Jeff Williamson of Get Busy Fishing Charters said that fishing live shrimp for speckled trout means fishing a popping-cork rig, and there are several keys to getting the before performance from them.
A cork-rig keeps the bait at a particular depth, so an angler can “dial in” the zone where the trout are feeding. Also, the cork has beads both above and below, and when the rod tip is twitched or jerked, the cork and beads collide, making a popping noise that resembles shrimp spooking out of an area. This noise attracts trout when they are not concentrated.
Williamson uses a stop knot — a piece of yard uni-knotted around the main line that can be slid up and down — to vary the depth at which his shrimp will be presented. Also, he adds a small egg sinker beneath the cork that catches on the swivel and forces the cork to ride vertically in the water, making a strike much easier to detect.
He uses a fluorocarbon leader as light as 8-pound and either a small Kahle-style hook or a small treble hook. He said that gold hooks are much-more effective, and he hooks the shrimp up just under the horn or on its back, taking care to miss the dark spot with the hook. The livelier the shrimp, the better.
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