TOPIC:

Only the second spring with my boat just curious do you guys run down riggers with spoons for early spring coho if so what's some good colors? 

Absolutely. If they are more than 2 people on board there will be a couple spoons on riggers in the water. Some days they are great and some days they just add a few extra fish in the box. Almost always running a free slider spoon also to get another bait in the water.  Running a spoon near the bottom in some locations can give up some brown trout and also coho will hang out near the bottom.  I like spoons with some gold in them for that application (goby colors)  Early spring we will run smaller spoons with typically brighter colors. Orange, mixed veggies etc. 

Pictured are some old Andy Reeker Spoons. Even though these where hot in the 70's and 80's they still work today.
The colors are what we like for spring when trolling spoons for early Coho

Thanks! I'll definitely be running some this spring hopefully next week 

Typically anything bright colored - color patterns like split showed.

Why all the single hooks? I've seen a few guys with singles on plugs too.

Last time I checked, treble were ok on artificial and single required on live bait for Lake Mich and tribs.

Has it changed? Thanks 

Just personal preference 

I grew up fishing in other states where treble hooks were not legal for salmon/trout so all of my older spoons and lures have single hooks. Usually, when I'm river fishing, I prefer single hooks to reduce snags.

Wow!  That photo of all those Andy Reekers is a blast from the past!  Those are at least 25 years old, don't you think?  

Back on topic - don't sacrifice more productive sets to put downriggers in the game. If I have only two peeps on the boat, no downriggers in the spring - all six lines are on planer boards (big boards, naturally, I'm a sport fisherman, first, last and always).  Three fisherpeople, I add two dipsey divers and one downrigger. Four people, I add three more downrigger sets.  Even with four downriggers, I don't use many spoons until mid-april.  Instead, I put Jointed Rapalas, Mepps Spinners, Dodger Flies more often than spoons.  

Here is a little info on the Andy Reekers,The Company

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Andy Reekers submitted a patent for his first trolling spoon in 1922. As early as 1930 his occupation was listed as "fish trolling spoon manufacturer". In 1936 he submitted a second trolling spoon patent.His lures were manufactured in a shop he owned that was located at 33 SE Hawthorne Street in Portland Oregon.This address is no longer in existence.The shop would have been next to the waterfront on the East Bank of the Willamette River, possibly under the Hawthorne Bridge.Andy’s family provided the labor for his company. His wife Harriet, my grandmother, was a packer for his business. When they were older, his children Margine and Jack also worked in the business. My mother June may have as well.My cousin Lee remembers the family working in the shop buffing brass and copper lures with round layers of felt.Lee also informs me that Andy also designed a flat bottom boat that was quite popular. I had never heard about this boat before. If anyone knows anything about the boat please let me know. At some point after 1948, Andy stopped manufacturing trolling spoons. He sold his patent and tradmark rights to the Maxwell Manufacturing Company in Vancouver Washington. They sold his lures under the Grizzly trademark.My avid-fisherman father (Bob Olson), Andy's son-in-law, always said the lures were not as good after Andy no longer made them. Do you agree with that?The Maxwell Manufacturing Company ultimately went out of business as well. By the early 1970's both the Grizzly and Andy Reekers trademarks were considered "dead" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.By 1981 the remaining unsold supplies of original Andy Reekers were nearly extinct. The Luhr-Jensen company had come out with a nearly identical imitation, the "Salmon Seeker", in a wide variety of sizes and colors.While original Andy Reekers are no longer manufactured, they remain in circulation. They are routinely bought and sold on eBay.To this day, the lures are very popular with serious fishermen and are also sought after by collectors of fishing lures.

When Salmon fishing took off here there was no spoons or baits produced locally around the great lakes. All the early stuff came from the Pacific Northwest Coast area. As fishing got better many companies started to add Salmon colored baits. Companies like Grizzly and Bill Norman were buying other companies out and moving more and more into Great Lakes Salmon colors.
Reekers came with the single hook and some feel that they hook deeper into the mouth with less twist offs. Also, made to be tied direct. No swivel needed.