What is the best lure for speckled trout?
The best lure for catching speckled trout is the white Berkeley 3 inch Gulp Shrimp with a 1/8 ounce jig head. This lure works the best because it incorporates all of the speckled trout's senses of sight, smell, touch and hearing to help the fish locate and eat the lure in all water conditions.
They send out a lot of odor molecules to attract the trout. They are very realistic and they send out those low frequency vibrations that attract speckled trout.
The 3 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp is one of the smelliest lures that you will ever encounter. The manufacturer claims that it has more than 400 times the odor of a real shrimp. This helps the trout find the lure when the water is murky or dirty.
The 3 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp comes in many fish attracting colors too. You can get this lure in colors that range from neon pink to plain old white or a natural looking color combination like molting. This incorporates the speckled trout's sense of sight to help it find your lure.
Lastly, this lure can be coupled with a popping cork or a rattle cork to send out massive amounts of those low frequency vibrations that predatory fish like speckled trout find so appetizing. This enables the speckled trout to hear/feel the lure as you work it in the upper parts of the water column to catch tons of fish.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the oyster bars and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years. Speckled trout are one of my favorite inshore fish species to catch.
I have tried all kinds of different types of lures to catch over a thousand speckled trout during the last few decades. There is not a better lure that I have found that will out fish a 3 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp when you are targeting the spotted sea trout. It is as simple as that.
In the article below I will teach you all of the tips and techniques to use when fishing a Gulp Shrimp to maximize your speckled trout fishing results.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the Gulp Shrimp and how to use it correctly.
The best lure for catching speckled trout is the white Berkeley 3 inch Gulp Shrimp with a 1/8 ounce jig head. This lure works the best because it incorporates all of the speckled trout's senses of sight, smell, touch and hearing to help the fish locate and eat the lure in all water conditions.
They send out a lot of odor molecules to attract the trout. They are very realistic and they send out those low frequency vibrations that attract speckled trout.
The 3 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp is one of the smelliest lures that you will ever encounter. The manufacturer claims that it has more than 400 times the odor of a real shrimp. This helps the trout find the lure when the water is murky or dirty.
The 3 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp comes in many fish attracting colors too. You can get this lure in colors that range from neon pink to plain old white or a natural looking color combination like molting. This incorporates the speckled trout's sense of sight to help it find your lure.
Lastly, this lure can be coupled with a popping cork or a rattle cork to send out massive amounts of those low frequency vibrations that predatory fish like speckled trout find so appetizing. This enables the speckled trout to hear/feel the lure as you work it in the upper parts of the water column to catch tons of fish.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the oyster bars and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years. Speckled trout are one of my favorite inshore fish species to catch.
I have tried all kinds of different types of lures to catch over a thousand speckled trout during the last few decades. There is not a better lure that I have found that will out fish a 3 inch Berkeley Gulp Shrimp when you are targeting the spotted sea trout. It is as simple as that.
In the article below I will teach you all of the tips and techniques to use when fishing a Gulp Shrimp to maximize your speckled trout fishing results.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below to learn more about the Gulp Shrimp and how to use it correctly.
What is the best lure for speckled trout on the grass flats?
A healthy grass flat is the best place to find speckled trout in big numbers. Speckled trout a.k.a. spotted seatrout, a.k.a. specks are a denizen of the grass flats. That is your best bet.
You can find them on the beach, inside inlets, around bridges, under docks, around oyster bars, in the mangroves, up tidal creeks...…… BUT you can bet that there is a grass flat near all of those places.
So if you want to catch some speckled trout, then find yourself a nice, healthy grass flat. That should be your starting point.
There are a few different ways to fish the Gulp 3 inch shrimp. You can rig it with a 1/8 ounce jig head and just fish it like a jerk bait. What I mean by that is you will cast your jig and let it sink in the water column. As you reel it back in slowly give it a couple of jerks by quickly raising your rod tip. Then let it sink a few feet and repeat the process.
Speckled trout like to hit the jig as it is falling in the water column. Quite often when you give the lure your next jerk you will set the hook on the speck that has it in its mouth.
My favorite technique for catching trout on the grass flats is to put the jig under a popping cork or a rattle cork. You will want to have 18 inches to maybe 3 feet of 15 pound leader from the cork to the jig.
You will have to decide how long you want it based on the water depth of the area where you are fishing. Sometimes the trout are in the grass and sometimes they are in the middle or upper part of the water column.
The technique for using a popping cork is simple. Just cast your popping cork and jig combo as far as you can. During the retrieve you will give it a sharp tug or two every few feet and then pause for 10 seconds, then repeat. When your cork goes under set the hook.
Your job is to figure out where the feeding fish are in your area. DO NOT FISH DEAD ZONES.
This is a mistake that so many anglers make. They will fish a spot just because it looks fishy. There are lots of fishy looking spots that don't have any fish. Keep moving until you find where the fish are.
You will find on the grass flats that 80 to 90 percent of all of the fish will be in the same general area. This area usually has bait, moving current and pleasant water temperatures that the fish like. Those are the 3 most important factors that lead to you catching a ton of seatrout.
I like to drift the flats with the current or let the wind push me across the grass until I find out where the fish are. Then I will often drop anchor catch specks until the bite stops. Once it stops I will pull anchor and drift until I find the fish again.
You will find that the BIG gator trout are usually alone or in a pair. The smaller schooling seatrout will be all roughly the same size. You will have to decide if quality or quantity is what you are going for on that day.
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So if you are only catching 13 inch speckled trout and want to find some dinner, then you should move until you start catching keepers. The big gator trout are often deeper in the water column than the smaller schooling trout.
I like to focus on the sandy potholes that are in every grass flat that I have ever seen. Marine predators like speckled trout like to use those potholes as ambush points to get some food.
They will wait in the grass next to the pothole facing into the tide. They are waiting for the current to bring them small crabs, shrimp and fish for an easy lunch. It is best to present your lure from up current when possible.
Watch the video below and catch more speckled trout on the grass flats with popping corks.
What is the best lure for speckled trout around oyster bars?
Another great place to catch a ton of specks is around oyster bars. Oyster bars are like an all you can eat buffet for many inshore predators. Redfish, black drum, flounders, and speckled trout all love to forage around oyster bars. You will often catch all four species of the fish mentioned above with the same Gulp Shrimp lures.
Just about everything eats the Gulp shrimp!
About the best set up you can get for catching speckled trout is a grass flat that is adjacent to some oyster bars. The trout will move to the oyster bars with the tide and feed on the shrimp, crabs and fish that are hiding amongst the oyster clumps.
Learn more about catching speckled trout here.
I like to use the popping cork jig combination when fishing around oyster bars. If you don't use the cork, then you will lose most of your jigs on the oyster clumps.
You want to get as close to the oyster bar without getting hung up. You will have to figure out how short to make your leader to keep your jig just out of the oyster clumps.
Incoming and outgoing tide doesn't seem to matter too much as long as the tide is moving. If you can get your popping cork and Gulp shrimp combination to float parallel to the oyster bar, then that is optimal.
The seatrout like to herd their quarry against the oyster bar to make it easier to catch them. That is why you want to get your lure as close to the oyster bar as you can without getting snagged.
My favorite colors of Gulp Shrimp to use are the white, molting, and new penny color combinations. That is just my preference. If you ask me it is the technique as much as the color that triggers the seatrout to hit the lure.
They will hit neon pink, electric chicken (hot pink and neon green) and all kinds of other crazy color combinations. There are no hot pink fish living in the oyster bars which means that it is a reaction strike that anglers are getting from the speckled trout.
You can bounce your jig off of the bottom with the current just outside of the oyster bar and catch seatrout too. You just have to figure out where are the snags are and avoid them. Gulp Shrimp are not cheap and fishing the oyster bars can cost you 20 or 30 dollars worth of lures if you are not careful.
Watch the video below and catch more speckled trout around oyster bars with Gulp Shrimp.
What is the best lure for speckled trout around docks?
Docks are another great place to catch speckled trout with Gulp Shrimp. Docks are a mini ecosystem that attract all kinds of predators. The dock pilings will accumulate all kinds of marine organisms like sponges, oysters, barnacles, marine plants, mussels...…
Those organisms will in turn attract shrimp, crabs and small fish that speckled trout love to eat. That is why docks are a great place to find lots of delicious speckled trout to catch. You will also catch redfish, flounders, black drum, snook and many other species under those same docks.
I like to start out my dock fishing adventures with a white Gulp Shrimp on a red 1/8 ounce jig head. Those are my go to colors for just about every fish but especially when it comes to speckled trout in my area.
I will pitch it to the dock pilings and violently jerk it a couple of times to try and get a reaction bite from any trout that might be under the dock. You never know where the fish will be so you will want to fish the entire dock if you can.
Learn about the best tackle for speckled trout fishing here.
Sometimes the trout are in 18 inches of water and other times they are in 8 feet of water. You don't know until you start catching them where to focus your efforts. Once you figure out what water depth is holding the fish you can really start to catch a lot of trout. They will often be in large schools as they move through the docks looking for some food.
If the jig alone is not catching any trout for you, then add the popping cork to see if that is what they want. Sometimes they will hit the jigs without the cork better than with the cork and vice versa. You will have to test both to see what they want that day.
What is the best lure for speckled trout in the mangroves?
When you are further south where there are mangroves you will want to fish the roots at high tide. The roots of the Red Mangrove Tree are a haven for shrimp, crabs and small fish. They use the roots to hide from predators.
Those predators like speckled trout, snook, flounders, redfish, mangrove snapper...… can't get at their prey until the higher parts of the tide floods the roots. That is when you will want to use your Gulp Shrimp to catch some specks around the mangrove roots.
In my region, the fertile grass flats are almost always adjacent to a mangrove shoreline of some sort. This is great because you can fish the grass flats for speckled trout during the lower parts of the tide. As the tide rises you can move to the shorelines and catch them in the mangrove roots.
I find that the bigger gator trout are the ones that move to the mangrove roots during the times when the water levels are higher. The smaller trout tend to stay on the grass flats.
I like to use the popping cork and Gulp Shrimp combination when fishing the mangrove roots. I want to keep the jig just off of the bottom because this keeps it in the strike zone of a myriad of fish species that I want to catch.
You can catch spotted seatrout, flounder, redfish, snook, black drum, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and many more in the roots of the Red Mangrove during high tide. That is what makes the 3 inch Gulp Shrimp such a valuable lure for inshore fishermen.
Learn more speckled trout fishing tips and techniques in the video below.
When you are further south where there are mangroves you will want to fish the roots at high tide. The roots of the Red Mangrove Tree are a haven for shrimp, crabs and small fish. They use the roots to hide from predators.
Those predators like speckled trout, snook, flounders, redfish, mangrove snapper...… can't get at their prey until the higher parts of the tide floods the roots. That is when you will want to use your Gulp Shrimp to catch some specks around the mangrove roots.
In my region, the fertile grass flats are almost always adjacent to a mangrove shoreline of some sort. This is great because you can fish the grass flats for speckled trout during the lower parts of the tide. As the tide rises you can move to the shorelines and catch them in the mangrove roots.
I find that the bigger gator trout are the ones that move to the mangrove roots during the times when the water levels are higher. The smaller trout tend to stay on the grass flats.
I like to use the popping cork and Gulp Shrimp combination when fishing the mangrove roots. I want to keep the jig just off of the bottom because this keeps it in the strike zone of a myriad of fish species that I want to catch.
You can catch spotted seatrout, flounder, redfish, snook, black drum, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and many more in the roots of the Red Mangrove during high tide. That is what makes the 3 inch Gulp Shrimp such a valuable lure for inshore fishermen.
Learn more speckled trout fishing tips and techniques in the video below.
What is the best lure for speckled trout in tidal creeks?
Speckled trout roll into and out of the tidal creeks from the Carolinas, around Florida, all the way to Texas. This makes tidal creeks a great place to target specks wherever you live in the Southern United States.
The movements of the tides will flush out shrimp and fish from their hiding places in the vegetation and oyster bars within the tidal creeks. This attracts schools and schools of hungry speckled trout.
I like to pick an ambush point for the passing schools of speckled trout. My favorite scenario has an oyster bar and both sides of the creek that funnels the fish right past my hiding spot.
The fish cannot get around my spot during the lower parts of the tide so I like to get there right as the tide turns from dead low to incoming. This is a great way to catch speckled trout. You might be able to get a couple of dozen trout from the school as they move into the creeks with the incoming tide.
This is a scenario where the Gulp Shrimp under a popping cork is very hard to beat. Just cast it up current and give it a pop or two and reel in the slack of your line. Just let the tide bring the lure back to you. This technique is deadly for speckled trout.
I like the molting and new penny color combinations for this scenario. Hungry trout will not ignore this lure combination as they are hunting the tidal creeks. I always try and use red jig heads unless the tackle store is out of that color, then I will use whatever they have. I don't think that it matters that much but that's the color that I use.
Conclusion:
If you like to catch speckled trout, then the best lure for you is the Berkeley Gulp 3 inch Shrimp. Some fishermen will disagree with this statement, but they are wrong! Until some company comes out with a smellier bait I will be using Gulps.
Speckled trout will eat all kinds of different lures. If the bait store that you are shopping at is out of Gulp Shrimp, then you can use all kinds of soft plastics with a jig. You can still catch dozens of trout with the various soft plastics that are out on the market.
See the best baits and lures for speckled trout here.
I hope that this article answered your question, "What is the best lure for speckled trout?" I also hope that this article helps you catch a ton of speckled trout or at the very least have more fun trying.
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If you like to catch speckled trout, then the best lure for you is the Berkeley Gulp 3 inch Shrimp. Some fishermen will disagree with this statement, but they are wrong! Until some company comes out with a smellier bait I will be using Gulps.
Speckled trout will eat all kinds of different lures. If the bait store that you are shopping at is out of Gulp Shrimp, then you can use all kinds of soft plastics with a jig. You can still catch dozens of trout with the various soft plastics that are out on the market.
See the best baits and lures for speckled trout here.
I hope that this article answered your question, "What is the best lure for speckled trout?" I also hope that this article helps you catch a ton of speckled trout or at the very least have more fun trying.
If you like articles like this, then sign up for our email list. You will get one NEW article per week.
Sign up for your weekly articles below.