The Skinny on Lures

From OKFC Wiki

[edit] Why use Artificials?

Many new anglers feel compelled to use bait and don’t trust artificial lures. However, being in a kayak it’s difficult to keep bait alive. Another issue about live bait is that it’s one more stop before you get on the water either at the bait shop or chasing pilchards or mullet with a cast net at sunlight.

In contrast artificials are easy to acquire, store, use, and are very effective. There are times when only live bait can be effective, but these times are rare, so it’s certainly worth the trade-off to count on artificial lures. You can also be assured that many anglers have fooled a multitude of fish with almost all of the lures hanging at Gander Mountain and Bass Pro, so go ahead and try a few.

When we consider the shelves and displays at Gander Mountain and Bass Pro we see an endless variety of lures and often don’t know where to start selecting or what options to consider. There’s a choice of soft plastic or plugs, top water, or sinking, and certainly other options all with every color of the rainbow. As a result I see many anglers choose a tackle box full of lures, so many in fact that they could open their own tackle shop. Once on the water they will change lures about every 30 minutes, thinking that their lack of results is due to the lure.

I advise you to talk to a few veteran club members and ask them what works for them. The following artificials are used the most by our club members.

[edit] Mirrolure

L&S Bait Company, otherwise known as Mirrolure has been around forever. They started making and selling plugs in 1937 and have been on the cutting edge of hard bait technology ever since. There are so many classic lures in their lineup over the years it would require a book to list them all. Many are still in production and catching fish. Probably the most famous of these is the venerable 52MR, a finger mullet shaped sinking plug that I've personally been fishing for at least the past 20 years and have caught just about everything that swims in Florida on them.

And they continue to innovate. The most recent darling of the hardbait market is the NEW classic, Mirrodine 17MR and it's slightly larger sibling, the Mirrodine XL 27MR. These are small baits that are based on a Whitebait, or pilchard. (Also known as a scaled sardine). These little baits can be found in any body of saltwater that touches Florida and thus is part of every target specie's natural forage. Don't let the diminutive size of this little 2 1/2" bait fool you, it can catch some mighty large fish. Like 150 lb tarpon! (Albeit with some beefed up hooks). The key to this baits effectiveness is the "near" neutral buoyancy which causes the bait to suspend as you work it. It can be worked with a "twitch-twitch-pause" like a soft plastic jerkbait or it can be "walked" like a subsurface walk-the-dog type bait. It helps to put some pauses to your action and just let it suspend and slowly sink. Often times it's during this pause that a fish will smack it. Be prepared to catch everything and anything that swims with these little things. A definite "must have" for any inshore tackle box. My favorite color is the Bayou Green model.

Medicine Man-

[edit] Gulp

Thread under development

[edit] Exude

Exude soft plastic baits come in a couple of different patterns that are of interest to inshore fishing applications. Here we'll go over the most popular patterns as far as rigging and fishing:

1) The Exude RT Slug- This is basically a 5" shad type jerkbait similar to many other brands such as the Zoom Fluke and Bass Assassin Shad. The main distinction of the Exude baits (as the name implies) is that they are scented and will "exude" if you will, scent that's been formulated for saltwater gamefish. I won't go into the efficacy of these scented baits here but for the time being let me distinguish the scent we're talking about here from that of the "super scented" baits such as Berkely's GULP products and FishBites. The Exude scents are much more subtle. There are a number of ways to rig these baits but the most effective ways are to rig it in an 1/4 or 1/8th ounce jighead or in cases where a weedless presentation is required to use a weedless hook. For jigheads I like a good finish on the head and a strong widegap hook. In particular I like the Strike King Flats Jig's, the DOA CAL Jigheads and the Mission Fishin' Jigheads 1/8" ounce is a good size for fishing the flats and if you need to fish in deeper holes a 1/4 ounce will come in handy. Both Mission Fishin' and DOA make jigheads in 1/16th ounce as well. These have less of an application but can also come in handy in certain circumstances so it doesn't hurt to have a couple in your tackle box.

For a weedless presentation there are more options available now than ever. The ones I like the most are the Mustad Powerlock weighted hooks (4/0 with 1/16th ounce weight), the Owner Twistlock weighted hook (also 4/0, 1/8th oz hook) and most recently a new product on the market from Capt. Joe Herbert called the "Edje" weedless hook. All of these are excellent quality and strong. But there are many other similar style hooks on the market. All these share a similar rigging style of affixing either a spike or screw-in coil to front of the bait, the running the hook up through the body and laying the point flush against the top of the body.

(See this article on weedless rigging: (Weedless Rigging))

This allows the least amount of exposed hook to catch weeds yet when a fish strikes the soft plastic body collapses as the fish bites exposing the hook.

To fish the Exude RT Slug, there is no RIGHT way and no ONE way that will always be effective. Sometimes the fish like a slow bait bounced along the bottom like a shrimp or other crustacean, and other times they want a fast bait like a fleeing baitfish. The RT slug will simulate all these with the right color. The best thing is to develop a number of different presentations to keep in your arsenal and try them to see which one seems to elicit the bite. In general a good place to start is to fish them with your rod tip down or parallel with the water surface, then do a "twitch-twitch-pause-repeat" pattern. Keep in mind that even a small movement of your rod tip can impart a lot of movement to the bait so keep the twitches short and sweet. Once you get the feel for this you can add in the occasional "twitch-twitch-twitch-twitch" cadence which will cause your bait to dart from side to side or "walk-the-dog" under the surface of the water. If you find that your bait is breaking the surface all the time then your are twitching too hard. Slow it down a bit, and lighten up the twitching. Subtlety is the key here.

2) Exude DART-The DART is a slim 4" jerkbait that has a round cross section resembling a skinny cigar. Like it's name implies the streamlined shape accentuates the "darting" action of a baitfish or shrimp. They can be rigged and fished exactly as the RT Slug above. (In fact the rigging and fishing action described in the RT SLUG section can apply to just about ANY soft plastic bait in this whole column. One thing to note about the DART is that there is a distinct front and back end. The front section has some molded ribbed fins. If you rig the bait with these "fins" facing down they will tend to kick up little "puffs" of sediment as they hop along and this can often trigger a violent strike.

3) Exude Shrimp- These are a largish profile very floppy and soft shrimp bait. They have a lot of great movement as you work them due to the articulated body segments and they "push" a lot of water as they move along. They can be rigged as the RT SLUG above but have the added option of being fished just like a live shrimp. Run a small circle hook up through the jaw to the top of the head and throw it out under a popping cork and "pop" it every 10-15 seconds or so. This is a great way to attract large seatrout.

4) Exude Crab- These are rather hard to find except in the smaller mom & pop bait shops. This can be a deadly Black Drum bait or if the redfish are very spooky you can throw these on a smaller (3/0 or even 2/0) weedless hook. Because they are small and their profile is somewhat wide they land very softly and are a good bait tro throw at very spooky fish. They are designed with a "rigging appendage" to allow you rig them like any other jerkbait. Fishing the crab requires a change in strategy than the shad type baits. Crab don't really dart and swim so much as slowly crawl or slowly steadily kick along at the top of the water column. In general, it's more of a "sight fishing" bait to be throw at tailing or specifically sighted fish as opposed to being used as a "search bait" to blind cast for fish. Throw it the edge of a school of tailing fish or in front of an individual fish and barely......barely....slowly crawl it.

Medicine Man-

[edit] D.O.A.

Mark Nichols founder of DOA Lures and developer of all the great baits in the DOA line is ostensibly the most well known "celebrity" bait manufacturer in our segment of the industry. He is an incredibly colorful fellow, is constantly doing inshore fishing seminars all over the state and always innovating by enhancing and expanding the DOA line.

1) DOA SHRIMP- Probably the most well known, and often the MOST INCORRECTLY FISHED DOA lure is the DOA Shrimp. This was DOA's very first lure and broke open the realistic plastic shrimp bait market. When DOA's patent duration expired a lot of other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon and as a result there are LOT of similar shrimp type lures on the market. Some are very well executed, others....well, not so much:) But I've always stuck to the original because it remains the most durable, has the most realistic sink rate and the best color selections.

All DOA soft plastic baits are made with farm grown shrimp and thus have "some" scent but probably even a notch below that of the Exude baits mentioned above.

The proper way to fish the DOA shrimp (with two exceptions which I will get to in a bit) is to fish it slow. When you've slowed the presentation down to the point that you think you're about to fall asleep that's still probably too fast:) The shrimp is probably not the right bait for you if you are hyperactive and require a lot of interaction. But when fished correctly it can be absolutely deadly. I can't think of ANYTHING that swims in fresh or salt water or even offshore in Florida that won't eat a DOA shrimp. The trick is to think like a shrimp that is naturally swimming/crawling/ticking along the tops of the grass tips under the water and try to mimic this. Or give it a short hop but let is slowly sink back down, many times you'll get the strike as the bait is falling because it looks so natural. I don't think their is a BAD color in all the colors the shrimp comes in but some of the more popular and proven fish catchers are the GLOW, GOLD FLAKE, ROOTBEER. I personally like the two tone baits the best. (Ie, ROOTBEER with CHARTRUESE TAIL.

Now about those two exceptions I mentioned....First is when fished under a popping cork. This rig is sold complete as the "DOA Deadly Combo" but basically any popping cork will work. Rig the shrimp as you normally would (with a loop knot) and put a popping cork about 18-20" above the bait. Throw it out and pop it a couple of times. Give it about 15 seconds. If nothing happens crank it a few feet and repeat. This method accounts for a LARGE amount of LARGE seatrout amongst other species. The second exception is a little counter-intuitive but I've had some great success fishing it as a top water bait. Basically throw it out and skip and skitter the shrimp along the surface. It causes enough commotion and casts a profile that resembles food enough to get some impressive strikes.

2) DOA CAL Series- The DOA CAL series of baits comes in 5 different patterns (as of the moment.....there is a new one in prototype but not yet released). There is a 4" Shad tail,a 5.5" shad tail, a 3" paddle tail, a 4" curly tail and a 3" grub tail.

These are all designed to be fished with the DOA Jigheads or rigged weedless with the aforementioned weedless hooks in the Exude section. My personal favorites are the 4" shad and 3" paddle tails. I use them the same was as I would use an RT SLUG or DART but because they have a smaller profile they land softer when throwing at spooky fish. Also the 4" Shad tail is a perfect mimic for a glass minnow or finger mullet. The paddle tails can be rigged weedless and dragged through the grass along the bottom or jigged along like a jighead. They also can be fished like a swimbait, just throw it out and retrieve just slow enough to get it under the surface of the water. The swimming action of the paddle tail can bring fish in from quite a distance to strike at it. It's an excellent snook bait fished this way. All colors are good but I tend to lean towards the natural colors with my all time favorite being "Arkansas Glow" with a close second being "Glow".

3) DOA Crab- If you have problems fishing the DOA Shrimp correctly then don't even bother with the crab!:):) This bait needs to be fished about 1/2 as fast as the shrimp. (Or as Mr. Nichols says "slower than death...". Like the Exude Crab this is not a search bait but a sight fishing bait. Toss it in front of the nose of a cruising red or along the edge of a school of tailing fish and give it a slight twitch to let them know it's there. I like the Rootbeer colored crabs.

4) DOA Baitbuster- Quite possibly my all time favorite DOA bait. Basically a swimming fingermullet. They come in a couple of variants. The shallow swimming version, deep swimming version, and trolling version. By far I fish the shallow swimmer more than the others by a margin of 10:1. This bait will catch any species we would come across in the lagoon system and is extemely fun as well as versatile to fish. Usually I'll just throw it out and do a steady retrieve which makes the curly tail flap around. I give it the occasional jig to make it dart and when a fish strikes it's usually a topwater or near topwater strike. You can get some vicious strikes on this bait like a topwater, I've had snook skyrocket this bait clear out of the water. It can also be fished slower and jigged along the bottom like a dying mullet swimming and bumping along the bottem. You can also "burn" it across the surface like surface spinner and cause a lot of commotion to induce a strike. It's a large enough profile to attract the larger fish as it represents a nice morsel yet small enough that even the smallest of trout will tackle it. Everything that swims loves to eat a finger mullet which is what the Baitbuster represents. All colors are good but my "go to" colors are Black Back/Gold flake (Color 341) and Green back/Pearl sides/red chin (Color 372)

Medicine Man-

[edit] Gold Weedless Spoon

The weedless gold spoon (Johnson Silver minnow and it's many clones) has probably accounted for more redfish than all other artificial lures combined. It inherently has many benefits such as being great search bait, makes enough commotion in the water to attract fish both audibly and visually (very helpful on overcast days), it casts a country mile and is very wind resistant to cast. That's the good news.

The bad news, the redfish that we chase in the ML, IRL and BRL have seen every single brand of spoon made in the last 40 years and could probably read the brand and label from a mile away. Especially in gold. An important point about the particularly spooky nature of the fish in our area, the typical 1/4 to 1/2 spoon makes a pretty loud splash when it hits the water unless you learn to "feather" the landing. (Think of it as chipping a golf ball and putting it softly on the green with just a bit of back spin:)

Having said that, I still carry an assortment of spoons with me as there are definitely circumstances when I will break them out. I like the original Johnson Silver Minnow in gold and silver, I also like the "Gator" brand spoons because they are relatively inexpensive and come in black, which is a surprisingly effective color for a spoon. The other thing I like about the Gator spoons is that they adjust the weight by making the spoon thinner or thicker but keep the same profile, which is neat. Also they have a slot cut in them to make adding trailers very easy. Sometimes I'll add a worm or even a Gulp jerk bait as a trailer and it swims very enticingly. I also like the Nemires spoons for certain situations, not so much for swimming but for bouncing off the bottom along the contour of a drop off. They have a built in rattle which can be good and bad. I think the rattles are too loud for spooky winter fish in the super shallows. A gold weedless spoon is also an excellent snook bait although not generally regarded as such. They are great for covering a lot of water or for dissecting a mangrove shoreline and generally a flubbed cast into the mangrove branches can be "teased" back out.

You've probably heard this a million times but if I were forced to choose to fish only one bait for the rest of my life I'd pick a 1/4 oz. Weedless Johnson Silver Minnow in Gold. I've caught a greater variety of species on that exact bait over the years than probably anything else.

Also, make sure you spend some time sharpening the hooks of the plated gold spoons. The plating process makes them extremely dull and they need some serious sharpening before use.

Medicine Man-

[edit] Heddon Spook

Thread under development

[edit] Rapala Skitterwalk

Thread under development

[edit] Mirrolure surface plug

Thread under development

Practice in your pool or on a pond so that you can mimic the magic action to entice fish. Most of the time you want the action for sub surface lures such as soft plastic jigs, slow sinking plugs, and jerk baits to be an erratic wounded baitfish motion. To authentically duplicate this behavior I encourage you to try the same thing a veteran angler long ago taught me: take a baitfish, pinch it hard, and throw it into the water. You will see that it will spastically twitch and spiral down to the bottom. Fresh pilchards and greenbacks will do the same thing when you initially hook them. This is the exact same action you want to duplicate with short but very quick jerks of the rod tip followed by a retrieve of the line. If you don’t feel confident yet with this technique then there are other lures such as spoons and soft plastic shad bodies on jig heads that require a simple cast and straightforward retrieve.

Trust that these lures are productive and give it a shot on your next trip, and get the advice of other anglers familiar with the lure you’re learning to use. It will feel awkward at first, but eventually you will see success, so invest the time and effort.