Whats in My Tackle Box: Speckled Trout

1. Soft plastic jigs I have said it many times before are my favorite way to fish its a great technique for just about any area. For speckled trout I usually use a saltwater assassin or deadly dudley jig in one of two colors opening night or chicken on the chain. Those are the primary colors that I use and I don't seem to need to use anything else. These are natural colors and that is the advantage of these colors over the other 50 colors on the rack.

tons of colors check them out

2.Mirrolure 52MR is my favorite hard bait for speckled trout this suspending twitchbait features three treble hooks and rarely misses. Its a slow sinking bait that makes it easy to control the depth at which you work it.
 I fish it fast or slow but most often I work it with 3 or four quick twitches and a long pause. The fish like to hit it while its paused or as soon as you begin to twitch it. Another productive retrieve is to let it sink to the bottom and steadily retrieving and twitching with no pause if fish are aggressive you can speed up to burning speed.

3.Mirrodine is a funny little lure and it takes a little practice to get used to It almost feel weightless underwater like a fly. Dead slow is the ticket once you learn to slow it down and feel the fish tap it you will be rewarded with quality specks when everyone else is catching schoolies. There are three sizes just try and match the hatch right now in the spring im throwing the mini but by june I will tie on the XL.Whenever you can catch trout on a popping cork you can probably catch bigger ones on a mirrodine. Tip:This lure also has a tight wobble when retrieved and can be effective on a straight retrieve. I have had  good success with that retrieve over shallow structure like 1' or 2'.
4.Rat l trap one of my favorite baits all time always keep a couple of assorted sizes and colors in my box but my favorite for trout is chrome and pink back.

5.Rapala X-Rap I really like fishing for speckled trout with hard baits as you can see on this list .  Using the larger profile hard baits give you a better chance to catch a trophy speckled trout. Even though you are

targeting bigger fish it doesn't hurt numbers as I have out fished my buddy using soft plastics a couple of times using this lure. The key to fishing this is finding the right speed to work it. This lure is killer in winter a twitch with a pause up to a minute works because of its almost neutral buoyancy. This spring I have been using it with a walk the dog type retrieve or a constant twitching and reeling has been effective.

7. Top water probably falls lower on my list than other Speckled Trout fishermen in south Louisiana. Not because it doesn't work but because it frustrates me. I don't usually have the patience to only catch one fish and watching a big trout swing and miss just kills me inside. Walking the dog with a lure like the She Dog is probably the easiest way to catch a true trophy. I fish various tournaments and some are for speckled trout those days always start with topwater because on tournament day it can pay off big time.

vudu shrimp -click here

8.Popping cork is falling off my list because I'm currently infatuated with all the hard baits. If I would have made this list last year it would have been up in the top three for sure. I usually use the shrimp imitation soft plastics  exclusively under a popping cork. The DOA Shrimp for a long time held a premier space in my tackle box and it still works great. The latest and greatest  is the vudu shrimp it is a killer that was made to go under the cork, and made to catch speckled trout. These lures come in a pack of two and if the trout don't pop your line you can catch a hundred fish on one of these durable lures. Also a new popping cork haven't got to try it yet is the pogeaux pop cork has been getting great reviews.

casting spoon-click for info

9.Casting spoon throwing this lure into the surf on a summer morning can fill the box quick. A couple of old standbys are a mr.champ and Krocodile the single treble almost never misses. Once you get on the school they hit it as fast as you can throw it into the water. This is an old school bait that still works in the present day.

Keep your shrimp alive with this and a 5 gallon bucket

10.Live shrimp I imagine the fish see a shrimp floating along and react like we do if we saw an unclaimed dollar on the sidewalk. Most likely if the dollar is within reach you are going to grab it and quickly before it blows away. A dollar is not a significant amount of money like a shrimp is not a big meal for a fish but something makes us all step on that dollar before it blows away just like a speckled trout will grab a live shrimp on the end of the line. Put a shrimp under a cork or on a carolina rig on the bottom and be prepared to set the hook. If you want fast action give live shrimp a try you wont be dissapointed.

Like to catch redfish check out my other list http://fishxscale.blogspot.com/2014/04/whats-in-my-tackle-box-redfish.html