- Click here to learn how to tie a great line to line knot – for tying braided line to fluoro or mono leader
- Click here to learn how to tie a great loop knot – for tying flouro leader to lure/hook
How to Get These Baits
Berkley Gulp Jig Head (1/8 oz Red head) – I found these at Dicks Sporting Goods once and bought a few packs. Now, I’m having trouble finding them anywhere (even online… Berkley’s site doesn’t have them available in red). I’m hooked on red headed jigs, so I’ll be sticking with the DOAs shown next because they have proven to work exceptionally well.
DOA Jig Head (1/8 oz Red head) – These can typically be found at Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, and Dicks Sporting Goods. Click here to order directly from DOA. Note: I use the 1/8 oz size most often, but typically carry 1/4 oz in case fish are holding deeper than 5 ft and/or there is a lot of current.
- Tip – I use these when I’m fishing water that is 3 ft deep or more and when fishing in the surf for snook.
Berkley Gulp Shrimp (3″ New Penny color) – These can typically be found at Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, and Dicks Sporting Goods. Click here to order directly from Berkley.
- Tip – These tails are far my favorite when fishing water deeper than 3 ft in the winter… the colder the water, the slower the presentation needs to be. Click here to see some snook/redfish get caught with it on a paddle board.
Berkley Gulp Pogy (3″ White or Smelt color) – These can typically be found at Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, and Dicks Sporting Goods. Click here to order directly from Berkley.
- Tip – I use these primarily in the summer. They are great baits to throw to snook along the beach and it’s an awesome choice for throwing under lights at night.
DOA C.A.L. Shad (3″ Stark Naked) – These can typically be found at Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, and Dicks Sporting Goods. Click here to order directly from DOA.
- Tip – Same as the Berkley Gulp Pogy, but this typically gets out-fished by the Gulp option. However, these are much more inexpensive, last longer, and you can keep them on your jig head when not in use (vs. having to take Gulps off so they don’t dry out and ruin your jig).
Note: Items in Red are the ones I consider to be a must have bait for your arsenal… the others are highly recommended.
Luke, thanks for all the info. You, in just a few weeks, have provided me with many better ideas and details to make me a far better fisherman. When I get to 10,000 Islands in February those fish are in trouble. In the video why did you put the new penny shrimp on the jig upside down???? Maybe I haven’t found it yet? but a LOT of info on inshore fishing and the effect of tides would be fantastic.
Thanks so much for making time to leave the nice comment! Please keep me posted to your success down in the 10,000 islands (I’d fish there every single day if I could… there’s enough new spots to check out down there to last a lifetime).
Typically, shrimp/bait patterns have the dark side up and the light side down… but the Gulp shrimp’s New Penny colors are swapped for some reason (the eyes on the top are on the light section and the feet ridges are on the dark section).
With that said, it can be used successfully either way… the most important think is that it’s rigged so that it doesn’t helicopter around when it’s presented to fish (many people even bite the tail off and rig from there after the head gets too torn up to use).
Perfect timing on your Tide suggestion… I’m in the process of finalizing a new post on Tides/Currents right now (should be up today or tomorrow).
Do you ever use any weights, or do you just always let the weight of the jig do the work?
When fishing with jigs, I let the weight of the jig do all the work because an added weight up the line will cause the line to droop down ahead of the lure which could do two bad things: 1) cause the line to rub up against sharp rocks/structure on the bottom which will weaken it or cause a snag or 2) the front weight could spook a fish that is ahead of the bait by bumping into it.
So I highly recommend having a few different sized jig heads to adjust for depth and current so you have enough weight to get your bait bumping the bottom on the dips.
Also the additional weight would cause your bait to not have as much action on its rise and fall as you twitch your rod and the action it does have would be unnatural. See Luke’s underwater videos of the 5″ shad and you’ll see how fluid and natural the movement of the bait is.
How do you get a jig head through the pogy? When rigging I am tearing the head part of the pogy. Also, do you rig it upside down?
Berkley has these back on their website now. Do you go wit the 3/0 size? http://www.berkley-fishing.com/Gulp!-Heads!®-Darter-Jigghead/1290538,default,pd.html#start=2.
Thanks for posting the link. For these jigs, I like to go with the smaller size so they can are a bit more weedless than the larger ones for fishing near mangroves and docks… I use the 1/0 size.