By Capt. Michael Okruhlik:
Canal Lights come in a few colors and styles. There are white and green lights, and above or below the surface models. Each has its benefits and setbacks. I think most would agree that the green underwater lights are better for watching the fish swim rather than catching them. I have heard a few theories with the most popular being the fish can see the lures better with the light coming from the bottom. With that thought, I tried a new technique that worked great for us, and I think it can help you catch a few more of those finicky green-light seatrout as well.
Kayaking the canal lights was the right choice for our Saturday night activities. Three of us all threw Jerk Shad style soft plastics in pearl, black/blue glitter and black/gold/lime. Pearl appeared to have a slight edge over the other two.
While the color didn’t have much of a correlation to our hook-up ratio, one rigging method did. We all started fishing the bait using a different weight of weedless hook, from 1/8 oz. and 1/16 oz. to even lighter than that, and even with no weight at all. One stood out as the best choice by far over the others, the weightless hook with floatation in the lures to slow the fall.
Once we determined what the trout wanted, it was fish after fish. We kept our limit of 30 and released more than we wanted to count. We tuned each lure to have a super slow fall, much slower than any standard plastic with a weightless hook. We adjusted the amount of floatation depending on the size and brand of hook we were using. The rod action was very subtle, just a steady rise of the rod tip then back down reeling up just a little of the slack, making sure not to move the lure forward. Anything more aggressive only resulted in a few strikes.
The flat slow fall in clear water was what they were looking for. You could count five to almost 10 seconds at times before the lure would sink out of sight. That is how slow the fall was, and that is what triggered the strikes.
What I love most about fishing is that I never stop learning new techniques. If you fish the lights at night and can’t get those underwater green-light trout to eat, this is a method to get them.
Capt. Michael Okruhlik is the inventor of Controlled Descent Lures and the owner of www.MyCoastOutdoors.com.