How To Call Fish Out Of Shoreline Structure (Topwater Teaser!)
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Inshore Fishing, Fishing Reports, Artifical Lure Tips
Have you ever wished that you could pull fish out of shoreline structure like mangroves without worrying about getting snagged?
In this trip, I tested out a fun twist on one of my favorite lures… I took the hooks off the Moonwalker, and then used it purely as a teaser to call fish out of the trees.
It let me fire casts deep under overhangs and over logs to tease the fish out into open water. Once they showed interested, we’d then follow up immediately with a jig for the strike.
This “hookless teaser” approach turned out to be a ton of fun while also being effective.
I had the pleasure of fishing John Freeman, who is one of our original Insider Club members, and we fished through some rough weather in a local Snook tournament.
This new video shows how we found the fish and got some fun action in spite of terrible weather:
Featured Gear
Topwater Teaser Setup
- Lure: Moonwalker (Slam Shady Color) – hooks removed for skipping under mangroves
- Leader: 20 lb Mono
- Main Line: 10 lb Braid
- Rod: Slot Machine (Medium Power) – for maximum casting accuracy
- Reel: Otis 2500
Follow-Up Jig Setup
- Lure: Slam Shady 2.0
- Rigging: 1/4 oz Hoss Round Eye Jighead
- Leader: 30 lb Mono
- Main Line: 20 lb Braid
- Rod: Slot Machine (Medium Heavy Power) – added backbone for snook near structure
- Reel: Daiwa Ballistic MQ 2500
- Alternative Follow-Up Lure: Mulligan 4” (for matching topwater size and profile)
Final Thoughts
Using a hookless topwater plug is a fun way to find active fish buried deep in cover. You can make those pinpoint casts under mangroves, see where the strikes happen, and then follow up with a normal lure to seal the deal.
Next time the fish are tucked in tight, give this method a shot. It’s a fun way to get a lot of topwater strikes from fish holding in structure without having to waste time pulling lures out of trees.
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
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).
That looked like fun.
We have a lot of marsh in NC not mangroves but this also works well in marsh on very high tides. One can usually hear Reds ten or more feet deep into marsh feeding. I have been taking a top water without hooks and casting two or so feet into marsh and working it back to open water but just before it emerges stop, place rod in rod holder and casting a SS 2.0 down wind of the top water but right at the bank and it has a high percentage of hookup of reds and flounder. Started this this past winter on breeder trout as well.
I believe the biggest fish in the area respond that cannot possible get up into the marsh for this has produced a 52 inch drum at the bank and untold number of 26″ plus trout.
Thanks for sharing the helpful tips Charles! I have yet to get into the 50-inch club on a redfish… that is a beast!
With the Slot Machine rod, I was wore out after getting it in the boat.
Wow!!! That is a huge fish for a medium power lightweight rod.
Awesome video and great tips Luke.. Job well done and thanks for the tips .. !
Thanks for posting the nice comment Thomas!
Great tip. I need to give that a try sometime. Thanks.
We’re glad to see that you enjoyed this video!
Cool
Will try next time out!!
We’re glad to see that you enjoyed this video!
Wow Luke, you definitely think outside the box. 👍 Similar to when I’m bass fishing with a top water Pop-R and have a miss. Follow up with a worm for the catch almost always. That’s why you’re the Chief Fishing Addict
Thanks fur making time to post the nice comment Robert!
Slightly different but many years ago I lived in Jupiter Florida. After the fall mullet run the river was filled with small to medium sized jacks, bluefish, and ladyfish. We threw hookless top-waters for the jacks. The first one would grab it and hang on for a while before releasing at which time another one would grab it. It was a fun game to see how many you could “hook up” with before getting the plug back to the boat.
How awesome! That must have been a blast.
What a great technique !! Gets your blood pumping switching rods !
Thanks for taking time to post the nice comment Charles!
Interesting for sure. I think most would agree that live bait chumming produces similar search tactics and would have out fished the lures on this day.
Live bait chumming would have a huge advantage if we had time to catch it and knew some spots that held fish.
This lure technique has the advantage on short trips like this in foreign waters while we only had a short window to fish before the big storms rolled in… sticking with lures allowed us to cover much more shoreline vs live bait chumming.
Wow- now I’m wishin’ I’d bought one of those ornaments!
The ornament ones where not weighted properly, so their action isn’t as good as the official moonwalkers.