MEPPS SYCLOPS LITE

 

One of my favorite and most effective lures to catch springtime coho salmon in Indiana is a #4 Mepps Fury spinner - the one with the black blade and hot-orange dots. Most people don’t use spinners but when spring storms roil the water, I’ve come in with limit catches while most others came in almost skunky. Thanks to the Mepps.
   I am an outdoor writer and wrote of the success of these spinners in many articles. The public relations department at Mepps appreciated the free advertising and offered me steep discounts and even sent free samples of new or featured products. I admit to being “frugal” so I availed myself of the discounts and welcomed the freebies.
   Some of the new stuff I tried worked okay, some not at all, but I tried them all.
   Sometime along the line, Mepps decided to enter the Great Lakes trolling lure market. They slimmed down their popular casting spoon, the Mepps Syclops and made a similar model (in proven Great Lakes colors) but stamped it out of thin metal to make it more of a flutter spoon, great for trolling on downriggers or divers, horrible for trying to cast.
    They sent me an assortment of Syclops Lites and to say I was unimpressed at the time is generous. At the time, magnum spoons were the rage. Why? Because you could come in with limits of caught on the large, five-inch mags and come in skunked if using the less-than-four-inch, standard sized spoons. The largest Mepps Syclops Lite is less than four inches in length.
   Times change and so do what the fish are biting. Lucky for fishing lure companies, unlucky for us guys that have to spend money to keep the best lures in the water. Right now, mag spoons are out, standard size and even a bit smaller are in.
    A week or so ago, I was digging through some dusty tackle boxes and found my long-neglected stash of Mepps Syclops Lites. “Why not drag them out,” methinks? So I did, and then when fishing, I thought of trying them.
   And they worked! I’m not saying they set the world on fire, but on a couple of trips, they were the only spoons that caught fish. On others, one or another of the colors were the “stud” lure of the day.
   Solidly built, the Syclops Lites have quality rings and hooks, paint that sticks and best of all, they do catch fish.  If you can’t find them in your favorite tackle shop, go to www.mepps.com and you can order them on-line. You want the size three and they are available in 15 finishes including several Glo-colors.  The GLO/lime has been among the best for me, but don’t count out any of the other patterns.