Slack Tide Specks

Nothing’s worse then arriving at a hotspot 15 minutes before the tide drops out, catching fish on several casts in a row, then watching the bite peter out to nothing. How long will you have to sit there and suffer through a dead tide? It can be hours before the water gets moving and the fish start feeding again. You’ll just have to wait, right? Maybe…

Slack tides can be incredibly challenging, but when it comes to speckled trout you can sometimes tease them into striking. The tactic that often does the trick? Slow-rolling.

Slow-rolling is quite simple: tie on a jointed jighead (one with the hook attached to the lead via a tiny swivel) and rig up a three or four inch paddle-tail plastic. Cast it out, allow it to hit bottom, then raise your rod tip and start reeling. Retrieve as slowly as possible, going slower and slower until you feel the jig dragging bottom. At that point, increase speed just a hair. The idea, naturally, is to get the jig to run just inches off bottom.

The combination of the segmented jighead and paddle-tail causes the bait to roll from side to side, as you retrieve. Pull one of these rigs at the surface next to your boat, and you’ll quickly realize that the action is downright seductive. When you retrieve too quickly, however, the slow roll becomes more of a swimming wobble. At times this will be effective but when the trout are lazing on bottom you really want that roll. So, if you have to retrieve too quickly to produce it (or risk dragging and snagging bottom), drop the leadhead size.

Now, stay on a hair trigger, people – using this retrieve in this scenario, the specks will rarely smash the jig. Instead, you’ll feel a minor-league bump. When that happens, you have a fraction of a second to set the hook before the fish spits out the plastic. So stay focused, stay ready to set the hook at any moment, and when you feel that bump swing for the stars.