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Editor’s Note: Professional basser Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, enjoys fishing Strike King’s lures for bass and for saltwater fish.
Part 1: Shaw Grigsby Catches a Trophy-Sized Tarpon on the Strike King Redfish Magic Saltwater Spinner Bait
Question: Shaw, what Strike King lures do you use?
Grigsby: I use all of them. Strike King doesn’t have a lot of saltwater lures that are specifically for salt water. For instance, the Redfish Magic Zulu is an excellent saltwater lure, but it’s also a bass lure. This is one of those crossover baits you can use in both salt water and fresh water. You can fish it weightless or with Strike King’s Redfish Magic Saltwater Flats Jighead. The Redfish Magic Glass Minnow is specifically made for fishing salt water. Both the Zulu and the Glass Minnow are constructed of Elaztech material, which is much softer and more flexible than plastic.
There are numbers of toothy critters in salt water, and the Elaztech doesn’t get torn-up as easily as plastic does. The Redfish Magic Saltwater Spinner Bait, the Saltwater Poison, the Spot Tail Special, the Rage Crab and the Rage Shrimp are also made with Elaztech. I fish all these lures.
I prefer to fish the Redfish Magic Saltwater Spinner Bait any time I’m fishing dark or stained water. But I took this spinner bait to the Florida Keys and fished it in clear water, and I learned that redfish also would eat this bait in clear water. The Redfish Magic Saltwater Spinner Bait is more than just a redfish lure. I’ve caught snook, tarpon and largemouth bass with this extremely-versatile bait. You can put a Redfish Magic Saltwater Flats Jighead, a Glass Minnow or a Zulu on it to give the bait a bigger profile.
The new Strike King Rage Shrimp is one of the most-deadly speckled trout lures I’ve ever used. I got some samples of the Rage Shrimp last year, and I’ve never caught more trout in my life than I have when I first started using this bait. I’ll put this soft-plastic bait on a 1/8- or a 1/4-ounce Redfish Magic Saltwater Flats Jighead and fish it on a 7-foot medium-action spinning rod and reel with fluorocarbon line. I just barely lift the bait up off the bottom, and the trout will eat it.
Question: Tell us how you caught a tarpon on the Redfish Magic Saltwater Spinner Bait.
Grigsby: Those tarpon will devour that spinner bait. I was fishing in the Florida Keys, and we saw some tarpon rolling. I cast my Redfish Magic Saltwater Spinner Bait to where the tarpon were rolling and caught a 20 pounder. When you can catch a tarpon on a spinner bait like this one, you’ve had a good day of fishing.
