Right now live shrimp is a great saltwater bait when fished at the jetties, off the pier, or around inshore points early in the morning. Live shrimp will catch those early-rising speckled trout and also nab a few cruising redfish or black drum. Keep these tips in mind when fishing live shrimp.
For plenty of additional free tips on speckled trout fishing check out my Speckled Trout Page at Surf and Salt.
Use a float rig.
Since pinfish will likely devour any live shrimp that gets near the bottom use a float rig to keep the shrimp in the feeding column for speckled trout. Float rigs should be adjustable so you can quickly change the depth of the shrimp as the tide comes in and out, and to keep the shrimp away from pinfish and other baitstealers.
Float your live shrimp near the rocks at the jetties or just away from the pier. When inshore float near the mouths of the creeks and off points. Let the tide do your work for you, as the natural movement of the water will carry the rig to feeding trout. Specks often stay in slightly deeper water waiting to ambush unwary shrimp that come too close.
Hook the shrimp correctly.
The main thing to remember is to never hook a live shrimp in the dark area near the head, which is a shrimp’s brain. Hook through the “horns” area but avoid the dark spot. The shrimp should still be active and trying to jump in your hand after hooked.
Alternatively, hook the shrimp through the lower back area for a slightly different effect. Experiment with both ways of hooking the shrimp until you find what is working for trout at the moment.
“Pop” it just once.
If you are using a popping cork don’t “pop” the float rig too often. Once the rig is in the water “pop” it real hard one time and then let it alone for a minute. This more closely resembles the activity of a live shrimp, and in most cases if a trout is around it will hit as the shrimp is falling back from the first pop.
Jerking the live shrimp around too much won’t help, so stick with “popping” it once and waiting a minute before popping it again. The first “pop” should be all you need if speckled trout are active in the area.
For updated fishing reports and articles see my blog A Dash of Salty.
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