Red's,Snook, and Trout oh my.

[Harry]

Ok,
So I need to pick the brains of some of you folks that target these species.
Will be heading south in a couple months and since these fish aren't available in my area what kind of artificial baits do you all use for these fish?
We will be picking up some shrimp, and might try to net some white bait, but what can I bring with me?

I "think" snook might fall for some poppers (I think Gunnar likes "bonk-a-donk") for Red's ?? Would poppers in my tackle box work the same?
I also will bring some gulp jerk shad.
I suppose you fish these with just a hook and bring them in wounded *rod* or should they be on a weighted jig head*006*
Just trying to get a handle on what I can bring and what they're after other then live bait.

As always, Thanks in advance

[scott26]

Harry,

Popper work well for snook and reds early in the morning and either at dusk or after dark. Snook are a weary fish more so than reds. If you fish a loud, large popper in shallow water mid day you more likely to spook them than you are get them to hit. If you really like topwaters I would suggets Bagley finger mullet "jumpin mullet" in red head white or silver and green or black back or Rebel shad-raps same colors. These are a walk-the-dog type topwater not a popper.

reds and trout on the flats are suckers for a good popper though. I have had my best success with smaller size poppers such as the rebel pop-R. heddon torpedos or small john-e-rattlers are great too. Trout will go bananas for them poppers as will ladyfish, jack, and spanish mackerel.

As far as the jerk baits go a 1/4 to at most 1/2 oz jighead works ok. Personally I like to use lighter line with the jerk baits and rig them weedless with just an owner style worm hook 2/0. It works really well riggn em weedless when casting at mangroves as you wont get hung up near as much. same jerk baits and set ups you would use for bass work well on snook, reds, and trout also. The Gulp baits are fine. I have done real well with Bass Assassin jerk baits in green back, white belly. Clear water I prefer more natural colors such as silver/white side green back. Dark water those bright chartuese (sp?) or pink or gold glitter work well. If you are in water say over 6 foot then I would go to the jig head in 1/2 ounce.

Also Harry an easy to use bait that works extremely well in this area is a Johnson sprite spoon in gold color either 1/4 or 1/2 ounce, probably the 1/2 ounce better of the two. Work them slow so they dont spin and the trout/redfish cant lay off of them. Its my go to artificial when fishin is slow and nothing else has worked. Also a slow fished shad tail jig with 1/4 or 1/2 ounce jig in gold fleck or white body, red head, or again green/black back silver side is just plain lethal also.

OK I will stop now I could go on the rest of the night. Good luck!

Scott

[scott26]

Oh, one more thought. Dont forget to use a leader no matter what bait you choose. 30# fluorocarbon is the ticket 10" or so up to as long as you can cast comfortably. Snook, tarpon, and ladyfish have real abrasive mouths that quickly wear down lighter mono. Also if fishin for big tarpon (80lbs plus) go with 80-125 lb fluoro.

tight lines

scott

[Harry]

Good stuff. Looks like a trip to the tackle shop is in order.....;D

[Lojjjan]

The best lure on the market would be mirrorlure catch 300 or mirrorlure catch jr. I would know, im 14 and fishing is my life.

[Eel]

Harry,

Popper work well for snook and reds early in the morning and either at dusk or after dark. Snook are a weary fish more so than reds. If you fish a loud, large popper in shallow water mid day you more likely to spook them than you are get them to hit. If you really like topwaters I would suggets Bagley finger mullet "jumpin mullet" in red head white or silver and green or black back or Rebel shad-raps same colors. These are a walk-the-dog type topwater not a popper.

reds and trout on the flats are suckers for a good popper though. I have had my best success with smaller size poppers such as the rebel pop-R. heddon torpedos or small john-e-rattlers are great too. Trout will go bananas for them poppers as will ladyfish, jack, and spanish mackerel.

As far as the jerk baits go a 1/4 to at most 1/2 oz jighead works ok. Personally I like to use lighter line with the jerk baits and rig them weedless with just an owner style worm hook 2/0. It works really well riggn em weedless when casting at mangroves as you wont get hung up near as much. same jerk baits and set ups you would use for bass work well on snook, reds, and trout also. The Gulp baits are fine. I have done real well with Bass Assassin jerk baits in green back, white belly. Clear water I prefer more natural colors such as silver/white side green back. Dark water those bright chartuese (sp?) or pink or gold glitter work well. If you are in water say over 6 foot then I would go to the jig head in 1/2 ounce.

Also Harry an easy to use bait that works extremely well in this area is a Johnson sprite spoon in gold color either 1/4 or 1/2 ounce, probably the 1/2 ounce better of the two. Work them slow so they dont spin and the trout/redfish cant lay off of them. Its my go to artificial when fishin is slow and nothing else has worked. Also a slow fished shad tail jig with 1/4 or 1/2 ounce jig in gold fleck or white body, red head, or again green/black back silver side is just plain lethal also.

OK I will stop now I could go on the rest of the night. Good luck!

Scott

This is good stuff. I know nothing about snook fishing (hooked one in Costa Rica on a Rapala suspending plug, he broke me off, that's the extent of my snook knowledge). Reds will destroy your fresh water plugs, I'd suggest walk-the-dog type lures and upgrade the split rings and trebles, or the reds will straighten the hardware.

You can't go wrong with rigging soft plastics on a 1/4 oz jighead. I use mostly 1/8 oz (sometimes a 1/16 oz), but I'm fishing 2' or less of water protected from currents. The standard popping cork with a jighead/soft plastic is easy to fish, keeps the lure in the strike zone, and is what we use when the fishing is slow to attract a bite or two.

But if I could only have one lure with me, it would be a 1/2 oz gold Johnson spoon. Its weedless, you can throw it across anything with few snags, and its effortless to fish. That's what I throw all day when pre-fishing for reds for tournaments. Throw it out, reel it back in. Put a split ring and swivel on it to keep it from spinning and twisting your line.

Add a spinnerbait to your arsenal (safety spin type so you can switch jigheads, depending on the weight you need) and you can catch trout, reds, and flounder.

[Lojjjan]

The best Lure of all times for snook trout and redfish is a Mirrolure catch Jr. or catch 2000. This is all i use to fish and im 14 so fishing is my life and i have tried a ton of lures but none work like catch jr and 2000.

But poppers arent the most affective. Try all types of DOA for i fully support them considering they have a lure for every species out there

[seaside]

"Snook are a weary fish"

The only snook I ever caught didn't seem very weary at all. Matter of fact, they fought like crap!!