Though eyes and a scaled finish can't hurt, a plug's action and silhouette are usually sufficient to draw strikes.
The Stanley W.T. Croakert (not croaker), developed by Stanley Jigs a couple of years ago, looks much like a mullet moving through the water. It’s a 4-inch sinking soft-plastic plug with one treble. Trophy trout guide Charlie Paradoski says the Croakert is at the top of his list for catching big trout. “My favorite colors are black with a red tail, black-and-chartreuse and chartreuse with a red tail,” he noted.
The Storm Lure Company introduced the Wildeye Suspending Mullet to their plug lineup this past winter. It’s a soft-plastic, suspending plug with a foil-wrapped cork center that is similar in design to a Corky. Capt. Bill Putchovski, a noted angler and guide on the Texas coast, showed me how to rig and fish them. “You don’t want to fish this lure right out of the package,” he explained. “For the best results you can bend the pliable tail down just a bit to give it a little more action. I bend both the tail and head down, and it sinks better, but too severe a bend will make this plug spin in the water.”
As effective as suspending plugs are for big trout, fishing them is not as exciting as fishing topwater plugs. There is nothing quite like a big blow-up on top. Most inshore anglers are more familiar with topwater mullet plugs. There are countless makes and models that are very popular from Texas to Florida to the Northeast Atlantic coast and the catch list goes way beyond seatrout. Whether the target species is big trout, snook and reds or stripers and blues, most mullet topwaters can be made to walk the dog. This retrieval gives a predator the impression that the mullet has been hit and is trying to get out of harm’s way. That’s not to say you can’t make them dart, or pop a bit, quiver on top, or swim slowly or quickly under the surface. These days, a majority of mullet plugs have built-in rattles, which call trout from afar, or simply triggers their aggression.
One of the most familiar “walkers” is the Zara Spook, once called the Zaragossa, and now coined Super Spook and similar names. It first gained notoriety as a big-bass plug. Several years ago a saltwater version was created. Ditto that with the smaller Spook Junior. The largest Spooks are longer and heavier than most topwater plugs used for inshore saltwater fishing, at 5 inches long and 7⁄ 8 ounce. Smaller versions are common and can be matched to lighter rods. If I were forced to leave the dock with one plug in hand, without a doubt it’s going to be a Spook Jr. I’ve caught more big trout on this lure than any other. As far as mullet plug choices, it would probably be easier to list the lure companies that don’t make mullet plugs than those that do.
This summer I was fishing with Capt. Grant Miller from Hackberry Rod & Gun Club on Louisiana’s Calcasieu Lake. It had been a slow morning, the wind was howling and the water was off-color. We were after big trout. I suspected that we would need a mullet plug that stood out especially well. Miller agreed, and tossed me a 4-inch floater with twin rattles. Plenty of noise and size for the wind and water conditions we faced. In this case, it was a MirrOlure He Dog, but again, there are numerous makes out there that fit the bill. On the first drift across that flat I caught a 7-pound trout, and my thinking is that a quieter, walking plug may not have got the fish’s attention.
In a nutshell, the best time to tie on a mullet plug is when you see mullet in the water. Try both sinking or floating, depending on the water depth. But break them out for big trout even where you don’t see signs of mullet. Who’s to say that spotted beauty would pass up the first mullet to swim along? SWA
Ideal Plug-Fishing Tackle
When fishing with hefty 3- to 5-inch topwater plugs weighing close to an ounce you might think a beefy, pool cue rod is best. Not so. Many of the best and most successful trout fishermen on the Gulf Coast prefer lightweight rods that are 61⁄2 feet long, and built to handle 6- to 14-pound-test line. More and more rod manufacturers are turning out light baitcasting rods that have sufficient backbone to set the hooks with big plugs, yet feature a light tip that casts lures for distance. And that comes in handy when fishing from a boat for big, spooky trout. The lighter line allows the plugs to do their thing much better than 20-pound-plus line that bass fishermen typically use with big artificial baits. And though most Texans wouldn’t dream of it, plenty of anglers elsewhere opt for spin rods with the same characteristics.
As far as reels go, small and compact is best. A low-profile baitcasting reel that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand makes plugging a joy. That’s important when you’re making numerous casts. Many of today’s models boast a 6.2:1 gear ratio and weigh 8 ounces at most. That’s great when you have to walk the dog with a big plug for hours. —R.S.
Best Knots and Leaders
A loop knot is among the best that you can use with a mullet-imitation plug. The uni-knot loop and end loop are perfect, and there are others. Loop knots allow freedom of movement, especially vital for the topwaters that walk from side to side.
Another option is to add a tiny split ring to the nose of the plug. In that situation a direct tie such as an improved clinch knot is fine. However, you may not trust the smallest of split rings when the trout of a lifetime is a possibility. And down in Florida, serious snook and tarpon anglers eschew that hardware, opting to tie a loop knot to the main eye of the lure. You may also want to take the chance of a split-ring failure out of the equation with those hard-fighting gamefish.
A leader is an option with mullet plugs. One thing is certain, trout have line-cutting teeth. Trout don’t normally inhale a big plug on the strike, and so the line seldom contacts the teeth. But big trout do inhale smaller plugs. Play it safe by tying on an 18- to 24-inch section of 15- to 20-pound fluorocarbon or monofilament leader.
