[BLACK ADDER]

What little I know about specks I learned from some of the old heads at Lynnhaven Waterways Marina. After watching their every move for years, let me give you a couple of pointers.
1)Find yourself a rising tide spot and a falling tide spot that produce.
2)Be considerate of those fishing around you.If possible, turn your motor off up current and drift back into your chosen spot.Smaller boats can use a paddle to make adjustments.
3)SLIDE YOUR ANCHOR INTO THE WATER! Don't make a lot of noise. Specks are sensitive.SPECKLED TROUT FISHERMEN ARE REAL SENSITIVE.
4)Watch where others are casting or using live bait.It's okay to anchor so you can reach that area, but do not run through or anchor where someone is fishing.
5)Trolling works well in some spots.If your motor is quiet enough,try working some of the rivers with a jig head and four inch tail. Bump the bottom.Dr Wright likes to put the boat in neutral occasionally to let baits sink to the bottom,then go back in gear.I like to give a short bump of speed.Both methods attract fish.
6)Mirrolure works well in some spots where the current is low or flowing towards a break or point.Most of the time,though,use jigs in moving water.You want to get down ,baby,get down! And get funky!
7)Live bait works well in dirty or stained water.Using a small bag of fish parts you have frozen from previous trips as chum can hold fish around you.(I have caught a half dozen specks this year who have taken a medium size spot and I had to force the jammed bait out of their mouths.A larger bait does not always mean a larger fish.It just means a HUNGRIER fish.)
The real secret to speck fishing,though, is to work at it.Practice,practice,practice.

[vabeach]

Iv always done well in Dunker's Hole on a falling tide. Mirror-lures are okay but live mullet's the ticket!

[abb]

GOOD INFORMATION...THANKS B.A.

[fishist]

I'm glad you mentioned courtesy. Sometimes a trout fisherman will stake out a spot and wait there for hours until tide conditions are right. Nothing is more exasperating than to have someone run up there at the last minute, make a lot of noise, throw the anchor over, and wonder why everyone is angry and there are no fish. Incidentally, my memories go back to the '50's and Poole's: Winston Athey, Joe Constintino, Jim and Nancy White, Sam Stanfield, my dad...the list goes on and on. To them, speckled trout fishing was a religion and boy were they good at it.

[Cool Breeze]

Its all the bozo's who dont/wont read this thread that dont quite get it. The ones who will come in, circle around with their motor running for 5 minutes before deciding on a spot to anchor. (then throw the anchor,chain and everything,lol). If pulling in to an area close to someone at least ask them if they mind if you anchor up fairly close to them and some are nice enough to tell you to come on. A couple of other things are the lighter the line the more strikes(bumps to the old guys) you will get. I used to shadow old bubba around to figure out what he was doing but that old aluminum boat with that big motor on it was pretty fast!!. Not that its right but some will lose a fish instead of showing a net (advertising is what I call it) to a passing boat. I also change baits/lures/colors before or on my way back, heading in. Another tip for nets is to replace the nylon with chicken wire with a bowl in it. this way when you get the fish in the boat he unhooks easily and you can get those pesky treble hooks out of the net easily Good thread adder, we have probably seen and gave each other dirty looks out there peace

[SURFFISHERMAN18]

people like that don't belong in a boat
sat. i saw a guy that was so un courtious that i was wishin' that i had my 6'6" boat spinning rod and a nice chunk of lead
curitesy that is why i love fishing at night because u don't have to deal with terrorists(touristists)
ruenning ur fishing

[Triple M]

Yeah, I've just about seen it all while speck fishing. I know that twenty years worth of trout fishing doesn't deem me an "old timer", but I can darn sure give credit to the salts that taught me the ropes. I was lucky enough to get in on the great runs in Long Creek, before the newer Great Neck Bridge was built, and then came Marina Shores . The specks were thick as flies in the mid to late 80's, and I learned a heck of alot during that time fishing for them. I'm also lucky to have had a grandfather who would take me fishing with him, for rock and crappies, in the Pamlico river when I was just four and five years old. I would watch him ease up to his holes and slip the anchor in quietly. Stealth was the name of the game back then, and it still is today. If you don't play the game right, you will loose. I could ramble on, so I'll stop. Great thread BA, hopefully you're not just preaching to the choir and that somebody may have learned something. Take care fellow speck fishers.

[fishist]

To Cool Breeze: I had the idea to replace the net with chicken wire and thought I had come up with something original. Oh well..but it does work really well.

Question to all: There are lot's of opinions as to how to attach a lure to the line for speck fishing. My dad used to say, the less hardware, the better. He used a leader attached to a small swivel snap. I have been tying the leader directly to the line with a surgeon's knot and tying the leader to the bait with a mirrorlure knot. But this makes changing baits a pain. Others say it's OK just snap the bait onto a swivel snap. Still others say use no leader and tie the bait directly to the line. Lately, I have experimented with my leader idea but tying a loop on the bait end large enough to slip it through the eye and over the entire lure. This makes changing the lure easier with no cutting of line and no use of any hardware whatsoever. Any thoughts on the best way to attach lures? Thanks.

[mattman]

[quote=fishist,Oct 20 2004, 08:25 AM]
To Cool Breeze: And I thought I was the only one being clever by changing / removing my baits before I returned to the dock....

[fishist]

[quote=mattman,Oct 20 2004, 12:12 PM]
[quote=fishist,Oct 20 2004, 08:25 AM]
To Cool Breeze: And I thought I was the only one being clever by changing / removing my baits before I returned to the dock....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[/quote]
No more fish than I have caught this year, leaving my lures on would be more misleading than changing them. I may change them to something that actually catches fish.

[vabeach]

Big trout, deep hole, falling tide, live mullet and they're not hook shy.

[Mega Bite]

Good Thread BA! A couple of things I have learned to do are (1) Turn off your depth Sounder they make a Loud clicking sound and (2) Turn your Reels off the click mode the sound travels down the line.An old timer was wading next to me years ago he was catching 5 fish to my one.When I asked him what he was doing different he gave me that tip.