Hey guys hope y’all are social distancing yourselves by being on the water and getting up close with some fish.
Like many I’m bored more than I’d like so I thought let’s see what the fellas are catchen em on lately.
I’ll start so it’s not some BS troll for info. If I post it it’s true and it happened as I don’t really care for BS so here ya go:
Top bait right now is hands down an eye strike 3/16oz jig with gold eyes rigged with a z man paddlerz 3” swimbait in the opening night color and bad shad color. Both are catching quality trout and are rigged on a 7’ M/fast 2500 spinning rig with 10# braid and a 12# sunline leader.
Second top bait for me right now is a vudu shrimp in gold. The smaller one is my preferred and is 3.5”. I just free line that with a loop knot as it has lead in it and is remarkably easy to get unsnagged from oysters. Same line setup as above.
Top water is starting to show promise and the spook Jr in a custom blueback herring color I had painted back in my bass tournament days is doing well. But I’d use a chrome/blue or black/chartreuse just as much and likely get the same number of bites. It’s the action not the color 9/10 times. The rebel pop-r will flat catch em now too as it’s small and makes an easy target.
Sub surface moving hard baits are working fine too. I’m a lucky craft pointer 78 fan in chartreuse shad or table rock shad.
Been fishing 2-8’ mostly and it’s been equally good on incoming and outgoing. Caught all three inshore species on the last trip and looking to do more of the same next trip out.
Have not thrown a spinner bait yet but may tie one on for the next high tide I fish to burn the grass edges with as it covers water and reveals aggressive fish who won’t hit top water pretty well.
I’m junk fishing now a lot too meaning trying all kinds of bass crap I have tons of just to see if it’ll work. Most of it does so that’s what I’ve been doing. How about y’all?
I tend to fish more of finesse style. Most of my fishing is done with a Shimano Expride 7’ Light rod matched with a 1000 frame Stradic Ci4 or Stella reel. Both spooled with 8 pound Superslick V2 braid with 3 feet of 10 pound fluorocarbon leader. Primary soft plastic lures are Z-Man SteakZ 3.75 on 3/16 ounce Eye Strike Finesse jig and Finesse TRD on 1/6 or 1/5 ounce NedLockZ jigs. I like casting suspending hard baits when water clarity is good. Mostly using a Lucky Craft Pointer 78SP. In shallow water situations, I use a small MirroDine. Both lures produce big Trout and a surprising number of Redfish.
I am addicted to top water fishing. Upgrade tackle size to Expride 7’ Medium rod with a 2500 frame Stardic Ci4 spooled with 10 pound braid. Zara Spook Jr is what I cast most of the time. Tried switching to J-hooks last year. Did not work for me. So, back to trebles with the barbs smashed down.
Taking a break from the fly rod to rest an injured shoulder (from to much fishing). Mostly use a Shimano 8 weight Asquith. Hope to be back for tailing season.
257 views and 1 response? C’mon, man… If this pandemic has taught (or should have by now) us anything about helping our fellow man out and being a little less self absorbed then sharing what cricket you believe in shouldn’t be that tough.
Consider being more than a consumer and actually add something to the boards; it may make someone’s day who’s having a tough one.
Just sayin’. BTW, thanks fishtales for your response, I’m a fan of that TRD myself from deep spotted bass fisheries upstate and in the Piedmont of NC. Smallmouth love them just as much which is why so much bass tackle works for inshore fishing. Nicely stated and thanks for getting the idea of what the post was about. Tight lines!
Great info man, love reading. I have been spending alot of time exploring the new (to me) water around Bulls bay. Just got my own rig to get out there. Fishing been pretty slow as I try and evade the people and maddness of the wando and IOP areas, but when I have caught e its been on a neon yellow 1/8 ounce jog and a rootbeer paddler with a sartruse tail. Couple trout on the doa around docks and oyster points but over all just trying to find my way around, studying maps. No GPS or depth finder has made for some fun trips from Anderson creek to Venning and back around through Graham chasing the tide and wind. Tight lines yall and hope to see yall out there, got every excuse to go every day now!
"The further one gets into the wilderness, the greater the attraction of its lonely freedom"
I’ve mostly been throwing bait recently, oysters and fiddlers for sheep’s. But if I was using artificials I’d use some mirror lures and paddle tails 2 to 4 inch baits. Zman Doa, gulp, procure. This is a good month to use gulp since there is less trash fish.
Topwater season is in full effect as of the last 2 weeks. If you haven’t tried a Rapala Skitter V, man, they work great. Whether its the pitch, profile, or action, the trout just smash it. The hooks are garbage but I just use them till they bend out then replace them. Try adding some extra sauce by adding a VMC bladed treble to the back hook. I have done that to a few plugs and also some Heavy Dines and it looks amazing. Jury’s out on if the heavier weight affects the TW action too much but results have been good.
Smaller profiles have been working for me lately but I’m starting to go back to the full length plastics as the mullet start moving in. We are really late to the finesse game (and pretty much missed the hot season this year) but we have new TexasEye Finesse jigs that I’ve been prototyping. They are gonna ring the bell for us I’m sure. We probably won’t get them in for several weeks due to plant closures elsewhere in the US unfortunately. If you look at our social media @eyestrikefishing on FB and IG you can see the results. It’s not marketing BS I promise you - plus I have unbiased witnesses. First trip using them I got a margarita slam plus several upgrades on the same jig / plastic and the next trip with the same jig I got a 25" trout. The plastic was a 3" slim swimz in space guppy color. That little rig has slayed for me. But, like I said before, I’ll go back to bigger profiles now that the water has warmed - 3/16 TX Eye and 4" Scented Jerk ShadZ. Nuked Pilchard has been a great “big trout” lure for me.
Next 3 months are big trout “prime time”. Please consider releasing all trout over 20" and especially the big females full of roe.
Totally agree Dave. Power Fishing (faster & with bigger baits) is getting right and I’m a fan. I love to finesse fish and will when I have to but if I have a chance to hurl a bigger profile and chunk & wind for a bigger bite I’m all in 10/10 times! Keep em coming fellas, this kind of info helps make the day go by faster, gets us thinking about things other than the doom/gloom media reports, and just might help you bag a few more keepers!
Red Hunter, keep some color variation on hand depending on the water color. That rootbeer colored DOA with a chart tail is also a really great bait and I use it a lot in the summer along with new penny in that same bait as the water gets progressively dirtier. If you are in clearer water (which all things equal trout prefer being sight feeders) then consider some natural colors as well that match what they are chewin’ on. Those z man colors I mentioned and that others have also are good choices and the baits hold up a lot longer. Not a commercial, just a fact. I have a bunch of each and as Dave noted the finesse head in 1/8 is a great option when you need to downsize. I only have it in the trout eye not the TX eye but that may change here before long as supply becomes available. Hope it helps make for better days guys. Be safe.
Guys, if you have not thrown a topwater prop bait give it some consideration. Unlike a walking bait it makes a ton of noise but stays in one spot longer. Think of it as an aggravating kind of bite generator the same way we swat at a mosquito or lose our patience and correct a seemingly never ending barking dog after 500 yelps or so… The prop bait is a killer topwater bait for less than willing chasers but is great for fish that are “looking up” when bait is not pinned to the bottom which is where we are in our lifecycle now as bait repopulates the estuaries.
One of my favorites is an Academy Sports Slush Daddy in 1/2 oz. Color to me is not as critical but I am a huge fan of the chrome/blue combo as it throws off a lot of flash while it just sits there and ticks the fish off. Trout HATE this thing and I’ve had some of my better bites throwing it since I started fishing these waters not all that long ago. Here’s a solid fish that just couldn’t leave it alone. Others are a devils horse, whopper plopper, heddon tiny torpedo, etc. There are lots of variations of prop baits, don’t overlook them if a stick bait/walking bait isn’t getting it done right away.
Sorry, I can’t flip the picture around so just turn your head for that one.
Great info guys. I’ve been doing only live shrimp lately. I’m fairly new to charleston and love fishing artificial. Hard to find folks to fish with around here even when you have a boat! I do have a pretty good collection of eye strike and z man. They work as good here as they did in Texas. Good luck.
In the summer time when the small blues, pinfish, grunts, puffers, crabs etc are in a gulp gets trashed in like one cast. In the late fall winter and spring we don’t have all those so you can use gulp and not get them destroyed instantly. Doas are tuff against fish but not crabs. Zmans are tuff against everything in the water but are sensitive to how you store them.
