Lt., in your fishing experiences what have you found to be the most consistent and productive baits/lures, each , for Specks, White Trout and Redfish?

Thanks, Lt.

FishCamp®

Chartreuse plastics. Not my favorite, but most consistently productive around here by far. Move 50 miles east or west along the coast and things change.

I think the list of fish chartreuse plastics won't catch is a hell of a lot shorter than the list it will!

I recall chartreuse and sparkly pumpkinseed colored plastic shrimp being the go to for specks from the pan handle down around the big bend. That was 30+ years ago though.

How about the Vodoo Shrimp, Lt.?
Have you used that with any success?

With the Bull Reds I’ve had fair luck with breaking a crab in half and fishing that under a popping cork and using a gold spoon with a trailer of different plastics.

What is your favorite beyond the chartreuse plastics?

Just PM him, COVTARD

Copper colored popper and a gold spoon both produce good results on all three species. Black Drum too.

croker

I love shrimp for live.

My favorite for specks is a top water popper with the rear treble removed and a 18" leader attached which has a jig and plastic attached. You get to cover the top and subsurface at the same time.

I’ll have to try those, Roger.

For larger Specks in the surf around Grand Isle and The Chandeleurs the mirror lure and the old Mr. Champ seems to work. Smaller Specks tend to go for the shad rigs.

The Vodoo shrimp has mixed results but mainly on the smaller side.

How deep of water?

What's wrong 'Attention Ho'?

Nice !

Where ever I fish them. It seems I'm mostly in the 4-12 foot depths. If you've ever used live bait behind a popping cork you'll get lots of hits at the cork, which is why I like to use a plug. I'll generally start with live and then when I find a bunch I'll switch to the plug and jig.

I love it when they hit top

4" Z-Man Sexy mullet on a 1/8 oz jig head under a popping cork is deadly on the targeted species in the Pamlico Sound.

Yep.
Once you find them and get on them in the marsh the Specks will hit about anything that you throw at them.

There’s a fairly dedicated group of kayakers that hang around Fourchon that are strictly fly rod and top water. They use some high $ stuff.

Shrimp flavored fish bites...

Sho nuff !

You fishing off of The Redneck Riviera (Gulf Shores area)?

Yeah, I fish between Florida and Mississippi. My go to for the species you mentioned is a small treble hook, 8-10# mono with live shrimp, finger mullet or croaker, in that order. No corks, swivels, weights, leaders, kitchen sinks, etc. It's a no go in Fla. with the treble and live bait though.

You do much off of Dauphin Island.?

What you’re doing is working well.

I remember the one time I was using a croaker for specks in about 6 foot of water, using 8 pound test and watched a 25 pound cobia come in and take it.

The cobia won

Voodoo under a popping cork is killer and easy to fish.its especially effective over oyster beds where it's too shallow to fish other weighted plastic's. We caught a dozen nice dolphin on that combo last Sat. My favorite lure is Rapala Skitter-V, pink/silver.

We've just about got it covered then. I fish from Mississippi to Mexico. It's hot now, so other than redfish, most of our efforts are at jetties and near-shore for trout, tripletail and tarpon. My boat is too small for long range offshore trips, so I gotta hitch a ride with the rich folk. The continental shelf is 100 miles out of Sabine at the Flower Garden Banks. (The world's north most coral reef.)

Lt., if you didn’t know it, Lake Ponchartrain is a Tarpon Mecca of sorts and is generally overlooked in favor of the area west of Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River.

The Lake has had several come out of there over 200#s.

I’m writing down that Rapala info.

we catch big tarpon here off bob hall pier I've caught two over two hundred.

Y’all catch and release, Roger?

Man that had to be a helluva fight.

yes catch and release only, they have a tag now you can purchase for one 80 inches or greater in length. my biggest was 77. My brother caught one off there that would have probably gone 8ft.

Out of interest, what baits were y’all using for the Tarpon?

Fried trout and cheese grits is one of my all time favorite meals

Sumbitch, I reckon.

Don’t know if you like it but next time you do grits for any reason or occasion:

Use chicken stock instead of water.
Boil it slowly for about 5 minutes with a tablespoon of garlic powder added to it.
Add your grits and simmer till done.
When done add a heaping handful of shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese and stir it in.

It don’t suck too bad.

Tarpon will eat almost anything when they're feeding. The challenge with tarpon is locating them, hooking them (that's a story of its own) and having the equipment to handle them.
People love to catch tarpon in shallow water, 20' or less, because they jump themselves to death. The REALLY big tarpon are migratory and ain't gonna fall for that.

Boca Grande, lots of big tarpon caught deep'ish.

Lt. I’m thinking in your business you may have heard of or possibly met Poppa Joe Chouest. Tarpon is one of his major passions. Wherever they are, he is.

ETA:
I believe his favorite artificial for Tarpon is Coon Pops.

on the no. east corner on FLA a 8 to 10 in. ladyfish is my go to for gator trout for the last 40 years . 9 # 7oz 32in my best

Yup. One of the fascinating and challenging things about inshore saltwater fishing is the fact that the fish are always looking for a particular salinity, or more accurately, a salt/fresh combination. Places like Florida and South Texas are easy to fish for tarpon and snook because fresh water is harder to find, concentrated in the passes and channels. The big tarpon (200lb plus) are migratory and circle the entire Gulf every year. It's not unusual to encounter schools of thousands of them offshore in 40' of water and it's even less unusual to look for them for weeks without finding a fish.
One thing is for certain. You better be prepared in a lot of ways to land a really big tarpon in deep water.

I wish was better at it, but I'm trying.

Named after Capt. Coon. I'm no tarpon expert. I'm the marsh guy. I am I obsessed with them though. I wish I could post some of my videos of thousands of them feeding, but the video thingee says the files are too big.

That's awesome. Big fish like big baits. I had one eat a pinfish bigger than my hand, about the same time I realized I forgot the net. I've never had a fish mounted, but that would've been the one.

Mullet and menhaden (pogie, bunker, etc.) here. I think they use mullet and pilchards down south. What do you call 'em Roger, shytshad?
,

That’s a pig !

I’ve seen 7-8 pounders but never one that size.

I still fish for trout and redfish aka "spot tail bass" the same way I did as a kid 45 years ago with Dad. I use a pole float with a slip knot ......its crazy I have to order floats from amazon these days, they used to be everywhere in every tackle shop and what I am about to describe was called a "trout rig". A 1.25 or 1.5 ounce trolling sinker goes under the float, then a leader and hook. You can use lighter weights and smaller floats with lighter tackle if you want but the technique is the same. I like big floats because I can see them good when they are aways off. Live shrimp is the bait. Everyone used to fish that way now not many do. Most use popping floats. I can fish any depth I want from a foot to as deep as I want and have caught every kind of inshore fish on the described setup I use a 9 ft rod and a baitcast reel. I use Penn #9 but you could use the Abus or whatever you want. You could use a big Zebco for that matter if you want to take someone who does not know how to throw anything else. I have one for that purpose. Its dang hard to find a decent "trout rod" anymore. They got a million of em at the Bass Pro but nothing suits me like the old stuff I have had for years..... last good "new' ones were bought sometime in the 1990's. Closest thing now to what I use would be a "steelhead rod". Evidently in some far away place they have a fish called a steelhead and they fish for them like I fish for trout, spot tails, flounder, and whatever else that bites. I thought a steehead was a campfire member with a hard head!

I know gulf fishing is different but I don't see why that would not work. I think ya'll have way more fish left than we do. When I take someone who never fished much I often use a circle hook so all they to do is reel up the slack and the fish hooks itself. I been snatching to set the hook when the float goes down for 45 years now and can't stop.....can't catch anything with a circle!

That is a beast of a speck. I've never caught one much past 6 pounds.

And I have to also say fugging ladyfish. Damn they bleed.