Entry 211-2
New Hot Inshore Saltwater Lures and How to Fish Them
Part 2: Put the Zulu on Your Trout
Editor’s Note: Captain Scott Simpson of Long Beach, Mississippi, is a speckled trout and redfish guide along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This week he’ll tell us how he’s catching specks and reds on Strike King’s saltwater lures. You may be surprised at some of the lures he uses to catch speckled trout over 5 pounds as he guides out of Long Beach Harbor near Biloxi, Mississippi.
Question: Scott, you said you also fish the Zulu for speckled trout and redfish. How are you fishing it, where are you fishing it, and what are you catching?
Simpson: We fish the Zulus for both speckled trout and redfish. We use a ¼-ounce jig head and fish it around the Barrier Islands when we’re wade fishing, when we’re drifting over the grass flats and also when we’re around Pass Christian’s oyster reefs. We’re fortunate in that we have some new artificial reefs that we’ve deployed in the last two years from rubble left over from Hurricane Katrina. Locally, we call these the Katrina reefs. The water depths around these reefs are 8- to 12-feet deep.
On these reefs, we cast the Zulus out and attempt to cover the entire water column until we find the fish. I’ll have one of my anglers bouncing the Zulu off the bottom. I’ll have a second angler allow the Zulu to fall for about 4 seconds, start a steady retrieve and then twitch the lure about every four turns on the reel. 
We’ll also have an angler fishing a Zulu below a cork. Too, we fish the Zulu on a cork over the grass flats.
We also fish the Zulu on a ¼-ounce jig head with about 2 feet of fluorocarbon leader that we tie to the main line. I like to use 12- to 15-pound-test fluorocarbon and tie a uni-knot to attach the fluorocarbon to the main line. I use a loop knot or a jig knot to tie the fluorocarbon to my jig head because I believe that loop knot gives the jig a little more freedom to move than a knot that cinches down directly to the eye of the jig. When we’re fishing in shallow water, I may occasionally use the Zulu rigged Texas-style without a jig head. However, because of the areas we fish, I’m primarily using the Zulu with a jig head—either in the 1/4- or 1/8-ounce size.
Question: Do you catch bigger trout using the Zulu than you do when you use the Glass Minnow?
Simpson: Not necessarily. I do believe that the bigger bait you use, the bigger trout you’ll catch. However, on a recent trip a couple of weeks ago, we were using the chartreuse pearl Glass Minnow, and we caught a couple of 4-pound trout. What really determines the size of trout we catch and the size bait we use is what the fish prefer on the day we’re fishing, and what weight class trout we’re catching on that day. I feel that I’ve caught good trout on both the 4-inch Glass Minnow and the 5-inch Zulu.
To learn more about inshore fishing with Captain Scott Simpson in Biloxi, Mississippi, call (228) 669-6204 or visit Impulsive Charters.
Next: The Magic of the Redfish
Contents:
- Part 1: Speckled Trout and the Glass Minnow
- Part 2: Put the Zulu on Your Trout
- Part 3: The Magic of the Redfish
- Part 4: Boat Or No Boat
- Part 5: Life Doesn’t Get Better Than This
