Luhr Jensen - Superiors?
What's the deal with LJ and the Superior king spoons? Last year I couldn't get anymore and I still don't see any available online. Does anyone know where to find some or a replacement?
Anonymous
2008-02-08 22:23:56
Yep, I've seen both of those. The guy on Ebay doesn't have the right size and Seattle Marine has been out since last year afaik (#7's). Murray Pacific in Sitka has been out too. I've heard Luhr Jensen was either bought out and/or moved to a new factory and/or has discontinued the Superior line.
gumpucky
2008-02-09 02:38:05
Rumor had it around murray pacific that they dropped the commercial line to deal mostly with their sport fishing gear.they managed to get some cheesy ,chinese looking knockoffs towards the end of season last year so I grabbed a couple boxes,haven't tried em so don't know how they'll work.Don't throw those nasty rusted oldies away,might need em.Could always go back to hammering em out ourselves like the old timers did.
Captain Guppy
2008-02-15 03:59:14
Yep ! Its sad to see the LJ king spoons gone.
If your looking for another large king spoon try a Canandian hammerd spoon,#7 or #8. I have caught alot more on canadian Gold and Crom hammerd than any Superior of same color.
If you do come across a Superior of any shape or size hang on to it, clean it, charish it as long as you can.
P.S. if you have an Air brush that helps too.
Captain Guppy
Murray's has quite a few superiors right now... I just ordered 10 boxes.
Carol W
2008-02-26 23:00:50
Hi everybody I got an E mail from Kris at Pacific Net and Twine this morning. he said if we wanted some different finishes than what Clendon Stewarts come in Gibbs would be happy to accomodate. I am going to have some bronze made up and some Chrome on a side and brass on a side made up (50/50), not sure as to how many we need to order for a special run. I do know it will take a month to get spoons in his hands from when he places order. I am deathly sick at the moment so hopefully later this week I will feel better and can dig into my spoons to see what i need to place an order.
Salty
2008-02-27 20:02:55
Brass and Chrome? People still run those? What about Gold and Chrome? Actually the Gibbs brass seems to be a better plating than the superior brass of the last few years. Have you talked directly to Syd at Gibbs?
Carol W
2008-02-28 00:59:52
Eric I found those spoons work good on hatchery kings not in the ocean though.
Salty
2008-02-28 03:09:15
Tom,
I hear you need to go through a dealer for the spoons. I do have a spoon we use in the outer hatchery areas which I would call a hatchery spoon but it works well in the ocean too. We paint it ourselves which makes it kind of fun. Almost all the locals know about it as I copied it from a local highliner.
I don't use Spoons in the Eastern Channel area but some of the guys have had good success with mother of pearl superiors. I just thread massive amounts of herring.
When I used to fish the hatchery openings in Southern Chatham I had two spoons which worked well. One will remain a secret forever in case I ever return. The other was a large Clendon/Stewart 50/50 Cerise, Pearl stripe in the middle, Flame orange. Really ugly. I don't know where I got them and don't see them around anymore but it sure worked on those hatchery spawners high in the gear.
What is the prediction for hatchery kings on the south end?
it is correct that luhr jensen was purchased last year by rapala. rapala has sent all manufacturing to china! adding additional insult rapala also discontinued the entire line of canadian wonders. the largest can. won. in current production is a 6.5". rapala has also slimmed out the stocked spoons. it is roughly 1/2 of what it used to be. special orders that used to be a min of 72 is now 144 spoons. luhr jensens custom paint shop(owned by rapala) is handling this out of hood river oregon. i have heard that the superiors are significantly lighter than what we are accoustomed to......
wildwood
2008-03-08 02:42:26
thanks dan
yak2you2
2008-11-12 23:49:43
I've talked to several guys lately that have bought the Chinese made gold/chrome Luhr Jensen spoons recently, and all of them were disgruntled. They say that the finish tarnishes as if it were brass, or peels off entirely.There still not manufacturing a lot of the old styles, i.e.- katchamacs, needlefish, and superiors. It sounds like the blanks are made of lighter metal too and allow for bending that never was an issue in the past. all of these guys say they'll never own another one. Anybody else having these problems?
Fortunately I have enough of my old favorites to last me for a while so I won't be affected, but I am curious what people who are buying the new stuff are experiencing.
If enough folks from around the fleet are disappointed, maybe we should band together in the form of an ATA letter or something and complain about it to Rapala. Probably fall on deaf ears, but it might be worth a try. The old Luhr Jensen made some of, if not THE most effective spoons there was. Nobody has been able to find G/C in any of the usual styles made by Gibbs at any of the usual stores. Gibbs stuff are all copies of the old Luhr Jensen stuff, i.e.- Gibbs makes the Needle, and the Katchmor( which look exactly like the needlefish and the katchamac made by LJ.If the situation doesn't improve, it's going to make life hard for anybody new getting into the game to get any decent gear.
Bigwave jim
2008-12-17 00:21:31
where do old Superiors go to die? repaint heaven? or the junk heap?
Actually, I've got 40 to 50 old superiors in need or more attention the polish can provide. Any suggestions?
Ocean Gold
2008-12-17 05:47:39
Send your old ones to
Silver Horde Fishing Supplies
PO Box 150
Lynnwood, 98046-0150
www.silverhorde.com
I think if you clean them to new non-plated state they will refinish the lures and put new rings on. It is worth a call we had some discontinued secret weapons custom finished there. having lures chromed them gold plated or painted seemed to not be a problem but our order was not that big we sent only 100 spoons of various sizes down. Very nice people to deal with. maybe if we all had a half a bucket of spoons they would clean them in acid or ? I have a few of the new lures they are very thin made for sport fishing a coho could make a pretzel out of some of them.
Give them a call
Ed
Ocean Harvester
2008-12-17 06:22:16
Kelly and the gang at Silver Horde are great people. Have had lots of custom stuff done by them. They will go out of there way to help you. There still a small business and havn't sold out to the big tackle companies and diserve the support they get. Normark(Rapala) just recently shut down the custom Paint shop in Hood River. Silver Horde is willing to pick up the slack.
yak2you2
2008-12-17 07:09:57
I whole heartedly agree. I too have sent lots of stuff to Silver Horde to get repainted, and have found them to be an excellent company to work with. My big concern right now is for new people getting into the buissness. I have heard that Rapala also has closed down the Luhr Jensen commercial line entirely. Getting the old spoon frames i.e.- Superiors, Katchmacs, Needlefish, Emeralds, is going to be the hard part. You have to have something to paint. Gibbs makes knockoffs of some of the Luhr Jensen frames, i.e.- the Katchmor, the Neddle, Etc., but they too are a small company and I wonder if they will be able to keep up. We should be all right for cohos. Silver Horde makes the Fiesty, which is the same frame as the Manistee, and actually has better paint options available than Luhr Jensen did, but King spoons are going to be a little tougher.
So, save your old crusties, you might need them. If anyone is in need, here's an option to consider. Silver Horde will repaint any solid finish spoon you send in for 3.00 a piece. I bought a bunch of all copper frames from Nikka Industries for a dollar a piece, then sent them over to Silver Horde. In the end I'll have 50/50 gold chrome spoons for about 4.00 a piece, which was cheaper than gold/chrome spoons were to begin with. I don't know how many frames there are out there, but they'll be getting bought up quickly I imagine, first come, first serve.
I still think we should adress Rapala with a unified voice (such as the ATA) and ask them to continue making the Luhr Jensen commercial spoons, with original quality standards, at least in limited quantities. It seems like they've given the troll industry up for dead, but eventually it will turn around, if we have to find another avenue to get gear from, we won't be back and they'll be leaving a lot of money on the table.
Given the current economic forcast I'd say our request will fall on deaf ears, but it can't hurt to try.
Ocean Harvester
2008-12-17 07:31:41
King Spoons are going to be tough. I have already began stocking up on anything I can find of the old stuff. I do like the Silver Horde Canadians and I don't think they will be going away anytime soon. Maybe someone will nock off the Superiors since it sounds as if they will no longer be available. If there is a demand I don't see why someone wouldn't try to produce one if it is cost effective.
yak2you2
2008-12-17 07:50:58
Maybe we should press the Silver Horde crew to start making all of our old favorite Luhr Jensen spoons and selling them? If Gibbs can get away with making copycats of Luhr Jensen's spoons and selling them, I don't see why Silver Horde can't. Somebody sure needs to, there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to buy gear when you need it. Good quality gear is the difference between successful fishmen and the other.
Ocean Harvester
2008-12-17 07:54:51
I'll stop by and talk to them in a couple of days.
Ocean Gold
2008-12-17 16:40:35
It's all about the blanks is what they told me. The finish is not the problem. I bought a few boxes of spoons when Seamar first said they were not able to restock then Murry's came through with a bunch.We need to find the machines to stamp them out ourselve's would be a good retirement for someone.
yak2you2
2008-12-18 15:26:39
About this time of year lots of folks shop for next season's gear' here's something to keep in mind. Your dollar is worth about 1.23 in Canadian money again. I ordered 145. 00 worth of stuff from one Canadian place, but my credit card only charged me 120.00 . If you were going to do a big, or start up order, that's a pretty huge savings to consider.
If you have the time and don't mind placing a bunch of small orders, I have found the very best way to go is to shop them all, American and Canadian. They all seem to have things that they have the cheapest.
mswkickdrum
2008-12-19 06:48:36
Good tip, yak, where do I shop online for everything I will need?
Marshall
yak2you2
2008-12-19 12:08:34
In Canada; nikkaindustries.com, pacificnetandtwine.com, tyeetackle.com, tomiclures.com
In the U.S.; seamar.com
In addition, these stores in the U.S. are some of the best but don't have a shop ready website. If you know what your looking for you can call for prices, and if you don't know what your looking for, they will probably be able to help you out. Murray's Pacific- 800-478-3135. Englund Marine-800-228-7051. Silver Horde- 425-778-2640.
Ray Bressler
2009-03-16 21:08:52
Hi I am also looking for #6 or 7 superiors 50/50 _ no luck but I did contact Pacific net and twine www.pacificnetandtwine.com and or sales@pacificnetandtwine.com some good guy there said that the stuff that they had made in China was not successful and he said he was talking to some guy local ( to richmond B.C.) and was trying to have him duplicate the American superiors - any of you guys out there that are in need might drop a note to the guys at sales and encourage thir efforts -- maybe it will happen if we show enough interest - get to your fishing buddies -- good fishing Duwamray
Ray Bressler
2009-03-26 01:18:59
I TALKED TO pACIFIC nET AND tWINE AND THE GUY i GOT SAID HE WAS TRYING TO GET A LOCAL GUY TO DUPLICATE THE AMEICAN MADE SUPERIORS -- ANY OF YOU GUYS THAT SEE THIS ---EMAIL THEM AND SHOW INTEREST - IT COULD HAPPEN IF WE PUSH IT - ALSO GET TO YOUR BUDDIES AND HAVE THEM DO SAME - GOOD FISHING DUWAMRAY- SORRY FOR THE CAPS LOCK
davidtettleton
2009-03-28 06:21:24
I had good luck with the big green and yellow superiors one season when I was just trying them to keep the silvers off. I didn't have as good a season the next years though--but not bad--The silvers still ate them like candy.