Glenn Schurr’s tactics have put you in the vicinity of where they are biting, but now what? Speckled trout can concentrate in very small spots and there is a lot of water out there, even if Shurr’s strategy has put you in the ballpark.
“Trout are open-water fish,” Schurr said. “A big mistake people make is that they fish hard on the bank, like they would for redfish.
“Trout want some water under them.”
Another issue is that most people prefer to fish lee shores, those protected from the wind, Schurr said. But bait species are wind-driven.
So his preference is not to fish lee shores; his first choice is to fish a “wind line,” a seam in the water caused by winds. This is especially important, he said, when fishing with a cork.
Another point is that most people prefer to cast upcurrent and work the bait back to them with the current. This does allows the bait to work more naturally.
But it isn’t an unbreakable rule, he said. Often times, currents are driven by winds, and casting into the wind doesn’t allow fishermen to reach fish-holding water.
A generally adhered-to rule amongst trout fishermen is to find clear water, what they call “clean water.”
Schurr does look for the clearest water in a spot, but he noted that clear is relative to the clarity of nearby waters.
Finally, he looks for hard bottom, often indicated by shells on the bank or poles marking oyster reefs.
“Sometimes, I drag the tips of my Power-Pole on the bottom as the boat drifts until I hear ‘clunk, clunk, clunk,’” he said.
