It’s a little difficult to throw a 4oz. trolling plug with a medium heavy baitcaster and you would probably fail to catch many fish using a small shallow crankbait with grouper gear. I hope this doesn’t discourage your desire to fish both spectrum’s because there are many bass techniques that will fill your limits of saltwater species and vice versa.

Once the kids are in the car and everything is packed for your vacation to the beach you need to double check and make sure your bass gear is loaded up. Yes, you read correctly, bass gear. Throw in as many spoons, topwater plugs and even jigs into a small tackle bag and a couple of your bassin’ rod and reel rigs and get pumped for the trip. You may just experience something like you have never imagined!

On my first trip to the gulf I brought along some of my bass gear and started chucking it out there with great anticipation. My friends Chris and Pete idled the boat upon this huge flat and we started blind casting until we spotted fish. All of a sudden this school of huge redfish stormed through. I was using a Zoom Super Fluke on 14lb. test Berkley Vanish line and a strong 7′ rod. I threw the fluke right on the fish and before I could click over my reel a 13lb. redfish had already devoured my bait! What an awesome experience that was. I have been hooked ever since that moment. That was my first redfish and was I impressed! We went on that day to catch loads of Spanish Mackerel on spoons and spinnerbaits. All these fish were caught on the same gear I use to catch bass. Although I recommend a spinnerbait that does’t have a wire shaft, the Mackerel make short work of those!

Let’s talk over some lure choices to use. I love topwater action and there is no better time to throw topwater than when saltwater fishing for these big reds and speckled trout. I like using a Heddon Zara Spook it has killer action and can be worked fast or slow. I also use an assortment of poppers like a Pop-R or Chug Bug. These will get plenty of attention also. If the topwater bite is slow I would recommend trying a Zoom Super Fluke and let it fall slowly and give it some quick erratic jerks. Crankbaits can also work extremely well in shallow water. The Mann’s 1-minus is a good choice. Shad colors are good and match them with a black or green back also. Remember to set your drag to the proper setting and hold on these fish are at times uncontrollable.

You can also crossover some saltwater tactics to catch loads of bass. In areas where the bass water you fish may connect to saltwater try using a Berkley Gulp Shrimp to attract bass. Bass will gorge themselves on shrimp when they can just as we do. Another shrimp bait that will get action in the bass waters is a D.O.A. Shrimp, you may match this with a Cajun popper also. A Strike King Redfish Magic spinnerbait can get you some bites on the bass water also. This is good around grass and riprap.

When searching for an area to fish treat it almost the same as bass fishing look for breaks in contour and grasslines. This will almost always pay off with some fish. Be careful when fishing from a boat to not get caught on a flat when the tide goes out or you might just miss dinner! Be aware of your surroundings and look for baitfish this can really help out when searching for active fish. Also look for birds they are dead giveaways on baitfish schools.

So next time you take a trip to an area with some saltwater access bring your bass gear and give it a try! You will definitely enjoy your experience.

Keywords:  freshwater and saltwater fishing  | Pinnacle Reels

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Fishing Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.