By Tim Barefoot
Years ago, I was obsessed with live bait of all kinds. I kept livewells with mullet, shrimp, pinfish and cigar minnows. I spent a lot of time tending to bait and battling the otters at the marina. My inshore bait of choice was the live shrimp… hands down. Live mullets will get the bite, no question, but the shrimp is simply irresistible.
I would spend hours and hours catching, housing and feeding bait. I was just about at the end of my inshore live bait road when along came the DOA shrimp. I love everything about that soft plastic shrimp body. It’s pretty tough, looks just like a real shrimp and can be made to work in every single situation including depth, grass/roots and current when used with the correct hardware.
I have to admit there are times when I may catch a few more fish with live shrimp, but I can carry my entire inshore tackle box now in just a few small trays of jig heads, DOA shrimp colors and a bottle of Pro Cure shrimp scent. It’s extremely easy to just plug a DOA body on the jig, apply a liberal amount of Pro Cure shrimp scent on the legs and underside, and start fishing. I have so much faith in this combination. It’s just a given; they will eat it when properly presented. I could write several pages of this article regarding the different applications, but I’ll be brief.
I keep four rods rigged with shrimp:
- Shrimp body on a 3/8-ounce Barefoot Jig.
- Shrimp under a fixed cork about 20 inches deep on a 3/8 oz. Barefoot Jig.
- Shrimp under a sliding cork on a 3/8-ounce Barefoot Jig (to suspend over shell beds).
- Shrimp (weedless, or as it comes out of the package) without a jig head.
I can go anywhere there are shrimp and catch trout, drum, snook and more with a very small tackle box. It’s the universal bait. My favorite is just the shrimp on the Barefoot Jig without a cork, but under the fixed and sliding cork is sometimes just the ticket. You can use the sliding cork around docks and snags at an irresistibly slow speed. The reason it works so well is the jig head is balanced and will maintain a perfect horizontal position with or without a cork.
The key is to make the shrimp look like a real shrimp. A live shrimp does not move around stern- or bow-heavy. A live shrimp moves through the water slowly in a perfectly horizontal position. Just look at them in the livewell or at a tackle shop that sells live shrimp. That’s the reason the DOA catches so many fish: it swims horizontally.
The weedless version of this shrimp can be extremely effective for fish tailing in the grass or around mangrove roots. This is one reason to keep one rigged and ready and always moving around quietly. For videos of these variations, visit my website and click on “videos.”
For more from Capt. Tim Barefoot, visit barefootcatsandtackle.com.