Spotties

[dniss]

I fish South Bay a lot. For a long time I fished exclusively ghost shrimp on a drop shot or a cheapass crayfish plastics rigged similarly for spotties and the occasional bonefish or hali. Lately I've been deadsticking some dessicated old chunks of market shrimp I found buried in my freezer while tossing BH sexy smelt or bay smelt swimbaits in red or black 1/4 or 3/8 oz heads (the south end is very shallow outside the boat channels). I seem to get more of the big spawning spotties on the lure than bait, using a slow, irregular retrieve. Subtle pickups, especially since I went back to mono. Sometimes you just need to relax when you feel a nibble, reel acouple cranks, rest again, repeat. This has changed from when I used the crayfish, which they'd often hammer violently. And once in awhile the deadsticked shrimp gets picked up by a bone. Some scent is also a big help. I've used Hot Sauce, Unibutter, and lately ProCure krill, which they seem to like. Gulp lures tended to end in more guthooked fish, so I quit. Hope this helps, tight lines.

[tacmik]

Gulp shrimp or gulp jerk shad with moving water slays them. Carolina rigged.

[buddha]

To fish weedless an Owner sledhead with Gulp jerk shad is a great combination.

[Nic D]

try using 12-16" of 10-15lb fluorocarbon leader with a 1/2 - 3/4oz head. bass are structure related fish... eel grass is your friend.

[ronbo613]

Lead head grubs. Always works.



Let it sink to the bottom, lift up and crank a few times then let it drop again.

[LDO10]

The setups everyone has listed above will work. Be sure to cast so your lure will swim with the current. I think fish will face into the current looking for food to come their way. Be aware of the tides and fish the incoming or outgoing. When the tide goes slack so does the fishing. My go to bait is a chartreuse-gold grub with 3/8 leadhead. But I've always got a range of colors from white to black-orange. Scent (I use Uni-butter) helps. I've started using small gulp baits with good luck. 30-40+ days are really possible. Best-

[Amish Ed]

Lot of good info here. I'll toss in my $.02, some of which will repeat others comments because they're that important.

Stay in contact with the bottom almost all the time. Drag your bait across it, skip and hop it across the bottom, buzz it across the eel grass. What ever, just make sure it's down there. I fish anything from 3/8 to 1oz depending on the bait and the depth. If I'm in really tight and shallow and it's something other than a spinner bait, I'll fish light. For spinner baits I like to fish heavier, like 3/4oz in 10'. But if I'm fishing a 3/4oz swimbait, I'm probably in something closer to 30-60'. For all baits, the faster you're winding the more weight you can get away with.

My retrieve varies until I start getting bit. But usually it's a slow crawl along the bottom. Sometimes winding 3-4 times and then letting the bait go back to the bottom. And rarely I tie on a heavier bait so I can retrieve fast across the bottom.

For line weight I like 6-10lb most of the time. 17lb for blades and jigs.

For baits I mostly use the Edge Flurry in 3" and 4". For spotties I like Fire Avocado, Minnow Magic, Chatreuse and Gold, Redfish, Gums, and Sea Food. Halloween is also a good one. When I'm not using those I like Assault Salt Shaker worms and Ringer Worms, Zoom Super Flukes, and grubs. I almost always fish these on either a Owner Sledhead, Texas or Carolina Rigged. On occasion these are used as trailers for Warbait jigs.

Use some kind of scent too. I use Hot Sauce, any of the others will work though.

Finally, as your abilities grow, so will your confidence. This is a big key to fishing artificials. Not really sure why, but it is. I once fished next to a guy using smoke/sparkle, I was using clear/black flake. Both of us were wacking the bass. We switched baits on a lark (He NEVER uses anything but smoke sparkle). Neither of us could buy a bite. Switched back, and we were on the fish again.

I know I'm missing lots, but I have 4 kids and a wife that need my attention.

[Iceman]

My go to for numbers .......or just 1 on a tough day is a 1/4 oz lead head and 3" Big Hammer, lighter mono like 6# will get bit more............money! Crank baits like the Shad Rap or Fat Free Shad dive 10-15 feet and work great, love 1/ oz spinner baits in white or chartreuse.