By Tim Barefoot
This is the time of year when the inshore bite can slow down or get hot as a firecracker, especially for speckled trout.
Right now, bait size can make all the difference between stacking ’em up and getting skunked. Live baits are really the best bet when things get tough, but for hard-headed anglers—like me—who prefer artificials, it’s important to use smaller profile baits and slow down the retrieve considerably.
As a matter of fact, I know a guy who scales down to crappie-size jigs through the coldest stretches of February and March.
I prefer a smaller version of the same shrimp I always use. I normally throw the 4-inch shrimp on a jig head, but when it gets cold, I like the 3-inch size. There is not a time of the year when fish won’t eat a shrimp; there’s only a few weeks of the year when they won’t eat the 4-inch version.
The reason I normally throw the bigger shrimp is that the old saying, “bigger bait, bigger fish” kind of holds true for seatrout. But like I said earlier, the biggest trout caught during February and March will eat crappie-sized jigs… so, there goes that theory.
For the most part, though, I like bigger shrimp to eliminate as many of the dink trout bites as possible, but even the dinks will give the biggest shrimp you throw a whack. When you miss a bite, I always say, “don’t worry about it, it’s a dink.” Trout always eat a shrimp from behind, so they can fold the shrimp up and swallow it with the horn going forward. Always. A missed bite usually means the fish didn’t have a mouth large enough to “inhale” your shrimp backwards.
Another key ingredient to getting bites in cold water is the speed of the retrieve. This is a perfect situation to use a sliding cork or a fixed-depth cork. For example: If you’re in water 6 feet deep and you want to slow the bait way down, set the stop at 5 feet and just let the cork stand up and drift the same speed as the current, or if there is no current, just barely slow-take a wind on the reel to keep the bait moving forward. Don’t twitch the bait, just barely move it forward, and always use a shrimp scent like Pro Cure Shrimp.
Videos for this style fishing will soon be available at: https://barefootcatsandtackle.com