I'm certainly no "metal god", but here's the quick scoop:

Choose the right spoon. Slow water, you want a teardrop shape (Steelie), fast water you want a more streamlined one (oval, little Cleo, BC Steel, Rvrfshr, etc... I like 2/5 oz...)

Cast straight out or slightly downstream. Let spoon hit bottom, then pick up slack and give it a slight twitch so you can feel it pulsing... You want a good 1.5 pulse/sec speed. If it's pulsing too fast it will spin, which you generally don't want. Goal is to swing the spoon through the hole near the bottom. You should be ticking the bottom every once in awhile.. To lower spoon drop your rod tip and/or point rod tip downstream. Do the opposite to raise the spoon.

Swing the spoon all the way through the hole and keep on it until the spoon stops swinging below you... then slo--ooow--ly reel back in. Be ready for a strike on the retrieve (it happens)...

Final tip. If you get hung up on the bottom don't just yank. Let out a dozen feet of line or so, and then give a quick pull. That loop of line pulls from below, and you'll rarely lose a spoon.

Hope that helps. Someone with more experience/knowledge may help you more, but I thought I'd share my limited info...
+1 on the suggestion to read Herzog's book!

Tight Lines!