Wyatt’s Texas Bundle Lure Lessons
- By: Wyatt Parcel
- on
- Found In: Artifical Lure Tips
This Texas Tackle Bundle has been assembled to help you have the essentials to catch fish year-round from Sabine to South Padre, featuring an assortment of lures to cover every bait profile, water column, and more!
Buying fishing equipment can be a daunting task given the endless amount of products that are being pitched to us fishermen as being a “must-have” item.
But after hundreds of trips to Texas flats and marshes, here’s what I have found to get the best results most consistently for catching redfish, seatrout, and flounder!
Below are videos for the key items that are essential for inshore fishing, as well as some helpful lessons for the lures in the bundle:
Best Texas Inshore Lures
The lures featured below represent the best of the best we’ve tested so far for catching redfish, seatrout, flounder, and a variety of other species throughout all seasons in Texas.
Scroll down below to see the listing of lures as well as the ideal times to use them.
Note: Please be sure to go through the Mini-Courses for each lure so you can become an expert in generating strikes with them even if the fish aren’t actively feeding.
Texas Bundle Overview Video
Paddletails: Slam Shady 2.0 / Slam Shady Bomber:
This is the best all-purpose paddletail on the market given that it’s color works great in all water colors throughout all seasons, and it’s profile enables it to work great when rigged on a jig head for deep water as well as on a weighted hook for effectively covering the shallows. Also, this lure’s body style even allows it to look great even without it’s tail so you can pull the tail off if the baitfish are very small and or if you need to decrease the amount of vibration the lure is putting off.
Given how well this lure works along with how versatile it is, it’s a must-have lure for inshore fishermen.
Paddletail Pro Tips:
Triggering Reaction Strikes With Paddletails
Corky Fat Boy
An absolute Texas Classic, the Paul brown Fat Boy, more commonly known as the “Corky” is a must have for any Texas angler. Every year, countless trophy class trout are fooled into striking this lure! Several state record fish have fallen for this lure as well, as it is a perfect mimic of a gator trout’s favorite meal; a big baitfish!
These also work fantastic for redfish when worked like topwaters in the tip below, and don’t be surprised if after a long pause, you don’t find a big flounder on your line! This bait can produce some impressive slams, and contrary to popular belief, works well year-round.
MirrOLure Lil’ Jon
Another must have lure for Texas flats fishing, the MirrOLure Lil Jon is the ace up your sleeve when nothing else seems to be working (especially when it’s cold!). The retrieve is very erratic, but the reaction strikes from redfish and trout are well worth it! These lures tend to work best on deeper drop offs where fish won’t move up on the flats, but are still actively feeding. They work best on jigheads, as the plastic is a bit tough for the weedless hooks.
Get More MirrOLure Lil’ Jon Packs Here
Weedless Spoon: Johnson Silver Minnow
Although soft plastic lures are amazingly good at catching redfish, snook, seatrout, & flounder, there are some situations where they simply can’t be used so it’s important to be ready for making a change when needed. A weedless spoon is typically the best choice if you’re fishing in shallow areas with structure and you can’t fish a soft plastic due to pufferfish biting off the tails. Also, these lures are great when fishing on windy days because they slice through the wind.
The best value weedless spoon we’ve found so far is the Johnson Silver Minnow.
Topwater Plug: Moonwalker
When fishing at night and during the twilight hours (as the sun is rising or setting) during the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons, the topwater bite can be extremely good… plus it’s a ton of fun.
The Moonwalker has been the best overall performing topwater plug that I’ve use so far… we tested a bunch of topwater plugs, and pulled in the pros from the best performers and put them into this one lure.
Get More Moonwalker Topwaters Here
Weighted Hooks (for soft plastics)
The use of weighted hooks for fishing the shallows will skyrocket results compared to using traditional worm hooks because they help make sure that the lure won’t helicopter in the water and the added weight will increase casting distance.
The hooks we have liked best for many years are the TwistLock hooks made by Owner because they are their patented TwistLock keeper while having a variety of hook and weight sizes.
We created Hoss Helix hooks more recently in order to better fit our Power Prawn USA lures… these Hoss helix hooks use the same keeper as the TwistLocks, but the Hoss hooks have a wider gap and a thinner shank diameter to allow for better hooksets with the Power Prawn USA lures.
Note: These are generally best for covering depth zones down to 2.5 ft relative to jig heads.
Jig Heads (for soft plastics)
When fishing in more than a couple feet of water, it’s crucial to be able to get your lure down to the strike zone, so having jig heads of various weights is a must for inshore fishermen. The best overall jig heads that we’ve found so far for soft plastic lures up to 5 inches in length are the Trout Eye jig heads from Zman because they work well for most soft plastic brands and their big eyes seem to help draw strikes.
Note: These are generally best for covering depth zones down to 2.5 ft relative to jig heads.
If you have any questions, please use the Comments feature below to ask them and we’ll be quick to respond.
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Wyatt,
Welcome to the great state of Texas. I have learned from your videos. Although catching fish in Texas may not be very different from catching them in North Carolina or Florida, we have a slightly different fishing culture. I am glad to see that you have taken up using Corkys. To be a real Texan, in addition to getting some boots, you need to use a bait casting reel and have a monster outboard to get you to where you are going to wade. Owning cattle is optional.
Thank you for the warm welcome Frank!!! Believe it or not, several local Insiders have peer pressured me into fishing with baitcasters and I finally gave in. When I’m Rome! I actually just finished up fishing this weekend with my brand new baitcaster and will have a report to come shortly. I do own a pair of bull leather Durangos but the big outboard might take a bit 😅