# It was a Specktacle



## fish militia (Nov 1, 2004)

Of late..most of my clients have wanted to chase the pups. This morning I had a couple guys that were willing to hit the water at 5am to chase the specks. It was well worth it.

I tried to hit them with a client on Sunday, but it was to pretty. There was no wind. No wind equaled no current, which equaled no fish. The client caught one.

Today... the weather was perfect.

The client from Sunday returned for a second try and I paired him up with another single I had.

The long and the short.

We smashed the specks for over 3 hours--catching our limit about 3 times a piece (and then some). Fish from 15 inches to 20 inches and plenty of dinks.

We didn't bother putting anything on the stringer under 17 inches.

It was a glorious day..unless you were a speckled trout


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## bbcroaker (Jan 6, 2005)

Nice:fishing:.
Hope conditions stay right fir you!


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## rwh (Dec 10, 2012)

Great looking fish! Seems like a perfect day on the water to me.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Awesome! Great work.


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## JamesRiverVa (Apr 24, 2012)

Nice! Can you share generally what you look for when targeting specks and reds in the OBX sound waters? I know as a guide you probably have certain spots on your GPS or mental memory bank and I'm not asking for those. But in terms of conditions (wind vs. calm vs. too windy, sun vs. clouds, time of day) and in terms of underwater terrain (lots and lots of very shallow grassy water out there - do you fish that stuff just looking for a change in depth of a foot or so, or do you paddle to where you can find some "real" depth of 5 feet or more, or what exactly are you looking for? 

Sorry if that is asking for too much proprietary info - feel free to say so if that's the case. But I get down that way a couple or three times a year and love to get my yak in the water but have so far had only occasional, mixed success. I'm trying to learn how to better my odds and be sure I'm not fishing in water or conditions that don't have a prayer of holding a fish.


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## fish militia (Nov 1, 2004)

Well..

Wind can be a factor of whether or not it puts fish in the areas in which I fish. But current is the most important for me. I like current. Strong winds generally gives a fair amount of current, which generally makes the catching much better.

The specks are funny. I have been catching them on shallow water grass flats and in deep water sloughs and holes. I've also been on them around structure--bridges, piers, oyster beds and clam beds.

It can be hard to fish the grass flats when the tide or wind has dropped the water and this is when a popping cork is AWESOME. It'll help to keep the grubs out of the grass.

The true key..is being mobile. The more willing and able you are to hit numerous spots on different winds and conditions the more productive you will be.

I've hit every bit of 8-9 spots in the past 2 weeks and they have all been producing based on the conditions. Learning that is the true hard part. Where to be and when to be there. 5am is not a fun launch for anyone, but some of these spots --if you are not there early--forget about it.

I've been running a few different Gulps and jigs, but I almost always use a 1/4 ounce jig now. It gets a little grassy at times, but gets down in the deeper holes faster.

The number one rule for catching is --fish Low and Slow.


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