Three Shrimp Strategies For Specks
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Shrimp are the most popular seafood to eat on the Gulf Coast.
The love of shrimp is nearly universal among people and also speckled trout.
Carolina-Rigged: Here is a strategy for soft plastics that will catch good trout, especially when you need to get down deep. Rig with a ½-oz egg weight above a swivel, attach an 18-24 inch long fluorocarbon leader with something like a DOA Shrimp. This can be great under the birds if you want to see out the big fish below the surface fracas or if you find big trout in deeper water in a channel.
NOTE: This is also a killer rig for flounder, especially in the fall. Flounder will take a shrimp often before a mud minnow.
Eleven-year-old Ryder Krivan caught this speckled trout on her first wadefishing trip with dad, Brian, on West Galveston Bay.
Free-Lined: Hook a live shrimp just behind black area on the head on a wide-gapped hook, put a split shot 6-12 inches above it, and pitch this against rocky cover like jetties or rip rap. The only drawback (if you call it one) is sheepshead love it too.
In clear water use a fluorocarbon leader to avoid the fishing spooking to your line. Fluorocarbon can also enhance abrasion resistance so it’s probably a good idea around the jetties anyway.
Tandem: Remember the old “Speck Rigs” that had two lures attached to one lead? Well, you can easily make a tandem shrimp rig with either soft plastic or live shrimp and drive the fish crazy. You might even catch two at a time. Texas-based Logic Lures has an awesome scented tandem rig that while not exactly a shrimp imitation mimics their shape and movements close enough to make it part of my shrimp buffet arsenal this fall.
Trying these strategies will help you catch more trout and do so with bait and lures that are readily available on the market.
