Who’s Ready to Get Salty?!

I would like to introduce you to a little friend of mine who has contributed to the catching of both fresh and saltwater feesh. His name is Amp Stay80SP by Biovex. I chose this lure for time of year and pure fact that it’s one of the most pristine suspending jerk baits I’ve ever fished.

If I haven’t said this enough in my life I’m going to say it one more time – I like to throw baits that I can present in a few different ways. I fish from a kayak most of the time and I don’t have the luxury of bringing 20 rods. What I would give to bring 20 rods – trust me! You learn to be resourceful on a kayak or you don’t catch fish, plain and simple.

Amp Stay80SP – A suspending jerk bait with a captivating wobble. I started throwing this jerkbait for redfish and snook only a few months ago. I fish this little guy in a few places and a few different ways – as a search bait across the flats, slow sinking under dock lights and fast twitching retrieve around plant structure.

Searching The Flats:

My color of choice is Ayu #1 when the water is clear, but I have also done exceptionally well with this color when the wind is blowing, stirring up the water. When throwing the Amp Stay80 on the flats I like to use a mono leader to give myself a little extra time to slow down the slow sinking action it has. It doesn’t sink fast, but when fishing some of these flats you are working in very skinny water with a slew of vegetation. I don’t want it to dig down into the grass and using a mono leader vs. fluorocarbon will reduce the likelihood of that – as well as holding your rod tip up.

The great thing about throwing jerkbait style lures is they do all the work for you! Now that I know fishing with a mono leader will help me work shallow flats, I’m going to let this plug wobble about the salt. A steady retrieve with a few twitches in between will enable you to work a flat productively – while keeping an eye out for tailin’ reds. Most of the time when I’m catching reds or trout on this plug I will throw it just beyond a sand pocket and work it through, back into the grass – Redfish and trout will use these pockets to ambush bait. Work the grass, but always keep an eye out for sand pockets. Most times if you’re fishing with more than one person, you both should take a cast into them. The odds of more than one fish sitting there are pretty high.

Slow Sinking Under Dock Lights:

Fishing under dock lights is definitely a rush and anyone who has fished at night knows how difficult it can be. Not only do dock lights provide us with light they also provide us with snook. Too many nights I dump the yak in and pedal over to some dock lights to find the snook busting shrimp, mullet or little glass minnows and as soon as I toss a delicious artificial bait they have zero interest in me. They can definitely be one tough fish to target at night.

Being that, I use fluorocarbon 90% of the time and in this situation I will be using it more for its sinking abilities than being less visible.

When throwing the Amp Stay80SP, using fluorocarbon will allow me to present this perfectly built jerkbait. I’ll start with skipping it under the dock as far as I can or past the snook. Give it a quick twitch and let it sink – repeat. Yes, this is a suspending bait and it works perfectly so. Having that fluorocarbon will allow me to let it sink a little faster than it would naturally – causing the fish to hit on the fall between twitches. This is one of the reason why I like to use fluorocarbon in this situation. Sometimes we don’t think it makes a big difference, but in fishing so many little things make a huge difference.

A few of the colors I will use when throwing at night around lights are the Bone #57, Mesh Back Shad #56 and Ayu #1.

Plant Structure:

Fishing any type of structure with trebles is always a challenge – who doesn’t like a challenge though?! One of my favorite places to work a jerkbait for snook is the mangroves. You learn quick to either put a price point on what you want to lose that day, man up and get eaten alive by mosquitos or don’t fish where the fish are. Getting hung-up is part of the sport and learning to avoid that comes with experience. Getting hung-up also makes for great memories!

I wanted to save working structure for last, because all of the above is how I work the Amp Stay80 in and around plant structure. Throwing it up underneath the mangroves is where you want to start. If you can’t make it up there, you’re missing out on your biggest strike zone. Those fish will sit way up in the groves to where there is hardly any water, or to where they can’t swim past the roots. Once I’m back there depending on the tide I will start working it right away twitching it and if that doesn’t do the trick maybe in a slack tide I will go back to the way I worked it under the dock lights. Which was a slow steady retrieve followed by a few short twitches and letting it sink – repeat. I’m able get a reaction bite out of those lock jaw stubborn snook working it slowly, hitting every pocket and root.

The key is to hit every sand pocket, every rip in the current, every pocket in between the mangrove roots, every dock light and work the flat with confidence. If you make every cast with confidence and present the Amp Stay80 properly given your situation – you will catch fish. I can promise you that, but I can’t promise when!

Thanks for reading and if you have further questions, please feel free to email me. Its always so hard to touch on everything without writing a novel, but I’m hoping to be invited back to write more.