Home Forums Fishing Saltwater Redfish and Speck Lures

Headed down to Biloxi in a couple of weeks and want to get in a little fishing. I've never fished saltwater before and may never again so I don't want to get to crazy buying stuff. Can you recommend a couple of must have lures? I haven't gotten it all ironed out yet but I anticipate bank/pier/wade fishing. Thanks

I really like Vudu shrimp. They are rubber shrimp that look real. Use them under a popping cork or cast and retrieve slowly

also, a red and white mirrorlure....

and maybe a gold sea sprite spoon for the reds....

Typically we used live bait for both. Shrimp.

If not, we usually ran tandem jigs like Afterum's, only not so fancy. Just cheap grub tail plastics.

Have fun and post pics!

I'd bring a heavier 20+# set up for cobia as well. I think there is a spring run that you might get into.

Call down to a couple local bait and tackle shops or a local guide or two.

May be worth a few bucks for a half day trip.

I've caught a bunch of specks with a red/white jerk bait Mirrolure. I typically remove the last treble and put a 20" leader on the eye and run a leadhead jig off it to cover top and subsurface.


Of course it's tough to trump live shrimp.

The majority of my reds have come either with shrimp or crab.

Been a few good suggestions so far. Mirrolures are a standby as well as spoons but one of my biggest producers has been a Cocahoe soft plastic rigged on a 1/4oz jighead. I prefer avocado and red flake color but root beer and smoke are also good.

Vudus are getting a lot of success as well. Another standby that predates the Vudu is the DOA shrimp. You can cast and retrieve like a grub or tie it under a Cajun Thunder popping cork (about 18-24" leader) and cover some ground with that. Pretty hard to beat that combo when using artificial.

If you can get your hands on some live shrimp it would trump any artificial. Best bet is the same popping cork mentioned above with the same leader length but a smallish hook with a split shot or two just a couple inches above the hook. I prefer an Owner #4 light Mutu circle hook but any comparable hook will work. Just hook them through the horn on their head but avoid piercing the brain.

If you are stuck to beaches and piers I am not sure I would bother with the 20lb+ rigs. The cobia run is about to get going any time now (still not hearing any local reports yet) but that is really only happening around the barrier islands, reefs and gas rigs several miles offshore from Biloxi. Any standard bass tackle should get you taken care of and a 6-7' m. heavy rod with 10-15lb test line will work. I usually run 10lb or 12lb for most of my speck and red fishing. It looks like we should have a couple weeks of dry weather so there is a chance the water could clear up a bit before you get here. If that is the case the lighter lines/leaders could be beneficial as specks can be a little leader shy at times...reds, not so much.

Ahh....good info on the cobia. I used to see them on occasion fishing the pier in Navarre FL.

I thought they were sharks when I first saw them. Laffin'!

Good luck BE!

Thanks for the info fellas that's exactly what I was looking for. I'll lay in a couple each of the lures mentioned and hopefully find a bait shop with live shrimp.

I took your advice Mooner and booked a trip out of Bay St. Louis but I've still got a couple days before that to mess around on my own.

Thanks again

I always run braided line inshore, hell most everywhere. Cast further and you can jerk some lips with it. Don't hurt when a Cohiba slurps up your pinfish either.

I was reading about that Steelhead. Braid with a fluoro leader seems to be the consensus. What brand do you favor?

Mostly Berkley Fireline on the spinning rods, which is what I've used for all of my speck fishing and the majority of my red fishing.

Leader depends, I've fished lots of dirty water and I just use plain old mono.

Got it. This is a world apart from the farm ponds and quarries that I normally fish but I'll get it sorted out...or not. Either way I'm having a good time.

I agree with the lures suggested. Silver and gold spoon, topwater and something heavier (jighead/bucktail) for deeper in the column.

If you don't find VUDU shrimp, the "regular" Gulp! Alive shrimp in 3 or 4" should work. Can be used with popping cork, jigheadin the bottom and slow retrieve, just let the scent work for your benefit. Don't work it too fast. White/chartreuse and new penny color (natural) have worked for me.

A topwater in white/redhead or something pink will drive trout crazy, and water is getting warmer so fish will be more active and subtlety and finnesse is not as important.

If fish are feeding, anything that get's tossed to them will be eaten. Fishbites may help with reds somewhat, as they are opportunistic feeders searchers, trout are more aggressive (typically).
I use 20lb powerpro braid on a 3000 size reel, 7ft med fast rod.
Rinse your equipment after using. I sometimes connect the braid directly to the lure with a clip or add regular clear mono, never used fluoro (maybe catch rate would increase??)

http://www.saltwater-fishing-texas.com/corky-lures.html

DOA shrimp. Tie them on your rod with a loop like you would a rapala. You will outfish people with live bait.

You can fish it like a worm, or jig, or skim it across the water. They seem to hit it mostly on the drop. Colors don't seem to matter too much, but I like the natural looking best myself with a little gold fleck or orange tail.

A DOA under a popping cork works great too if the bottom is snagging you. You literally fish it like a worm, just popping the cork and letting the shrimp settle. It's a little harder to caste because you have the cork and 18 inches of line from the DOA but it works good.

^^^ +1 on the DOA shrimp.

Yo Zuri makes a killer lure called Crystal Minnow 3D. 4 3/8" is the size you want. I prefer the Silver Black.

http://www.amazon.com/Yo-Zuri-Cryst...1&keywords=yo+zuri+3d+crystal+minnow

Those crystal minnows are killer on flounder and seabass too, at least im Peru

Also, the hardware that Yozuri uses is top notch. The hooks and eyelets don't rust up anywhere near as quick or bad as the hardware that Mirrolure uses.

I don't know what it is about them that makes fish want to hit them. I can recount several instances night fishing lighted docks with my flats boat on the inside around Haulover Inlet throwing everything we had at snook and smallish tarpon and they sometimes wouldn't even take a sniff, including live pilchards and shrimp.

Put one of those Yo Zuri's on and it's like they're pissed at it and want to make sure it doesn't make it back out of the hit zone. Funny.

Capt Hank Brown jigs are another excellent artificial. They don't make Wild Willie's any more (with the hammered flat head), but these are very effective, especially when tipped with a squirt of Pro-Cure shrimp or crab scent.


As LeakyWaders said, use loops to tie all your artificials. You'll get more natural action on your retrieves and more hits.

gulp peeler crab fished under a popping cork or Carolina riged and worked slow has been good in early season.

Didn't want to let this thread die without once again saying thanks for the input. I've got a smattering of Matrix Shad, Yo-Zuris, Mirrolures, Vudu Shrimp, and H&H minnows and spoons either in hand or on the way. I'll hit the local bait shops for whatever else that may me required. Looking forward to this trip big time.

My wife took our youngest son and a friend fishing in the gulf whilst I was pounding away at work in Korea. No I idea what they used but I assume this is a redfish?

Nope...









That's an AWESOME redfish!!

Yep, that's a big red, Ed. They'll get full of worms as the water warms up in the spring around the gulf coast.

But hey, worms are protein, too!

Kidding aside, they're a lotta fun to catch. Pull real hard. Best to keep the smaller ones to eat, though.

Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse's blackened redfish recipes didn't do these babies any favors.

If you haven't left on your trip yet be sure to add a couple of Mirrodine and mirrominnow twitchbaits. On more than one occasion I've had inshore success with them when even live shrimp didn't produce bites.

And big trout.