Baits, technique can make a big difference in winter trout success in the Carolinas

Speckled trout will hit a variety of artificial lures during the winter, their common feature being that they can be fished slowly.

Be more selective of lure choices in cold weather

During the fall, speckled trout eat about everything they can afford to get down their throats in anticipation of the winter season. But when winter arrives and most of the bait vanishes, lure and bait choices force anglers to revise their playbooks.

With little bait in the cold water, trout have more time to look at what they eat. Seeing a flood of shrimp and mullet swimming past is not a normal sight, so anglers need to choose the right tactics to get fish to cooperate.

Guide Kyle Hughes of Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., points to a mud minnow fished under a float as a great technique, but he will change his float rig for the winter bite.

“I lighten everything up,” Hughes said. “I scale it back to a bream-sized float and a small split-shot because you get a lot of short strikes.”

Go lighter, slow down

When the water is cold, trout that grab the minnow will release it if they feel pressure from a large float. A smaller float helps keep the bait in their mouths long enough for anglers to set the hook.

In deeper holes, Hughes fishes mud minnows on a split-shot Carolina rig. But artificial lures can also bring plenty of fish to the boat if used effectively. Hughes uses a variety of baitfish and shrimp imitation but works them at a much slower pace.

“I use the normal artificial lures we do for trout like the Vudu Shrimp, D.O.A. Shrimp and suspending hard baits. I really like the MirOlure 14MR and the smallest Rapala X-Rap they make. I have crushed them on the small X-Raps in winter,” he said.

Suspending hard baits can be used with a stop-n-go retrieve to give trout plenty of time to take the bait.

Color can also make a difference

Guide Mark Young of Pawley’s Island, S.C., uses both artificials and his own hand-tied flies to dupe winter specks. Color and lure size choices make a difference.

“You can exploit the fish by downsizing or upsizing until you get a reaction,” Young said. “Sometimes they want a large meal in one bite. At other times they will only eat something small, but color is my most-important variable. When the water is really clear, I have seen trout come from 10 feet away to eat a hot-colored lure.”

“Hot-colored lures” are pink, chartreuse or those two colors in combination. But Young will frequently use natural or dull colors when bright ones fail to produce strikes.

Young will also use a variety of lures to get the right reaction from trout.

“We have a lot of big fish around this time of year, and the bigger lures will get the fish off the bottom to feed frequently. I like to upsize to the larger-profile baits like the full-sized X-Raps and the big MirrOlures. They have a pretense to catch these bigger fish lurking in these waters,” he said.

One thing Young does during the winter is slow-troll lures behind his skiff to find schooled fish. He will work deeper channels with two rods behind his boat, one carrying a bright X-Rap and the other a MirrOlure in a natural color.

“When I get a strike, I will stop and cast,”  he said.

Want more fishing tips? Click here to find out if you should use artificial lures or natural bait.

About Jeff Burleson 1308 Articles
Jeff Burleson is a native of Lumberton, N.C., who lives in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He graduated from N.C. State University with a degree in fisheries and wildlife sciences and is a certified biologist and professional forester for Southern Palmetto Environmental Consulting.

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