People are always asking me how to get into fishing with artificial lures. With so many lures on the market, it’s almost impossible for beginning anglers to know where to start. My biggest tip is to keep it simple. It can be very easy to get caught up in all the fancy tackle selections and what not but that is the easiest way to get confused and frustrated. It is important to use what works for you and master it; from there is where you should start trying other things.

I always recommend 2 or 3 setups to those that are new to artificial.

  1. Gold spoon: These gold spoons have been around for a very long time and they have proven time after time that they can catch fish. It puts off a flash and vibration in the water that Redfish can’t resist most of the time. It is a very easy lure to work but there are some tips and tricks to that lure that I won’t dive into on this blog. You’ll just have to stay tuned 😊. Tie on a ¼ OZ gold spoon and start chunking it out there and cover as much ground as possible by casting across ponds and flats in the marsh. Another way to fish this lure is by lining up parallel with the marsh and working a shoreline. If the Redfish are skittish then this may not be the lure to throw at that moment.
  2. Paddle Tail: this soft plastic is a versatile lure and it’s easy to use. You want to rig this lure on a 1/4 oz, 1/8 oz or 1/16 jig head depending on your conditions. Although there are so many colors to choose from, I recommend starting off with Purple/Chartreuse, Black/Chartreuse and a natural color lure. You really can’t go wrong with that line up. Just simply cast and retrieve this lure and find the speed that the fish want. You can also twitch it or bounce it off the bottom while your reeling it in to trigger a strike. Once you learn the basic techniques with a paddle tail then you should start experimenting with other colors and style plastic lures.
  3. Popping Cork: This is pretty much the easiest way to put fish in the boat and it works very well. I recommend a 4 Horsemen popping cork with a 20-pound test 12-inch leader attached to the bottom of it. Keep in mind that the length of your leader may need to adjusted depending on the depth of the water that you’re fishing. Attached to that leader you can add on a jig head with your favorite soft plastic like Gulp, Matrix Shad and etc. Some days the fish like an aggressive pop and on other days they do not. This is something you can easily figure out while on the water.

These are 3 easy ways to get comfortable fishing with artificial lures. Always remember, try not to complicate things and just keep it simple. Master 1 thing at a time and before you know it, you may forget what it feels like to use cut/live bait 😊