Litts Fish Lures Custom 63 Split Window Pattern Hand Painted Flutter / Trolling Spoons

When & Where: The core presentation for this spoon. Works across open basin water, along thermal breaks, and over structure for salmon, trout, and walleye. At home anywhere you're running a spread — Great Lakes, big inland water, or any fishery where flutter action triggers pelagic fish.

How: Run it on a standard trolling spread behind a downrigger, dipsy diver, or planer board. Speed between 2.0–3.5 mph is the typical productive range; the flutter action engages well across that window. Vary speed slightly when fish are marking but not committing.

Why: The spoon body flutter gives an erratic, wounded-baitfish action at trolling speeds. The '63 Split Window pattern's bold swirling paint over a polished metal back creates flash and depth that shifts as the spoon moves — the backing shows through the paint to produce effects that change with angle and light.

Tuning: Adjust trolling depth with ball weight or downrigger position. The #5 (4.5") body pushes more water and runs with a wider flutter; the #4 (3.75") is a tighter, quicker action — useful when fish are keyed on smaller baitfish or when you want a different cadence in the spread.

When & Where: Targeting fish holding at a specific depth — common on Lake Superior and other Great Lakes where salmon and lake trout suspend along temperature breaks or hug bottom structure at depth.

How: Clip the line to a downrigger ball and set the release tension light enough to trip cleanly on the strike. Run a 6–10 foot leader from the ball to the spoon to give it room to work freely.

Why: Puts the spoon precisely in the strike zone. The '63 Split Window's translucent paint-over-metal construction means the backing color keeps contributing at depth — the warm glow of brass or the cold flash of nickel bleeds through the paint even as ambient light decreases.

Tuning: Gregory's tip: at deeper presentations, polished brass on the back tends to maintain visibility better in low-light, deep-water conditions than nickel. Both work — brass is a practical starting point when you're running 40 feet or more.

When & Where: Covering water laterally — useful in shallower trolling passes, near-shore salmon runs, or when fish are spread across a flat rather than holding at a defined depth. Standard on Great Lakes charter programs.

How: Attach to an inline board or a side-planer to push the spoon out to the side of the boat's wake. The flutter action remains effective well out to the sides. Stagger depths and distances across a full spread.

Why: Gets the spoon away from boat pressure and into undisturbed water. The '63 Split Window's varied color palette makes it easy to run multiple colors in a spread without doubling up — each colorway reads differently from the others.

Tuning: Mix the #4 and #5 in the same spread for size contrast. Run different back finishes (nickel and brass) across rods to cover more variables on the same pass.

When & Where: The #5 has enough body weight to cast a fishable distance, making it an option from piers, breakwalls, or rocky Lake Superior shoreline for trout and coho working the shallows, especially during spring and fall runs.

How: Cast across current or along structure edges and retrieve at a moderate pace that keeps the spoon fluttering. A slow, irregular retrieve — with brief pauses — mimics a struggling baitfish and can draw reaction strikes.

Why: The '63 Split Window's bold color over flashing metal back gives it strong visual presence from shore, where you need a spoon that reads well through varying depths of water on the retrieve.