, 1981), and now home of the Chinook record detailed above.
Also well known is the elegance in its simplicity and dependability, the fishing spoon. As lure manufacturers you’ll forgive us as we collectively bask in our glory. For more years than we can count we’ve told everyone willing to listen (and even some unwilling :)) that spoons are where it’s at. The effectiveness of any spoon boils down to the die it’s cast from and the lure’s design itself.
The spoon die determines its proportionality (i.e. length to width ratio) as well as it’s cupping (i.e. curvature), collectively referred to as 'lure action'. Lure designs on the other hand have traditionally had a much broader range of variability including, but not limited to, pattern orientation, color composition, glow, uv, and/or decal work. It’s these two aspects of fishing spoons, the die, and the design, that share equally in the effectiveness of the lure. When there’s a hot bite, terrible designs on a great die, just like great designs on a horrible die, will catch fish. When the bite is light and the fish are finicky, that’s when you need both great designs from custom dies.
What we see in the Raspberry Carbon spoon is a great design. There can be no question given the result. Take a gander at our general template - irrespective of the individual color compositions - and what you’ll discover is that both HangryBrand and Moonshine have independently arrived at the same conclusion. This pattern orientation, our recognizable template (some have called it the striped pool ball look) attracts fish! Add colors based on your target species and voila you’re really getting dialed in. Take things one step further and place those color combinations and pattern orientation over the top of a HangryBrand Custom spoons and you’ll start to really notice the difference in your catch rates.
Happy fishing and Tight lines,
Article written by Mike Hiller