December usually triggers one major change in my choices of fishing lures. Don’t think I’m setting aside my trusted favorites entirely. I’ll still be throwing my Exude RT Slugs for a while yet, but at 5 inches in length they will soon be longer than I like for our cool water period. However, the Exude Dart is nearly an inch shorter with a slimmer profile. This lure can be manipulated by the angler to approximate an injured minnow/mullet or a live shrimp, though it actually resembles neither.
I’m talking down-sizing many of my lure choices and incorporating some shapes I’ve been using very little throughout the summer and fall seasons. First and foremost we’ll be using more shrimp, both soft plastic and live. Some of my soft plastic shrimp choices will copy a real shrimp to near perfection, one will be a slightly slimmer profile, but is undeniably a shrimp imitation (Pimpin’ Shrimp by Banks Lures) and another is very short and one of my favorite finesse lures for tailing reds and drum (Exude’s Fan Tail Shrimp). Small crab imitations and on occasion tube lures will be employed to entice the predators on the days they prove finicky; not often during a typical December!
There is a host of three inch or so swim baits in the soft plastic arena that I love. I rig them with keel weighted keeper hooks and anglers of all skill levels tend to catch fish with them. In short if one can “cast” and “crank” one will “catch” with this style of lure. Flats Creepers, Cigar Minnows, Sea Shads and plenty more are available. I tend to chose natural colors when fishing in clear water and gravitate to outlandish colors if they’re ignored or water color dictates a need for brightly colored lures.
Break out the weedless spoons if you need to cover water quickly. Of course you know I’m talking about Aqua Dream spoons and while “gold” is the most popular color there is no color in their line-up that isn’t a winner.
Top-water plugs are still good choices though I’ll be going smaller here too. Banks Lures Fender Walker in the smallest size is a great choice and if I need a smaller profile I’ll likely tie on a Super Spook Junior. BTW, top-waters often work in the middle of the day and not only around sunup and sundown. Let the fish tell you when to put them away not the angle of the sun!
[easy-social-share]