Top 3 Lures To Outsmart Pufferfish (And When To Use Them)

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Sick of reeling in half of a soft plastic lure?

Pufferfish have teeth like razor blades and no matter what type of plastic material your lure is made out of, the pufferfish can slash right through it.

In this video, you’ll see several lure options to withstand pufferfish and when to use them.

Check it out below!

Best Lures To Outsmart Pufferfish [VIDEO]

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Here are some of my favorite pufferfish-proof lures:

Know Your Options

If you find yourself surrounded by a lure graveyard, it’s probably a good sign that you need to change things up!

Your options are:

  1. Move to another spot.
  2. Change your lure.

Chances are that if you’re consistently pulling in a destroyed soft plastic lure, your best bet is going to be to move spots.

But if you have some lure alternatives, you (and your lures) may be able to withstand the pufferfish.

My Go-To Lure Alternatives

Don’t let pufferfish ruin your day.

Find a lure alternative!

The key is choosing one that can imitate the soft plastic presentation that was working before.

If you were catching fish on a slow steady retrieve, switch up to a gold spoon.

Let’s say a slower presentation was working — choose a twitch bait because you can twitch it a couple of times and it will stay suspended in the strike zone.

Both lures can be presented similarly to a paddletail.

For a more universal lure that can be successful with either a fast or slow retrieve and bounced along the bottom, try a bucktail jig.

You can use this if you were imitating a jerk shad or artificial shrimp presentation.

Here are some great options to keep your fishing trip going:

Conclusion

using gold spoons in winter

Some days it may be impossible to get away from pufferfish, but don’t keep throwing out your soft plastic lures just to have them destroyed!

Change up your lures to one of the ones below to quit losing the battle to pufferfish, save money, and catch fish:

Have more questions about what lure to use to combat pufferfish?

Let me know down in the comments.

And if you know someone who needs a lure intervention, please TAG or SHARE this with them!

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MARC RAINVILLE
1 year ago

Instead of worrying about the puffers tearing up your lures, why not turn the tables and start tearing up those puffers instead? Assuming they are Northern Puffers and NOT smooth! They are absolutely delicious, and easy to clean. I literally threw hundreds of Northern Puffers back over the years, because all the old timers told me they were poisonous. Now I know better, and none make it back to the Atlantic.

Joshua Biever
2 years ago

If it is a jerkbait kind of day, and they are tearing up your gulps, I have found the Rapala Ripstop is a great hard bodied replacement, especially in shallower water.

Larry
2 years ago

Such amazing insight….switch to a hard bodied lure! Wow, who would have thunk it?

DW Wamsley
2 years ago

Thanks for the tips on Puffer fish tearing up soft plastics. The lures that you recommended to use instead of the soft plastics were used extensively before
we had soft plastics. I am “old school” buck tail jig user from the 70’s and can catch Redfish, Specs, & Flounder consistently.

A Rollins
2 years ago
Reply to  DW Wamsley

Try Otter Tail Bait Strips on the bucktails. I’ve noticed many of those old baits like Uncle Josh disappeared as soft plastic lure became more popular.

Last edited 2 years ago by Andrew Rollins
Steven Pepus
2 years ago

Great video Tony. Another good option would be to cast out another line with small hooks and Fishbites and catch them. They are truly the “chicken of the sea” and extremely easy to “skin”. Lots of videos on youtube to show you how.

MARC RAINVILLE
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Acevedo

Hope you’ve changed your mind in a year. You are truly missing out on one of the best tasting (and easiest to cook and clean) fish inshore. Feel free to send them ALL up my way.

David
2 years ago

I tried the spro buck tail jig. The puffer fish bit the hair right of on the first cast. Buck tail jigs have been one of my favorite lures since I was a kid.
David oakes

Mike Drozdowski
2 years ago

Another thing to do if you’re losing soft plastic baits to pufferfish is move to another location.

Bill Milam
2 years ago

Perfect timing for this Tony. My wife caught 5 pufferfish Friday and we lost many soft plastics to them too. I will keep this video in mind next time we encounter a similar scenario.

Adam Bailey
2 years ago

I’m sure everyone has either seen the movie or read the 1974 book, Jaws. What most don’t know or choose to ignore due to the obvious terror, is that the story, Jaws, was based on news reports in the 60s by inshore saltwater fishermen in west central Florida. The reports tell of fish that blew up like balloons and most thought they looked silly. Well, that is, until swimmers started going missing…it could only be the PUFFERS!!!

Cody Selph
2 years ago

Oh the torture, them poor paddle tails. Lol Great video Tony that sounds like a great idea. The puffers might chip a tooth on them hard plastics.

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