Pound for pound and inch for inch, few fish can compete with the speckled trout for pleasure.
Voracious predators armed with pace, enamel, and senses to rival a barracuda, specks are among the many hottest recreation fish alongside the southern coasts of the US.
And whereas many anglers know that lures like torpedos, poppers, Zara spooks, and even crankbaits and jerkbaits can hammer specks, an expertly rigged paddle tail can flip the tide on even the worst days out on the water.
Let’s get into the small print and talk about how one can rig paddle tails for speckled trout.
Speckled Trout 101
Speckled trout are recognized to science as Cynoscion nebulosus, however down on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas you will hear them refered to as “specks.”
Family members of the drum household – together with redfish – speckled trout favor heat water
Thriving within the heat waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic coast, states like Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama are recognized for intensive populations of those in style recreation fish, in addition to the anglers who flock to inshore waters to catch them.
Specks get chilly simply, and if the water temps drop into the 50s, you’ll be able to anticipate a fast response.
Speckled trout favor temperatures within the vary of 86 to 59 F, and something decrease will ship them looking for hotter situations. However that does not imply they’re going to retreat out of your space as snook will throughout a chilly snap. As an alternative, specks will transfer into shallow estuaries, creeks, rivers, and inlets, making the most of the shallow, heat water they discover there.
And provided that Mom Nature has blessed the speck with super tolerance to contemporary water, the brackish salt flats and estuaries they search out in chilly climate will not give them any bother in any respect, which means that they’re going to proceed actively feeding so long as the water stays heat of their new habitat.
Armed with a mouth stuffed with enamel, specks are ideally suited predators to hunt mullet, their prefered prey. It is not that they will not hit menhadden, pinfish, shrimp, or different dwell bait, however quite that enormous mullet present a lot extra bang for his or her buck that they like them to just about anything within the water.
That urge for food and skill permits specks to develop to a median measurement of 11 to 14 inches and 1 to three kilos. They’re typically caught at weights of three to five kilos, however cautious previous specks can attain a monstrous 10 kilos or extra.
Jared Horst of Louisiana State College notes that “small trout eat massive quantities of shrimp and different crustaceans. As trout change into bigger, their eating regimen shifts towards fish, the bigger, the higher. Research in Texas and Mississippi present that actually massive trout strongly favor to feed on mullets; a big trout will discover the biggest mullet it might deal with and attempt to swallow it. Usually the mullet is half or two-thirds as massive because the trout. The important thing to catching massive trout is to fish the place they’re and use massive baits.”
The place to seek out specks in chilly climate
As I discussed above, speckled trout will typically transfer shallow when the mercury plummets, heading for shallow, brackish water in estuaries, flats, marshes, and rivers. There, they’re going to terrorize mullet and just about anything they’ll discover, hiding solely from greater meaner fish like juvenile tarpon.
The trick to finding specks in estuaries is to seek out the principle channel or artery that the tidal stream and any fresh-water inflow creates to achieve open water. If you happen to discover that tidal path, you will discover the specks.
Why?
Specks are going to attend in ambush within the lee of any island, level, or construction that is swept by tidal stream. Mullet can be pushed or pulled by the present, swept handed these ambush spots the place eager eyes and sharp enamel wait.
On windy days the place white caps are forming even within the marsh, or in situations the place the water is so turbid that it appears to be like like espresso, you will usually have to discover a sheltered bay or lagoon the place the water is obvious.
Clear water on days like that may be exhausting to seek out, however if you happen to do, you will be on the specks, all however assured!
How you can catch specks in chilly climate
Speckled trout are predominantly sight hunters, and clear water with good visibility is all the time one thing to search for.
However that is not all the time the case – and even seemingly – if a chilly entrance is blowing by means of, and savvy anglers know that they should modify.
Specks usually hunt excessive within the water column, leaving the underside to their family members.
And whereas actually shallow water compresses the water column, inflicting backside and high to be just about the identical factor, you continue to wish to hold your terminal deal with off the underside to focus on speckled trout.
In deep water, that is so simple as throwing a shallow diving lure or strolling the canine with an enormous bone spook, and each of these methods work very well once you discover that clear water undisturbed by gusty wind.
However if you happen to’re not that fortunate, what then?
My go-to possibility for specks in chilly climate is so simple as it’s lethal: a paddel tail minnow rigged below a popping cork.
The popping cork rig
I select largish paddle tail minnows just like the Keitech Swimg Influence Fats in colours like “Alewife,” “Black Shad,” and “Ayu.”
Regardless of the water being murky, I nonetheless stick to pure, subdued colours that appear to be mullet, and I throw sizes as small as 3.8 inches all the best way as much as 5.8 inches or bigger.
Why?
A great paddle tail minnow has a number of issues recommending it for these conditions.
First, an enormous flapping tail sends enticing pulses by means of the water, alerting close by specks that one thing prey-sized is on the transfer.
Second, the fluttering descent of a paddle tail actually triggers an instinctive strike response from aggressive species like speckled trout.
Third, an enormous paddle tail matches the overall measurement and form of a mullet, making it that rather more seemingly {that a} speck can be tricked right into a strike.
I rig my delicate plastics below a popping cork, tie on robust chief like 20-pound mono, and modify the size to maintain my paddle tails off the underside.
Two popping cork designs make the minimize for me: ovals just like the H&H Weighted Flex-A-Float and massive poppers like H&H’s Large Ballin’ Cork.
An oval popping cork is extra delicate, supoosedly producing vibrations that mimic the heart beat of swimming shrimp. Against this, the massive concavity on the entrance of the opposite fashion sounds extra like thrashing mullet.
I slide my paddle tails onto a 1/4-ounce commonplace jig head, forged my rig up present, and pop all of it the best way again by means of ambush factors.
I will range the pace and cadence of these pops till I discover what’s ringing the dinner bell for specks, and by no means look again.
Closing Ideas
Chilly climate could make specks exhausting to catch – except you recognize the place to seek out them and have a plan to take advantage of nasty, wind-blown mornings.
However if you happen to arrive armed with a number of good paddle tails, some easy jig heads, and the opposite provides it’s good to rig them below a popping cork, you’ll be able to tilt the chances in your favor on days the place everybody else is putting out.
Give it a try to let me know the way it labored for you.
