Best tackle

A Duce Echo paired with a Daiwa Tatula provide plenty of power to boat hard-fighting bull reds.

Like all anglers, Capt. Austin Plaisance has his preferences when it comes to tackle. Here’s how he’ll rig up for battle this month.

• Duce Echo 2.0 — This spinning rod is perfect for casting popping cork rigs and the fight that is sure to follow.

• Daiwa spinning reels — “These reels hold up the best, from the Fuegos to the Tatula,” Plaisance said.

• Daiwa J-Braid — He said he never has trouble with his J-Braid breaking, even when dragging bull reds through submerged vegetation.

• High Water Fishing Lures Terminator popping corks — “I like the titanium wire these corks have,” Plaisance explained. “It lasts a lot longer than any other cork.”

• Capt. Lane’s Deathgrip jighead — This is Plaisance’s choice because it includes a sharp, wide-gap black nickel hook that just doesn’t bend when fighting redfish. Plus, it’s a Louisiana product.

And it’s perfect if the fish are active enough to switch to plastics.

“It’s got that molded lure holder, so plastics just don’t slide down,” Plaisance said.

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Andy Crawford has spent nearly his entire career writing about and photographing Louisiana’s hunting and fishing community. While he has written for national publications, even spending four years as a senior writer for B.A.S.S., Crawford never strayed far from the pages of Louisiana Sportsman. Learn more about his work at www.AndyCrawford.Photography.