On a recent fishing trip my dad and Tim decided to fish the rocks at the Charleston Jetties. They caught some nice shrimp for bait and in the process also caught a pinfish about 5” in length. When they arrived at the jetties dad decided to rig up the pinfish on a float in hopes that a large redfish would come along and find it. It was not long before his float disappeared and the rod began to bend. Dad fought the fish to the boat only to find a trout weighing about 3 pounds on the other end of the line. To see the size of the trout you would never have thought it would attempt to eat the large pinfish.
Like most trout fishermen I grew up using the standard small bait for trout. We used grubs, mudminnows, and live shrimp. Years later I worked for Luden’s Marine Supply and delivered marine paints and assorted products to a local shipyard. Some of the guys at the shipyard knew I liked to fish and were always telling me tales about one guy that worked there and was always catching these big trout. I inquired and found out who he was and one day I asked him if the stories were true. He smiled and pulled out some pictures of some of the prettiest trout I had ever seen. He had several pictures of fish in the 5-6lb. range.
Knowing what I knew about serious trout fishermen I was pretty sure he would not let me in on where he caught these fish so instead I asked him what he caught the fish on. He told me he only used Mirro-Lures (up to about 5” in length) and had found not only did the larger fish like them, but the little trout loved them as well. He explained that in the fall the fish are really aggressive and the fish really hit these bigger baits with a vengeance. I was sold and immediately went out and bought some.
That was 12 years ago and I have been using Mirro-Lures ever since. I have caught some really nice trout in the 3-5lb. Range and I have caught some trout that were not much larger than the bait. I have found that the bigger bait definitely brings a strike that will almost yank t