Fishing with artificial lures can be rewarding, and options are virtually endless, with lures in every imaginable color and shape. The wide variety of shrimp, crab, and baitfish imitations give anglers an upper hand, but a few tricks will make sure that $10 lure performs as proclaimed.
Speckled trout fall for lots of baitfish imitations with a hard outer shell, from surface walkers to lipped crankbaits, but many of these plugs require fine tuning. Overall, most lures removed will function right out of the package as intended, but often, the eye will be just a hair off center or angled too far to the top or bottom. Lipped crankbaits will run off center when the eye is too far to one side or the other. Additionally, the hook eye on surface walkers must be underneath the nose of the lure for it to walk across the water’s surface. Luckily, the lure eye is metal and can be bent accordingly with a small pair of pliers.
Speckled trout feed via sight and will be lurking in structure-laden habitat made of oysters or covered with barnacles. Braided line offers ideal protection against these potential spoilers, but at the cost of revealing its presence to the trout. Anglers can remedy this situation with a 24- to 30-inch fluorocarbon leader that is virtually invisible and can be mended to the braided line with an Albright knot.
Fluorocarbon is one of those miracle products that can be used several ways and has several advantages over monofilament leaders. Not only is fluorocarbon abrasion resistant, it sinks better. Often, trout fishing during the late fall will require lightweight jigs and soft plastics fished in deep water. A fluorocarbon leader will help sink lures more quickly, getting them to their intended depth and allowing more time in the strike zone.
D.O.A. shrimp are deadly for speckled trout throughout the year, but especially in the fall. But heavy use and repetitive strikes will take away from one’s action and fishability. Specifically, the soft-bodied shrimp body will slide down the hook, presenting an unnatural-looking plastic contraption dancing in the water. Luckily, at least two cures exist for this problem besides removing a new one from the packaging. A small piece of hard leader wire pressed through the shrimp’s body and through the eye of the hook will keep the lure from sliding. Also, a little dab of Super Glue on the hook shaft just below the eye will eliminate the soft-plastic bait from sliding.
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