During the fall, the Pamlico Sound and its western tributaries fill up with hungry speckled trout. As temperatures drop and food becomes more scarce, the majority of the menu will be baitfish, but specks and other predators maintain a weak spot for shrimp.
Even though very few shrimp are available in November, specks will have no problems guzzling down a free-swimming or an authentic-looking shrimp dangling above their heads.
Dave Stewart of Knee Deep Custom Charters is a fan of both live and plastic shrimp.
“If you have live shrimp, nothing can get better. Once fish find shrimp, they go into a feeding frenzy,” said Stewart, who will substitute a D.O.A. Shrimp on a rattle cork for a live one any day.
“The 3-inch D.O.A. shrimp under a popping cork is super deadly for trout any time of year,” he said.
Anglers have several other imitation shrimp to choose from, including the Storm, Gulp!, Live Target and Vudu shrimp, plus the Shrimposter.
There are two main ways to rig shrimp, with a popping or rattling cork the most popular. But one can also be rigged to be free-cast, giving anglers a distinct advantage over just floating one under a cork, because they can be fished at a variety of depths around the same cover.
Most artificial shrimp are pre-weighted enough to be cast. The best way to work a free-lined shrimp is to cast upcurrent and ease it slowly along the bottom with an occasional twitch.
Trout will take any opportunity they can get to eat a mouthful of shrimp any time of year. And anything that closely looks like a tasty shrimp will get the engine running.
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