What are the best luRes for high current situations (and how to rig them)
Getting Your Lures Deep Enough
How about fishing in areas with extreme tide swings that cause extreme rents between tides?
How do you catch fish with lures that stand up to a sweeping, heavy current?
Specific techniques for rigging and swimming these lures will catch the attention of predatory fish waiting to pick off struggling baitfish in the current!
Here’s what you need to know!
HIGH CURRENT SITUATIONS: THE BEST LURES
There is nothing like a high current situation to produce an epic bite and spark fish into feeding on flustered bait.
PADDLETAIL LURE
As a result, you will need a paddle tail and a jig head hook when fishing in this situation.
When the current is strong, getting your bait into the strike zone can be difficult.
If you want to reach deep into the strike zone, your lure needs to weigh between 1/4 ounce and, sometimes, even more, to reach deep into the strike zone.
Furthermore, a jig head is superior to a paddle tail since the paddle tail causes drag in the water.
Reeling in this lure with pauses will create a “deadfall” action and cause the tail to wiggle.
As opposed to a jerk shad, which has a more streamlined profile without a flared tail.
The heavier the jig head, the greater the area of water you can cover and the greater the amount of water in general.
SHRIMP LURE
Especially for this type of fishing, the Power Prawn Jr. lure is excellent.
1/16-ounce weighted hooks or smaller jig heads are excellent choices for this lure.
For this shrimp lure, use a lighter weighted hook or jig head to mimic the behavior of a small shrimp that gets washed away by the current.
Aiming your casts up current from your intended target zone would be best to allow the lure to sink to the bottom.
When it reaches the strike zone, it will be in the right place to initiate strikes.
A Power Prawn Jr. is also an excellent lure for targeting spooky fish or fish feeding in the middle of the water column.
A “dead drift” is the most effective way of swimming the Power Prawn Jr. when the current is high.
It is best to put little tension when fishing this lure.
It should drift with some slack in the line to imitate a shrimp getting washed away in the current.
You may only sometimes feel the fish strike your lure when fishing this way.
A line with a brighter color can make it easier for you to identify if a fish has attacked your lure.
POPPING CORK
This is a similar approach to the “dead drift” with the Power Prawn Jr., but you are just adding a popping cork to the setup.
Using a popping cork is advantageous in this setting because you can set your leader length to exactly where the fish are feeding in the water column.
As opposed to the “dead drift,” where you may not know the exact depth of your lure, with a popping cork, you can set the depth of where your lure will swim in the desired water column.
Another benefit of the popping cork is that the shrimp lure will still have the same action as the “dead drift”; however, the popping cork itself will indicate if a fish strikes the lure.
The timing of your hook sets will be much better because you can visibly see the fish striking your line.
You still want to cast up the current of where you think the fish will be holding.
Most of the time, you won’t even have to make a pop with the cork to induce a strike.
All you have to do is repeat the “dead drift” technique, but now you have a popping cork as a depth manager and a strike indicator.
Another addition to the Power Prawn Jr. on this rig type is a heavier weight on the hook.
You can use a jig head or a weighted hook in the neighborhood of a 1/4 ounce.
The added weight to the lure forces your lure to sit at the exact water column you intended based on your leader length.
If you use a lighter weight, the shrimp lure will sit a bit higher in the current, and you won’t get down in the water to where you want it to be.
Moreover, the clicks of the popping cork when the line tightens can further attract predatory fish to your lure.
The heavier the weight of your shrimp lure, the lower it will dive and the more clicks you’ll hear on the popping cork.
EQUIPMENT USED:
Best Lures For High Current Situations?
Slam Shady 2.0 Paddletail
Power Prawn Jr. Shrimp Lure
Owner Weighted Twistlock Hooks
Trout Eye Jighead
Paradise Popper Popping Cork
30lb Stren Magnathin Monofilament
15lb Braided Line
40lb Ande Monofilament Leader
Falcon MH 7’6 Coastal Clearwater Rod
Quantum Smoke Inshore Reel
CONCLUSION
Best Lures For High Current Situations?
Anglers can benefit from fishing in high current situations because baitfish behavior is easier to mimic.
In particular water columns, the fish will wait for disoriented baitfish to swim into their mouths.
Use the current in your flavor and mimic baitfish presentations to entice big fish!
Feel free to ask me questions about high-current fishing situations in the comments section!
If you know an angler interested in learning more about fishing during a high current, feel free to TAG or SHARE this article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Best Lures For High Current Situations?
How do I know how deep it is when I use my lure?
The plastic lips on the front of the bait can give you an idea of how deep the bait will run. Generally, more extended lips mean deeper diving, while shorter lips mean shallower divin’.
Do lures dive deep?
Crankbaits can dive 3 feet or deeper, so fishing in low water can easily lead to getting snagged on vegetation, branches, or rocks. With a crankbait, you can fish in low-water locations, but a floating crankbait is best. You should pause your retrieve every couple of cranks and let it float again.
Should the bait be buried deep?
Ideally, a depth of 18 inches is best, but sometimes even searching the margins is needed to find it. The depth I find will therefore dictate the bait I choose. A certain depth is optimal for each of my four bait combinations.
Fish can see lures even in the dark, right?
In the dark, objects and things receive less light, making them less visible to fish. In addition, water absorbs a good deal of light at night, making the environment of fish less visible. Fish will probably miss your lures at night.
