The Best Lures For High Current Situations (And How To Rig Them)
- By: Richard Thomas
- on
Do you fish in areas with massive tide swings that cause extreme currents in between the tides?
What lures will successfully catch fish in a sweeping, heavy current?
There are certain techniques to rigging and swimming these lures that are sure to catch the attention of predatory fish waiting to pick off baitfish struggling in the current!
Take a look here!!
Best Lures For High Current Situations [VIDEO]
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High current situations can produce an epic bite and spark fish into feeding off of flustered bait.
Paddletail Lure
The go-to lure for this fishing situation is a paddletail lure with a jighead hook.
When you are fishing a high current, it can be very difficult to get your bait down into the strike zone.
Any weight from a 1/4 ounce or sometimes heavier will work best for getting your lure deep enough into the strike zone.
Another reason for choosing to use a jighead is because the tail of the paddletail causes drag in the water.
You can reel in this lure with pauses to create a “dead fall” action and the tail of the lure will continue to wiggle.
As opposed to a jerk shad that has a more streamlined profile without the flared tail.
The heavier jighead allows you to cover more of the water column and more water in general.
Shrimp Lure
The Power Prawn Jr. lure is excellent for this type of fishing.
A 1/16 ounce weighted hook or a smaller jighead is a great pairing for this lure.
You should use a lighter jighead or weighted hook for this shrimp lure in high current because you are trying to mimic the behavior of a small shrimp getting washed away in the current.
Aim your casts up current from your intended target zone so the lure has enough time to sink down to the bottom.
By the time it reaches the strike zone, it will be in the desired spot to trigger strikes.
The Power Prawn Jr. is also a great lure for targeting spooky fish or fish feeding in the middle of the water column.
During high current, the most effective way to swim the Power Prawn Jr. is the “dead drift”.
You don’t want a lot of line tension on this lure.
Instead, you want it to drift with the current with a little slack in the line to imitate a shrimp getting washed away in the current.
The only negative to fishing this way is you may not always feel the fish strike your lure.
If you use a line with a brighter color it can give you a better indication if a fish attacked your lure.
Popping Cork
This is a similar approach to the “dead drift” with the Power Prawn Jr., but you are just adding a popping cork to the setup.
Using a popping cork is advantageous in this setting because you can set your leader length to exactly where the fish are feeding in the water column.
As opposed to the “dead drift” where you may not know the exact depth of your lure, with a popping cork you can set the depth of where your lure will swim in the desired water column.
Another benefit of the popping cork is the shrimp lure will still have the same action as the “dead drift”, however, the popping cork itself will be an indicator if a fish strikes the lure.
The timing of your hook sets will be much better because you can visibly see the fish striking your line.
You still want to cast up current of where you think the fish are going to be holding.
Most of the time, you won’t even have to make a pop with the cork in order to induce a strike.
All you have to do is repeat the “dead drift” technique but now you have a popping cork as a depth manager and a strike indicator.
Another addition to the Power Prawn Jr. on this type of rig is a heavier weight on the hook.
You can use a jighead or a weighted hook in the neighborhood of a 1/4 ounce.
The added weight to the lure forces your lure to sit at the exact water column you intended based on your leader length.
If you use a lighter weight, the shrimp lure will sit a bit higher in the current and you won’t get down in the water to where you want it to be.
Moreover, the clicks of the popping cork when the line tightens can further add to attracting predatory fish to your lure.
A heavier weight on your shrimp lure will bring that lure down lower and help create those clicks on the popping cork.
Equipment Used:
- Slam Shady 2.0 Paddletail
- Power Prawn Jr. Shrimp Lure
- Owner Weighted Twistlock Hooks
- Trout Eye Jighead
- Paradise Popper Popping Cork
- 30lb Stren Magnathin Monofilament
- 15lb Braided Line
- 40lb Ande Monofilament Leader
- Falcon MH 7’6 Coastal Clearwater Rod
- Quantum Smoke Inshore Reel
Conclusion
Fishing in high current situations can be advantageous for anglers because baitfish behavior is easier to mimic.
The fish will be held in certain water columns waiting for disoriented baitfish to swim into their mouths.
Be sure to use the current in your favor and mimic baitfish presentations to induce strikes from big fish!
If you have any questions about high current fishing situations, please ask me in the comments!
And if you know an angler who wants to learn more about fishing during a high current, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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If you throw some Dr juice or procure on it, it is twice effective doing it that way also. It adds more scent and brings more predators towards you’re lure if you throw up stream and bring it back towards you the sent will be going downstream so they already smell the scent and then it’s game on from there. Excellent video Richard thank you for the info.
Thanks Ken! You’re absolutely right, adding scent is a game changer!
. How would this work for flounder?
Tony, I’d use the Slam shady with the heavier jig head to make sure you are hitting close to bottom. It works great for them.
Thanks for the info Richard.
Do you try to always work a plastic with the current or against the current. What action do you use.
Robert, I almost always retrieve my lure with the current or at least in the general direction. It’s more natural and what fish expect the bait to do and I’ve noticed you get much more strikes.
If I am using a paddle-tail, I typically do a very slow constant retrieve, or where I can get just above the bottom occasionally hitting it. If I’m not getting a lot of bites I may throw in a few twitches as well after a few turns of the reel.
On a shrimp imitation I like to throw up current and do a “dead drift” putting little to no action on the lure as it passes over the strike zone. Let the current do the work for you with an occasional twitch if you would like.
Thanks for the info Richard.
Of course Tony!
In your best lure for high current you discuss lures to use but you give no information on how to rig the hooks and weights? could you show how you rig the weighted hooks
Sure thing Rex! here is a link that goes over just that:
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/rig-power-prawn-owner-twistlock-hook/
For the paddle tail I like using a heavier jig head such as a 1/4 oz. Here is a link on the different ways to rig the Slam Shady paddle tail that I like:
https://www.saltstrong.com/articles/how-to-use-rig-retrieve-slam-shady-paddletails/
Good information. I would appreciate it if you would expound on these techniques for deep water with fast current such as trying to fish for red fish on fast outgoing tides with the fish holding near the bottom of a 35 foot deep inlet. I would think using a slip cork to adjust depth and maybe a 1 ounce sinker about 2 to 3 feet from a soft plastic like a DOA. The heavy weight gets you do the right depth in a fast current, the 3 foot leader lets the plastic move in the current like something being washed out to sea, and the slip cork lets you cast the whole rig up-current of where you think the fish are holding. Would you ever rig like this and use cut bait in this type of scenario?
Thanks Robert, so this video was geared toward more shallow inshore techniques typically in 10ft of water or less.
-For fishing in areas near a inlet with that deep of water 35ft as you said, artificial will probably not be as effective compared to cut bait or live on the bottom- there are many different ways of rigging, but the two I have used or seen the most are (1. a fish finder rig and 2. a 3 way swivel rig )
With that being said, there are anglers who jig with a 2-3 OZ or more at times artificial or buck-tail jig and catch redfish that way as well.
I’ve used the slip cork a lot, and usually pair it with live bait.
I have not tried the method you mentioned with the artificial, however in theory it could definitely work. The only thing in deep water like that is it may be difficult for the fish to pick up an artificial moving past them compared to cut bit that is stationary where they can smell it and approach from down-current.
If you get a chance to try that please let me know, I’d be very interested to see the results.
Since the current and boat traffic make it difficult to stay in one place and pin a bait to the bottom what do you think about using the slip cork to drift a cut bait just off bottom allowing you to cover more ground?
I personally like cut bait to be on the bottom and in a strategic location, however I know there are some anglers especially around the panhandle and parts of the gulf that use it on a slip float and have even caught trout.
I’ve always used live on a slip float, but in a pinch if thats all I had available it would definitely be worth a shot.
35 feet and with a fast current…Reminds me of fishing the Cape Cod Canal for stripers. A 5-ounce jig was an all-around good weight to reach the bottom for that depth and in a fast current.
Flairhawk/bucktail 2oz is what I use for ripping current near bridges and inlets. Heavy pre rigged swimbaits work well like tsunami swimshad and hogy protails. I’ve used them with alot of success.