Hit the water around 7 this morning with “BottomOfTheBoot". The fog was as thick as it gets and didn’t clear out until about 11AM. We couldn’t see more than 30ft in front of us so we dug deep into the marsh just south of Joshua’s in Empire, La. As predicted the redfish where there waiting on us chasing bait everywhere. The water was extremely clear close to the launch and the fish were very skittish. After slinging one of the new Marsh Works buzz baits for about 30 minutes I realized no matter how many times I threw a top-water the fish weren’t going to hit it with this kind of water clarity.
So back in to the bag of goodies….Up next was a 1/4oz Marsh Works spinner w/ a Crockaine colored Bayou Thumper. Second cast I had a flounder at the boat, but do to my poor flounder landing skills, he was able to live another day. 5-7 casts later….Uh-oh here comes a man of a redfish like a torpedo to skunk the spinner. I never had a chance at this beast. With 12lb test and my drag to tight he made a fool out of me in about 20 seconds.
I had to go to the bag again. This time I’m tying on an avocado spinner w/ a red tail. First cast Big Bessie’s cousin shoots across the pond and misses the lure, but it didn’t take long to find her companion. The fish were everywhere but the water was extremely clear in some of the ponds which made it very hard to get the redfish to inhale the bait. They slapped it, ran up on it and dove away at the last minute, and even leisurely followed it to the boat in some cases.
At the end of the morning I was convinced that these were by far the best spinners and jig-heads I have ever used. The hooks were extremely sharp. Every fish I hooked grabbed the bait on the retrieve from behind and continued to swim towards the boat w/ the lure in its mouth. This was not the ideal situation to get a hook set, but after about the 3rd fish I realized a stiff hook set was not needed with these razor sharp hooks, and in many cases I believe the fish was already hooked before I could even lift my rod.
As for the spinners themselves….They are heavy duty and built to withstand some torment. The arms are stiff and allow the thumper to swim at a true 90 degree angle from the spinner arm with little to no flex. You can throw the 1/8th oz spinner a country mile, but beware the hooks are sharp and if you hit the reeds, you’ll be going get it 9 times out of 10. No more twitching your rod tip and bouncing it back out. Between the blade and the tail of the thumper, there is a huge amount of vibration sent through the water on the retrieve. It reminds me of a waker if reeled near the surface.
The only bad thing about these lures are….I do not have anymore!!!!!!! I started the day with 3, but came home with 0. The 3 biggest fish I hooked (all 27+) had a ball with my medium action trout rod and 12 lb test, but I’ll still ring this one up as a great trip.We brought a few home for the grill and also voluntarily/involuntarily released a few.
