Texas Kayak Fisherman - Kayak Fishing the Lone Star State!

Lures Explained! by Joe Guilbeau
We have a lot of new saltwater fishermen starting on the board. I know that I own more baits than most from impulse buying while lurking Academy. What advice would you give a new fisherman on stocking a basic bay box of baits? Please indicate color, size bait and why and water condition. For Plastics: Laser lock jig heads in 1/16, 1/8/, and ¼ oz. #3 or? Wide gap hook and Swivels? I would use 1/16 in shallow, and 1/8 in the deeper part of the bay. The thinner and more bananna shaped the weight the better. A little spur on the head to keep the plastic on the jig is preferable. What colors and sizes of plastics would you recommend for the basic box? Pleased indicate why you would pick that size and color for off color and clear water. In general the closer to the color of the bait that the fish are eating, the more you increase your chances. Next time you catch a good size trout or red, that you definitely are going to keep, cut ‘em open and see what they are feeding on. Red with white tail or Strawberry with white tail, use in clear or stained water (ice tea visability)…they have worked for decades! Tequila Gold with sparkles is a good bet when dusk approaches. Motor Oil with a flaming red or hot pink tail are good for dusk operations. When the water gets really murky, then bone or white or something that stands out might be a pretty good bet. In really clear water, you can experiment, with oranges, and reds and blues, lots of things will work if you can get the retrieve down. Speaking of retrieves, for reds slow it down, these guys root around and have their noses to the bottom of the bays, so bump those plastics off the bottom and create little puffs of mud and sand, like some scurrying (might I suggest CRAB!!!) creature might do. Reds will also get up in the cord grass along the shoreline…why??? Because they are nosing around the shafts of the grass to shake loose shrimp and such. Carry a good variety of plastics already hooked up on the jigs, and swap jigs and plastics, instead of tearing off the plastic and trying a different color…change the jig and save some money. Chartreuse and hot pink can be a killer. Sometimes in really chocolate water the black or glow in the dark stuff produces. Don’t forget to try some shrimp tails to tag the ends also, this works best up against the shore while bumping along the bottom. Trout can be induced to bite when you “Strip” the line back by pulling the rod and reel backwards very rapidly and reel in the slack created by moving the rod tip forward, and repeating the process over and over. The bait is seen as fleeing and initiates the follow and see what the heck that is instinct, and when the rod tip is moved forward and the line is no longer moving, the bait falls and many times there is a predator just behind the lure that suddenly has something that it is chasing stop, so the natural reaction is to inhale it and see if it is any good to eat, that would be your clue to set the hook…since you have a natural rhythm going, two jerks backwards and move the rod tip forward and two cranks on the reel handle, and start the process all over, you find the fish hook themselves. Hard baits: Top water: BIG top water or regular or smaller /Dogs/ producers / spooks/ skitter walkers/ chugbugs or? Bigger the bait the bigger the fish, and the less strikes that will happen. Topwaters early in the morning or in the right conditions when the bait is churning, any plug will do. Try some Yo-Zuri Mag Darters, in the trout blue and black spot pattern, they aren’t called trout but you will recognize the pattern. Rapala shad raps have produced and the floating twitching blue, chrome or red/yellow/black are good also. Diver/ floater: red fins, or? I am not a huge plug fan, but these produce well for others Sinker/ floater: mr51/52 or catch 2000 or corkys or? Mirror lure 52’s 51’s Red/White have always produced. This is for the guy that just started bay fishing and is trying to get started with a basic box to cover most situations. For the guy who is getting started, I would highly suggest a ¼ oz Gold spoon with treble hook, a ¼ oz Gold Weedless, and a ½ oz Gold Weedless along with the sliver counterparts. Red spots and a Hot Pink plastic fringe hook thing for the gold spoons and chartreuse spots on the sliver spoons. Learn to get bites on these, and the rest of the lure presentation s become pretty simple. Those are really the only lures one needs, well add in the Red/Strawberry with white tail and the Motor Oil with sparkles and the Hot Pink tail with 1/8 oz jigs. What would you recommend for COLOR AND SIZE AND WATER CONDITIONS? Try to mimic the bait colors, in murky waters a higher contrast is better, darker colors in the evening hours or at night, with hot pink tails for plastics are good. During high sunlight hours, a light color (like brand new motor oil, and gold sparkles) with a chartreuse or hot pink or white tail can produce. At night a solid black spoon is good. When you retrieve a gold or silver spoon, try to set up the cast such that the spoon is 90 degrees to the sun, and gets the most sunlight on it. If you are up against the banks of cord grass and mud, cast to the passes and let the lure sink to the bottom and bump the lure all the way back, alot of reds will hit it if you cast and let it sit about 30 seconds or so. The commotion of the lure hitting the shallow water draws the reds to the area where the lure hit, they nose along the bottom wondering what the heck that was, then whey they are just turning away, out of the corner of their eye something glints and kicks up a spurt of mud!!! It jerks forward and stops...now curiosity is getting the best if that red, and it noses over to investigate, and just as it starts to nose up to the bait, it jerks forward and trys to escape...like so many other shrimp, crab, and mullet that have previously dined at Mr. Redfish's table... Look at the fish species that you wish to target, Reds generally look down, that is not to say that they will not hit a top water, but it isn’t really in their nature. In the surf, trout will feed on schools of shad and shrimp, while the reds will tag along underneath all the action, rather than get up with the trout. For this, I would try top water baits when the trout are “under the birds” just for the fun of watching the blow-ups. Those reds will require a fast sinking ½ oz or ¾ oz gold or silver spoon to get past the pesky trout. Anything that stays in the water column will be good under these conditions for the trout. Finally, it is CONFIDENCE that will take you over the top. This is just a karma thing, but it is SO important. I really can’t describe it, you just sorta have to experience it, all the long time fisherman reading this will agree. If you have confidence in a lure and the way you present it, it will work. For instance, I have NEVER EVER caught or even had a bump on a DOA shrimp…they just look dorky to me, but they produce over and over for many, many people. I am just not one of them, I suppose that I could put one behind a Mansfield Mauler and get after them, but I really don’t enjoy that kind of fishing. By the way, most anyone can catch fish using the Red or Chartreuse Mansfield Mauler with a ¼ oz jig with a plastic red/white during the days or a motor oil-gold sparkle/hot pink tail in the evenings. Just kinda chug it along, give it a jerk to make the water slurp and give the handle a couple of turns and repeat. Try to set the length of the jig to hang just above the bottom, this way you have a good shot at flounder also. Here is a hot item that I probably shouldn’t tell about, using a bass spinner bait with a chartreuse skirt or red and white skirt can really do some damage up against the shore lines when the reds are in the cord grass. Go really slow on the retrieve and see what happens. Be prepared to have some lures tore up.

Lures Explained! by Joe Guilbeau

We have a lot of new saltwater fishermen starting on the board. I know that I own more baits than most from impulse buying while lurking Academy.

What advice would you give a new fisherman on stocking a basic bay box of baits?

Please indicate color, size bait and why and water condition.

For Plastics:

Laser lock jig heads in 1/16, 1/8/, and ¼ oz. #3 or? Wide gap hook and Swivels?
I would use 1/16 in shallow, and 1/8 in the deeper part of the bay. The thinner and more bananna shaped the weight the better. A little spur on the head to keep the plastic on the jig is preferable.

What colors and sizes of plastics would you recommend for the basic box? Pleased indicate why you would pick that size and color for off color and clear water.

In general the closer to the color of the bait that the fish are eating, the more you increase your chances. Next time you catch a good size trout or red, that you definitely are going to keep, cut ‘em open and see what they are feeding on.

Red with white tail or Strawberry with white tail, use in clear or stained water (ice tea visability)…they have worked for decades!
Tequila Gold with sparkles is a good bet when dusk approaches.
Motor Oil with a flaming red or hot pink tail are good for dusk operations.
When the water gets really murky, then bone or white or something that stands out might be a pretty good bet. In really clear water, you can experiment, with oranges, and reds and blues, lots of things will work if you can get the retrieve down. Speaking of retrieves, for reds slow it down, these guys root around and have their noses to the bottom of the bays, so bump those plastics off the bottom and create little puffs of mud and sand, like some scurrying (might I suggest CRAB!!!) creature might do.
Reds will also get up in the cord grass along the shoreline…why??? Because they are nosing around the shafts of the grass to shake loose shrimp and such.

Carry a good variety of plastics already hooked up on the jigs, and swap jigs and plastics, instead of tearing off the plastic and trying a different color…change the jig and save some money.

Chartreuse and hot pink can be a killer. Sometimes in really chocolate water the black or glow in the dark stuff produces.

Don’t forget to try some shrimp tails to tag the ends also, this works best up against the shore while bumping along the bottom.

Trout can be induced to bite when you “Strip” the line back by pulling the rod and reel backwards very rapidly and reel in the slack created by moving the rod tip forward, and repeating the process over and over. The bait is seen as fleeing and initiates the follow and see what the heck that is instinct, and when the rod tip is moved forward and the line is no longer moving, the bait falls and many times there is a predator just behind the lure that suddenly has something that it is chasing stop, so the natural reaction is to inhale it and see if it is any good to eat, that would be your clue to set the hook…since you have a natural rhythm going, two jerks backwards and move the rod tip forward and two cranks on the reel handle, and start the process all over, you find the fish hook themselves.

Hard baits:

Top water: BIG top water or regular or smaller /Dogs/ producers / spooks/ skitter walkers/ chugbugs or?

Bigger the bait the bigger the fish, and the less strikes that will happen. Topwaters early in the morning or in the right conditions when the bait is churning, any plug will do.

Try some Yo-Zuri Mag Darters, in the trout blue and black spot pattern, they aren’t called trout but you will recognize the pattern. Rapala shad raps have produced and the floating twitching blue, chrome or red/yellow/black are good also.

Diver/ floater: red fins, or?
I am not a huge plug fan, but these produce well for others

Sinker/ floater: mr51/52 or catch 2000 or corkys or?
Mirror lure 52’s 51’s Red/White have always produced.

This is for the guy that just started bay fishing and is trying to get started with a basic box to cover most situations.

For the guy who is getting started, I would highly suggest a ¼ oz Gold spoon with treble hook, a ¼ oz Gold Weedless, and a ½ oz Gold Weedless along with the sliver counterparts. Red spots and a Hot Pink plastic fringe hook thing for the gold spoons and chartreuse spots on the sliver spoons. Learn to get bites on these, and the rest of the lure presentation s become pretty simple. Those are really the only lures one needs, well add in the Red/Strawberry with white tail and the Motor Oil with sparkles and the Hot Pink tail with 1/8 oz jigs.

What would you recommend for COLOR AND SIZE AND WATER CONDITIONS?

Try to mimic the bait colors, in murky waters a higher contrast is better, darker colors in the evening hours or at night, with hot pink tails for plastics are good.

During high sunlight hours, a light color (like brand new motor oil, and gold sparkles) with a chartreuse or hot pink or white tail can produce. At night a solid black spoon is good.

When you retrieve a gold or silver spoon, try to set up the cast such that the spoon is 90 degrees to the sun, and gets the most sunlight on it.

If you are up against the banks of cord grass and mud, cast to the passes and let the lure sink to the bottom and bump the lure all the way back, alot of reds will hit it if you cast and let it sit about 30 seconds or so. The commotion of the lure hitting the shallow water draws the reds to the area where the lure hit, they nose along the bottom wondering what the heck that was, then whey they are just turning away, out of the corner of their eye something glints and kicks up a spurt of mud!!! It jerks forward and stops...now curiosity is getting the best if that red, and it noses over to investigate, and just as it starts to nose up to the bait, it jerks forward and trys to escape...like so many other shrimp, crab, and mullet that have previously dined at Mr. Redfish's table...

Look at the fish species that you wish to target, Reds generally look down, that is not to say that they will not hit a top water, but it isn’t really in their nature. In the surf, trout will feed on schools of shad and shrimp, while the reds will tag along underneath all the action, rather than get up with the trout. For this, I would try top water baits when the trout are “under the birds” just for the fun of watching the blow-ups. Those reds will require a fast sinking ½ oz or ¾ oz gold or silver spoon to get past the pesky trout. Anything that stays in the water column will be good under these conditions for the trout.

Finally, it is CONFIDENCE that will take you over the top. This is just a karma thing, but it is SO important. I really can’t describe it, you just sorta have to experience it, all the long time fisherman reading this will agree. If you have confidence in a lure and the way you present it, it will work. For instance, I have NEVER EVER caught or even had a bump on a DOA shrimp…they just look dorky to me, but they produce over and over for many, many people. I am just not one of them, I suppose that I could put one behind a Mansfield Mauler and get after them, but I really don’t enjoy that kind of fishing.

By the way, most anyone can catch fish using the Red or Chartreuse Mansfield Mauler with a ¼ oz jig with a plastic red/white during the days or a motor oil-gold sparkle/hot pink tail in the evenings.

Just kinda chug it along, give it a jerk to make the water slurp and give the handle a couple of turns and repeat. Try to set the length of the jig to hang just above the bottom, this way you have a good shot at flounder also.

Here is a hot item that I probably shouldn’t tell about, using a bass spinner bait with a chartreuse skirt or red and white skirt can really do some damage up against the shore lines when the reds are in the cord grass.

Go really slow on the retrieve and see what happens. Be prepared to have some lures tore up.

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