The Best Spring Lures & Colors To Target Redfish, Snook, Seatrout, & Flounder
- By: Tony Acevedo
- on
This video is designed to help you narrow down your lure and lure color selection come springtime!
If you hit the water with a TON of different lures, then you’ll probably spend more time changing lures than catching fish.
It is all about finding that 90/10 Zone and using the RIGHT color and profile to trigger strikes!!
Learn more in the video below!
Best Spring Lures To Catch More Inshore Fish [VIDEO]
Lure Selection Cheat Sheet (Downloadable PDF Guide!!)
Find NEW Saltwater Fishing Spots In Your Area In 60 seconds or less!!!
Featured Tackle & Lures:
- Moonwalker Topwater Lure
- 3.5-inch Slam Shady Paddletail
- 3.5-inch F.R.E.D. Paddletail
- 3.5-inch Gold Digger Paddletail
- Hoss Helix Hooks
- Hoss Football Jigheads
I prefer to keep things simple and use similar style lures and sizes but in different colors.
Oftentimes, water clarity varies from one area to the next in the spring.
Spring Topwater Lures
First, it’s time to dust off the topwater lures and have those ready!
Our Moonwalker Topwater Lure excels all year round and comes equipped with single-inline hooks.
Single inline hooks are safer both for the fish and for you while maintaining a strong connection to the fish.
As far as topwater lure timing, I typically prefer to throw these lures when the water temperature reaches about 68 degrees or higher.
Low light conditions either first thing in the morning or at sunset are ideal times to fish topwater lures.
It is also a good idea to take note of the clouds or overcast above you on any given day because there can be times you should throw topwater during the day as well.
Even if a big cloud looks like it is passing over you and you still have a topwater lure tied on, give it a shot and throw it out there.
Anytime the sun is blocked and the lighting is slightly dimmed is a perfect time to try topwater lures.
Paddletails & Swimbaits
Paddletails are an IDEAL soft plastic lure to have especially in the spring.
These lures are incredibly versatile and are an excellent search bait.
You can cover a ton of water in a short amount of time and you have the option of retrieving them either fast or slow.
Additionally, these lures are super easy to use for all levels from kids to beginner anglers to experts.
Paddletails and swimbaits simply need to be cast out and reeled back to you at varying speeds.
Our 2.0 Series Paddletails are 3.5 inches long and I recommend leaning toward smaller profile lures in spring.
New baitfish are hatching and you want to match the size of the baitfish in the area you’re fishing to trigger the most strikes possible.
Our consistent favorite and reliable lure color is the Slam Shady which is white with silver flash and flakes sprinkled throughout.
This color in particular is an excellent match for recently hatched baitfish.
We also have the F.R.E.D. (Fooling Redfish Every Day) which is ideal for stained or slightly dirty water.
It is a pink lure with silver and white flakes in the body.
The Slam Shady is best for clear water but then as the water gets dirty, make the switch to the F.R.E.D. color.
I find that this lure color also excels at imitating live shrimp.
If you find yourself fishing in super muddy, dark water, that’s when I recommend breaking out the Gold Digger 2.0.
Marsh areas and creeks are perfect for this lure color which is black with gold flakes in the body.
The color gold requires less light to give off flash which is why it excels in dirty water.
Lure Rigging
Lastly, the hooks and techniques you use to rig these lures have a huge impact on your success.
You have the option of weedless hooks and jigheads as well as open-faced jigheads.
Weedless weighted hooks and weighted jigheads are important to take note of depending on how deep you are fishing.
You will want to change weights and get to the proper depth to find the strike zone.
If you’re fishing the shallow flats or shallow creeks with little to no current, I would use a weedless weighted hook.
It will help your lure fall at a slower rate and avoid any snags or picking up any grass as it swims along.
If you’re fishing in 3 feet of water or deeper, I would recommend fishing with a weighted jighead.
Jigheads get down to the bottom faster than weedless weighted hooks.
You should change weights based off of the current speed and the depth you want to target.
Find NEW Saltwater Fishing Spots In Your Area In 60 seconds or less!!!
The main takeaway from this video is to keep it simple and don’t overcomplicate things this spring.
You really only need a topwater lure and 1 or 2 different styles of soft plastic subsurface lures to find feeding fish.
Stick to a couple of lure profiles and just a few color options and you’ll be successful as the weather warms up!!!
Do you have any questions about any of the tackle or lures mentioned in the video??
Oh, want to see how you can find NEW saltwater fishing spots in your area in 60 seconds or less (all while saving money on your tackle and gear)??
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Finding The Fish Help
In order to help make sure that you are targeting the right areas based on the latest feeding trends and upcoming weather forecasts, make sure to use the following 3 resources because they will save you a ton of time.
1. Weekend Game Plans (updated weekly)
These regional game plans will show you exactly what types of spots to target in under 10 minutes… just click the video to start, and you’ll be informed on what to do on your next trip.
2. Smart Fishing Spots Platform (updated every 15 minutes)
This exclusive software literally shows you where the most fish are likely to be feeding based on exactly when you’ll be fishing. It factors in the tides, wind, and weather to help you quickly see which areas to target throughout the day.
3. Community Reports (live feed)
The Insider Community platform is what you can use to see what is biting near you, and you can get to know other members who fish in your area. Plus, you can use it to keep a log of your catches so you can use past trips to help predict future catches.
Related categories:
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Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
I forgot to post my question. My apologies. I am going to a rented place in SPI and this house has a lighted pier with green lights. The previous times there had not been any live shrimp available. What color artificial works with green lights at night?
Hey Pete! White or natural colors would be best, suh as the Slam Shady color. You could also use a shrimp lure such as the Power Prawn Jr in the natural or slam shady color as well.
Love the pdf cheat sheets recently. Hats off to the person that thought of those. Thanks so much guys!
You’re welcome Jeff!
Great info Tony! I do have a question for you though. I haven’t seen anything on using quick clips for your Lourdes to be able to change up quickly without having to re tie every time. Also would be helpful to have a tying video on this so as the best way to use these clips. Thanks again for the tips.
Tight lines!
Thanks Gary!
I personally don’t use speed clips. I just have 3 rods with me every trip. One rigged with a topwater, one with a weighted hook, and one with a jig head or another weighted hook. This eliminates having to re-tie as I just switch to whichever lure i need. If you’re switching out lures too often the main issue may be fishing in a bad area, not so much the lure.
If you do want to use them, you can tie them directly to your leader using a trilene knot or clinch knot (something snug). A loop knot is not required since the clip almost acts like a loop knot allowing freedom of movement of the lure.
Here is a video one of our coaches did on the Norman Speed Clips:
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/norman-speed-clips/
Great info Tony! I really enjoy your videos. very straight forward!
Thank you for the great feedback Bobby!
nice, straightforward guidance & presentation Tony, thank you.
You’re welcome Angelo and thank you for the great feedback!
Yea in the spring I agree with the topwater temp being at least 68 degrees to be best to throw them although on rare occasions I do throw them in the winter only if the solonar score is high and I see alot of fish chasing bait otherwise I use alot of gulp lures especially for reds because of there keen sence of smell they really key in on the scent these baits give out and as far as paddletails I use alot of the zman spinnerbaits with a gulp 4 inch paddletail either in pearl and chartruse or morning glory when it’s really murky which is black with red flakes and a chartruse tail the thump of the blade and the gold flash it gives off drives both flounder and reds into feeding machines but I only start using these when the water warms to at least 65 degrees otherwise I use the power prawn jr or the chasebaits flick prawn and on occasion I do use the saltstrong paddletails the fred and gold digger are great in our waters here in northeast florida thanks for the info and all you do😉👍
When we have a warming trend during the winter topwater can be great as well! When the air is chilly fish are a little reluctant to come up to the surface. Thank you for the great feedback Steven!
Tony, I would like to see you do an evaluation of spoon lures. If you could buy some of them and let us know what you liked and didn’t like about them and what you consider to be the best value I would appreciate it. I would love Salt Strong to build their own spoons and sell them on the shop page. I would also like to see a casting contest to see how much farther a spoon goes compared to a comparable paddle tail on a jig head.
Hey Steven!
The only spoon I have really used is the Aqua Dream 24k Gold color. Other than that I really haven’t had much luck with spoons. Luke uses them quite often so I can definitely recommend this to him. Also, we are currently working on getting our own made along with some hard baits.
i love the z man slim swims, to match the hatch, when i was out the other week here in nc, the trout an blues were throwing up fry bait in my boat i feel this is when the slam shady or nub is terrific
Awesome! I haven’t used those yet but I hear they work great!
Thank you, Tony! Why not include the power prawn jr.?
You’re welcome! I narrowed it down to these lures to keep it simple, but the power prawn jr. can definitely be included! I would switch to the power prawn if it was a calm clear day and/or if you’re finding fish but the paddle tails are spooking them.
Thanks for the info Tony works well as a refresher course. Keep the videos coming
You’re welcome Terry! Absolutely!