H&H “The Secret” Spoon vs. Johnson Silver Minnow [Comparison Review]
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
It’s time to review “The Secret” weedless spoon from H&H Lure Company!
I’ve recently published a few videos on whether or not you should use swivels when you use spoons, and one product we got asked about several times was the H&H weedless spoon.
This spoon comes with a swivel and a swivel weed guard (as well as a weed guard for the hook), and since it’s been asked about so many times, I figured I’d do a review on it.
Now, full disclosure, I have not used it on the water yet, but I will share my initial opinion on it and how it compares to the Johnson Silver Minnow weedless gold spoon which I’ve used for many years.
These insights go for all spoons and will be super helpful for you in both choosing spoons and catching fish with spoons.
I’ll break down:
- The core similarities and differences between these two lures
- The price difference (which is pretty significant)
- And the importance of the weed guard (one of these lures has a much tougher weed guard, which I think will cause it to catch fewer fish)
Check out the review and comparison video below.
H&H “The Secret” Spoon Review [VIDEO]
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First, I’ll break down the pros and cons of this lure, then I’ll talk about how it compares to the Johnson Silver Minnow.
Pros:
- Very weed-resistant
- Proven shape that fish love
- Has a quality swivel
Cons:
- $10-12
- Stiff weed guard
“The Secret” Spoon vs. the Silver Minnow
These two lures are incredibly similar — same size body, same size hook, same color.
However, there are a few differences.
For one, the H&H has a swivel on it.
It has a ball bearing swivel, which is proven to be better than a traditional swivel for preventing line twists, but if you’re using braided line, you probably don’t need a swivel anyway.
When retrieving spoons, they should just wobble in the water, not spin.
If it’s spinning, you’re probably retrieving it too fast.
Another difference is that the H&H spoon has a very stiff weed guard.
When I’m using a Johnson Silver Minnow in areas where there is little grass or structure, I’ll bend the weed guard down.
During these times, I’ve noticed that my hookup ratio is much better.
But since the H&H weed guard is even stiffer than the Silver Minnow, I fear that this will cause it to have a lower hookup ratio than the Silver Minnow.
And finally, the other big difference is the price.
The H&H spoon is a decent amount more than the Johnson Silver Minnow spoon.
Conclusion
The H&H weedless gold spoon comes with a swivel, has a stiffer weed guard, and is more expensive than its popular counterpart, the Johnson Silver Minnow gold spoon.
Based on my recent experiments, a swivel is probably not necessary when using a gold spoon, and you can read more about those experiments here:
- Ball Bearing vs. Traditional Swivel: Which Decreases Line Twists More?
- Should You Use A Swivel With A Spoon? (Interesting Test Results)
Remember, these are just my initial thoughts about this spoon — I’ll be taking it out on the water soon to test it out.
Have you used this spoon?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below.
You can get these lures on Amazon here:
And if you know someone who uses this spoon, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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Related articles:
- Aqua Dream Spoon Vs. Johnson Silver Minnow [Experiment Results]
- How To Retrieve A Weedless Spoon To Get More Strikes [Case Study]
- How To Clear Twists From Your Line
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I meant to also say I tried to verify the hook up/ hook down action by pausing the underwater video every few frames to confirm what I thought I was seeing.
If you’re watching the video in Youtube, you can actually have it play in slow-mo by clicking on the Settings icon and toggling the “Playback Speed” settings.
Luke, while watching this video, I was reminded of something I thought I observed in your Aqua Dream vs. Johnson Silver Minnow and other underwater demos. I was shocked to see how much time both spoons spend swimming hook down rather than hook up. I had always assumed they swim basically hook up and only go hook down when they are helicoptering (twisting). I was reminded to go back and look at the previous videos because when you were discussing the swimming action of the Johnson spoon in this current video you demonstrated it wobbling hook up. Unless my eyes are deceiving me, underwater footage shows them often swimming hook down and flipping back over (twisting) even at the slow retrieve speeds in your pool demo. What has been your assumption/observation on this?
Good eye Ted! They do seem to spend more time than expected hookside down when looking at the underwater footage. It seems like the core reason is that the hook is either down or sideways at the end of the wobbles so it spends some time paused there as it changes directions.
This varies based on spoon shape (as seen on the Silver Minnow vs. the Aquadream) and retrieve speed, so I haven’t seen a all encompassing theme for exactly how long a spoon stays in one position of another.
Sorry forgot to mention–when you push the red cap down to cover the swivel, it impedes the swivel from swiveling normally.
Yes, I’m not at all a fan of that red cap… I think it would be better to keep it off altogether.
That Red Cap is designed to keep the front of your spoon from catching grass as you throwing it in the ponds
I fish weedless spoons almost exclusively when sight fishing grass flats in the winter. I mostly fish around West Bay, PCB where the water is incredibly shallow. I can cover a ton of water without getting hung up, and they work excellent for sight casting in 6 inches of water–more accurate and more weedless than soft plastics . They don’t seem to work as well in the warmer months, probably because more natural bait around?? (any thoughts Luke?). The swivel just creates more surface area for weeds to hang up–the H&H tip profile much larger than the Johnson with a loop knot (tied so tag end points back to the lure) even with the red piece which I find unhelpful. Swivel not needed–I have no line twist issue with probably 1000 casts using 10# braid plus leader. Also the loop on the Johnson is welded on and smooth as opposed to the H&H which is a punched hole and will snag more with or without a ring.
Great points Marvin!
My assumption for the spoons seeming to not work quite as well in the summer months is because the baitfish are bigger than the winter so the size of the even a 1/2 oz spoon is not as big as the prey that the predators are honed in on during the summer and fall months.
Luke, good review! I’d like to make a recommendation for you regarding testing. It’s great you’re testing products for us all. The more realistic the tests, the more valid they would be. Would like for you to consider building a large water tank, with water pump and varied realistic structure (perhaps portable so you can change it up). Maybe something like a 3 ft deep casting pond. Could then film under water as you conduct the tests. Would take a little up front work to build the rest station, but would provide more realistic and reliable results.
Thanks Steve! Yes, the tank would certainly be cool. Will try to find a way to make that happen.
????????
Hello. I use the traditional spoon but I put a split ring on with a wind on leader swivel 150lb. They are really small and works great at keeping your line untwisted
Thanks for making time to leave the nice comment.
Thanks for making time to leave the comment Stephen!
Well being the king of lure collectors and users I actually have 3 kinds of weedless spoons the silver minnow the h and h like your talking about and the red ripper by nemire lures and although I have used all 3 I actually like the red ripper the best one main reason being it’s the only spoon with a built in rattle something very important in our murky waters here in northeast fl but I’m not a fan of the plastic fiber weedgard that it has not good when fishing in thick grass because it has a tendency of grabbing the grass and it sticking to it and you have to physically remove it from the weedgaurd but the h and h spoon is probably the most weedless with the 2 kinds of gards it has the johnson being great also but the johnson spoon I have found that really thick grass has a tendency to push the weedgard down and the grass catches on the hook but rarely do I fish it in that thick of grass anyways good report thanks for all you do
Thanks for making time to leave the helpful comment Steven! I’ll be sure to check out the red ripper spoon.
I’m sure it was just a slip of the tongue when you were comparing the two spoons, but you said a couple of times that the H & H was being compared to the Johnson Sprite spoon. In fact you were comparing it to the Johnson Silver Minnow.
Good comments.
Ahhh… yes, that was a slip up. The spoon in the video was the Silver Minnow.
the Johnson Silver Minnow is notorious for horribly dull hooks right out of the package, how did the H&H hook compare?
The hooks on the H&H seemed pretty sharp to me… but so did the hooks on the Silver Minnows that I have too.
H&H made in china?
I’m not sure where they are made.