It’s that time of the year again which hopefully comes several times a year from this point forward in my life!!! Delacroix, the Biloxi Marsh, and redfish galore is filling my mind with memories of sight casting redfish cruising shallow shorelines. I cannot wait to load up the truck, hookup the boat, and make the 11 hour drive west to fish the Marsh for seven days.
Having previously been there 6 times, I have a good idea of what tackle to bring. I have threatened to scale down the ludicrous amount of tackle that I typically tote with me for several years. I’ve always had an arsenal of lures, soft plastics, jigs, spinner baits, chatter baits, and much more. I quickly learned that a few topwater lures (just in case), several spinner baits, maybe a chatter bait, jig heads, weedless weighted Owner Keeper Hooks for paddletail, and copper and gold spoons would be all I need for a great day on the water. As for my tackle box, scaling it down in size has always been on my mind, but I could never bring myself to do it. Well, this trip will be different as I went out of my comfort zone and pulled the trigger. I bought three midsize Plano 3700 boxes for $25.00 and created the Louisiana tackle box. It has plenty of room for the above mentioned tackle list and space for my Power Pole and trolling motor remotes as well. I do have a dedicated soft plastics bag that is separate from the 3700. I love the organization aspect! One lure not mentioned is my homemade Peroni beer bottle cap lure that actually catches fish to the dismay of my buddy Fulvio. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing last trip when I site casted and caught a nice redfish on the cap. I did use a Peroni cap to mess with him since the beer is Italian and he is Italian.
Now, I have got to be honest about the scaling down process, and if you’ve ever read one of my Louisiana articles from the past, you’d ask why so many lures in the small box? All I really need is some Weighted Owner Keeper Twistlock hooks, some 1/8 oz and ¼ oz jig heads accompanied with the always deadly root beer chartreuse D.O.A. C.A.L. or the Z-Man Paddletails in the same color pattern. Also, making the go-to list of the super scale down tackle box is a copper or gold weedless spoon. Last spring, I killed it on the spoon, and it casts a mile even in the wind. I bring several different sizes of spoons which includes the 1/8 oz all the way to the 1/2 oz. The water will dictate the size of lure to use.
Get out there and set up your own fishing adventure. It’s a blast for sure!!!
By Keith Lozott