If I told you that you can do almost all of your inshore flats fishing with only two lures, would you believe me?
Well weather or not you believe me, it’s true! That’s right, you can catch nearly any predatory fish that swims inshore with only these two lures. Here is the first lure:
This is the 4″ Saltwater Assassin “Sea Shad”. It can be rigged weedless with a swimbait hook (top), or it can be rigged on a jighead (bottom).
And here is the second lure:
This is the “shrimp tail”, and old school lure. I prefer the Kelly Wiggler brand, but I think that all of the old-school shrimp tails work about the same. I typically rig it on a jighead (top), but I can rig it weedless (“Texas Style”) by cutting a relief slot through the body of the bait (bottom).
If you were to stop reading right now and take these two lures on your next few fishing trips, I highly expect that you will catch trout and reds (and likely some keepers), as well as other cool species like skipjack and flounder. These lures aren’t great for attracting black drum (I’ll explain later), but they are like candy for other inshore species. I could throw the rest of my lure collection in the dumpster, but as long as I have these two lures, I could could easily catch enough fish to survive on a spoil island for the rest of my life.
I would like to mention that I am not sponsored by the lure companies that make either of these lures, so this is not an advertisement. I just think highly of these lures based on the fish I have caught, and I want you to have success, too. Below I will explain why these lures are my top two choices, as well as their pros and cons (yes, everything has some cons).
Reasons to use the Bass Assassin Sea Shad
Here we go:
- It’s a type of swim bait, which means that it’s extremely easy to work; even just reeling this bait with a straight retrieve (no other action) will readily invite strikes from fish. The paddle tail causes vibration in the water and they can’t resist it.
- Due to it’s medium size, it can be used at any time. No more having to decide if I need a smaller lure or a bigger lure. I have always wandered though, what do the fish think it is? A mullet? A mud minnow? A shad? Who knows, but this bait can easily pass for any of the smaller bait fish species.
- It can be rigged with a jig head or weedless (“Texas Rig” style), making it super versatile. When rigged weedless, it is one of the finest lures to drag through thick grass flats.
- Even if you get some seagrass on the hook, the lure will maintain it’s “paddle action”. Since this lure is mainly used with a straight retrieve, you can reel it with a big wad of grass on the hook and the paddle tail will still vibrate. Whereas grass will easily kill the “darting action” of other lures like topwaters and jerkbaits.
- Although there are many other swimbaits on the market today, what I like about this one is that the paddle tail is connected to the body with a thin section of plastic; this allows the paddle to move/vibrate even at slow speeds. So it doesn’t matter if you are reeling it fast or slow, the paddle is always moving. Many other swimbaits that I have tried have thicker plastic connecting the paddle to the body; these must be reeled at a faster speed before the paddle vibrates, but that may be too fast for the fish in certain conditions.
- It is a very effective search bait that can be worked at any speed to cover lots of water. Said another way, this lure will find fish for you, or it will clearly tell you that there’s “no fish here today”. When you get a nibble or a strike, that is your indication to slow down and thoroughly fish the area. If you’re not getting bites, it’s usually a sign to keep moving. Most other lures require that you twitch them or fish them slowly, and are not as effective as search baits.
- It is light and does not spook fish easily. Unlike the plop of a heavy lure like a topwater plug, this small bait enters into the water quietly. It can be cast in very shallow water without spooking fish away, and it’s great for casting at tailing redfish.
- Finally, it is in the “soft plastic” family of lures, so the fish hold on to it a bit longer than they would a hard-bodied lure.
Reasons to use the Shrimp Tail
Here we go:
- It’s a tried and true old classic that has been around for many years, before jerkworms were available. Some of my fishing buddies nicknamed it “Old Reliable”, because just about every fish eats shrimp. It’s a great bait to use when you want to slow down and just…fish.
- When bounced or dragged along the bottom (yes, many times I simple drag it slowly), fish think it’s a real shrimp and gobble it up.
- It seems to have fallen from mainstream popularity. The last time I checked, I could not find any old-style shrimp tails at my local Academy. I believe this is a GOOD thing, because it means the fish are not accustomed to seeing it.
- When rigged with a 1/16 oz or 1/8 oz jig head, it casts easily, accurately, and does not spook fish when it lands. This makes it great for shallow flats sight fishing or fishing isolated pieces of structure like a pothole in the grass. This is an extremely good lure for casting to tailing redfish, because it casts with pin point accuracy and gets a bit more distance than the realistic shrimp imitation like the DOA Shrimp.
- It is a great lure to simply drag along the bottom. This makes it very good for cold weather fishing, when we are forced to slow down our lure retrieve anyway. But I’ll slow drag this thing any time of the year. Even it hot weather, I’ll drag this thing right in front of a tailing red’s face and they usually can’t resist it.
- It is a great tackle box staple to take with you on every trip, because sometimes redfish go into “crustacean eating mode” and a shrimp lure is a must. I prefer the shrimp tail over the DOA shrimp as my tackle box staple (though sometimes I will carry both).
- It is a great lure choice for any situation where you need to meticuously work a piece of structure. You can work it along a grass edge, across a sandy pothole, along an oyster reef, along pilings, or against rocks. One time I was slowly dragging a Kelly Wiggler along rocks on the Corpus Christi bayfront. On my first or second cast in a random spot, I caught a beautiful spotted fish that looked like a small grouper. I released the fish and looked it up in a book later. I believe it was a “rock hind/calico grouper”, but I had never seen or caught one before. Like I said above, so many fish like to eat shrimp and this little grouper couldn’t resist the slow dragging action of the shrimp tail.
- The lure does not have a lot of natural action, and because it doesn’t, some grass can accumulate on the hook without killing the action.
What Colors?
Your color preference may differ from mine, because your conditions may be different. But I fish a lot of flats/shallow areas with water that is commonly in the clear to mid-green range, so I highly prefer natural colors. For the Sea Shad, I prefer the colors that incorporate green. This includes colors like Hammertime, Chicken on a Chain, Houdini, or Mississippi Hippie:
If I see any of these colors at the store, I grab them.
For the shrimp tail, I prefer something that resembles a real bay shrimp, like golds, browns, or rootbeer:
Disadvantages of These Lures
Sea Shad
The main con is that it is made of soft plastic, so occasionally fish will rip the lure from the hook, or they will bite the tails off. After catching a few fish, the lure will be destroyed so you will need new one. I don’t complain about this because it means fish are interested in it.
Shrimp Tail
The main con is that the lure doesn’t have any action by itself; it is up to you to work it. But like I said earlier, this does not have to be hard. A simple slow reel (basically dragging it) with an occasional bump can oftentimes work great. It is also not a great fish finder lure, but that’s not its purpose. Its purpose is to look like a shrimp, and shrimp usually crawl/move slow, so I usually work this lure slow.
Another “disadvantage” is that it would appear that these lures have almost completely fallen out of favor, and they are hard if not impossible to find at local stores. No biggie, you will just have to special order them like I did, or worst case scenario, make you own. I somewhat joke that this is a disadvantage because I love throwing lures that almost nobody else is using.
Jighead vs Weedless (Texas Rigged)
I’ll keep this very simple, because both methods work excellent. I typically start with the jighead, because I can cast it just a bit further. If I get a bit of grass on the hook, no big deal…I just rip it off and keep casting. Neither lure is adversely hindered by a small amount of grass. If the grass starts to really clump on the hook, or the lure is getting bogged down in this grass beds, I will switch to weedless. It’s that simple.
The main exception to this is that in very shallow water (less than 1′), I will start out throwing weedless.
How To Rig These Lures
See my article that discusses how to rig soft plastics on jigheads, here.
See my article that discusses how to rig soft plastics Texas Style (coming soon).
So there you have it, some absolutely fantastic and simple redfish lures. Come to think of it, they are pretty great on trout, flounder, and ladyfish too.
Have a reel good day,
– The Simple Fisherman