# Inventive cork for south louisiana grass flats rat reds



## Tuesdae1 (Mar 22, 2012)

Would like to see if anyone has had experience with this, this might be a mix of Q&A and out of area report but here we go.

So my dad lives in south Louisiana and after the oil spill cleanup was over he scored a nice little aluminum hull with a 50 tohatsu at an auction for practically nothing!! in the winter the marsh between Port Fourchon and Grand Isle are loaded with reds. we fish them with cackahoe minows on a cork. as soon as we cast the first thing that minnow wants to do is get into the grass. so we would use regular cone shaped orange and white corks like we always use, a few pops ever now and then would get the reds attention but as soon as they get close you have to get your bait out of the grass by popping the cork. soon and the reds see that cork they were gone, the water was just too clear and the corks were just way too unnatural. so me and my dad came up with a solution :thumbup: between the 2 of us we had a nice collection of top dogs and she dogs and top pups etc. if you are familiar with these lures the have three eyes the front to tie your line too the middle eye with one treble hook and the rear eye with another treble hook. so we sacrificed 3 top dogs popped off the treble hooks with some needle nose plyers. tied our line to the nose eye left the middle eye empty with no treble hook and tied a leader to the rear eye with a hook and minnow at the end of the leader. so the bare top dogs would serve as a cork. a few pops here and there and next thing we know the reds are hitting at our top dog corks, as soon as they do we just reel a few cranks away from them and get that minnow up to the top and once they see that live bait its game over. 

We thought this was a pretty good idea and i was wondering if anyone in this area has had a problem with cork spooking the fish. here are a few pics of me and my girlfriend from a couple different trips. this is hands down my favorite type of fishing, rat reds on light tackle. Nothin more fun!!!


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

cool idea...got to think on your feet sometimes when your fishing


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## chicon monster (Mar 7, 2012)

thats a pretty cool idea, never would of thought of that.


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## Wharf Rat (Sep 27, 2007)

I've heard of it before actually...leave a treble hook on the middle though and catch the reds when they hit the top dog.


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## fsu alex (Aug 3, 2011)

Damn those are rat reds?


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## beeritself (Nov 25, 2010)

Definitely a keeper! Oh yeah, nice reds and good idea too.


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## Tuesdae1 (Mar 22, 2012)

fsu alex said:


> Damn those are rat reds?


Yea the 2 bigger ones may not be considered rat red haha


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## Tuesdae1 (Mar 22, 2012)

Wharf Rat said:


> I've heard of it before actually...leave a treble hook on the middle though and catch the reds when they hit the top dog.


Yea I actually thought about leaving the middle one like you were sayin but I was worried about getting tangled when casting. It's def worth a shot because about 50% if the bites we get hit the top dog cork before they hit the minnow.


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## knowphish (Apr 26, 2010)

Use a piece of real stiff flourocarbon attached to the rear eyelet. That'll minimize tangling.


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## Tuesdae1 (Mar 22, 2012)

knowphish said:


> Use a piece of real stiff flourocarbon attached to the rear eyelet. That'll miniomize tangling.


So with a treble hook on the middle eyelet a stiff florocarbon will help it not get tangled? Sounds like a good idea.


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Old school technique and it works as you've found out. I remember reading a old FS article describing this and tried it one day using a 2" Zara Spook topwater and a crappie jig trailer. The kid outfished 4 other boats that decided to anchor by us. T'was great, it's something to remember on those slow days.


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## SmokenJoe (Mar 18, 2011)

Sounds worth a try but if they are hitting the top dog why not just fish it. LOL

Joe


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## Tuesdae1 (Mar 22, 2012)

SmokenJoe said:


> Sounds worth a try but if they are hitting the top dog why not just fish it. LOL
> 
> Joe


well i normally do fish only topwaters im real big on artificials. but for my girlfriend in the pics its perfect. all she has to do is pop it and set the hook. we havent started working on how to work a topwater lol


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## Tuesdae1 (Mar 22, 2012)

kanaka said:


> Old school technique and it works as you've found out. I remember reading a old FS article describing this and tried it one day using a 2" Zara Spook topwater and a crappie jig trailer. The kid outfished 4 other boats that decided to anchor by us. T'was great, it's something to remember on those slow days.


thats awesome! i knew it was a good idea and i was pretty sure someone else had to have thought of trying this also.

i have had the same experience with boats driving by see poles bent over so they try to come anchor up next to you to get a share of teh action. and they cant get a bite and we would still be tearin em up. too funny. dont see why some people do that. the whole ocean to fish and you see one boat doin good on one little spot and you want to stop. dont make no sense.


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## pompanopete (Aug 5, 2009)

great idea.. just might try that here in pensacola.. thanks


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## chicon monster (Mar 7, 2012)

Tuesdae1 said:


> thats awesome! i knew it was a good idea and i was pretty sure someone else had to have thought of trying this also.
> 
> i have had the same experience with boats driving by see poles bent over so they try to come anchor up next to you to get a share of teh action. and they cant get a bite and we would still be tearin em up. too funny. dont see why some people do that. the whole ocean to fish and you see one boat doin good on one little spot and you want to stop. dont make no sense.


 that pisses me off when they do that. they always are like what are you using. do you have an extra. how do you work it. just because im being friendly to you because you don't know how to catch doesn't mean you can irritate the crap out of me and scare the fish away. there is plenty of fish all over you don't have to right next to me.


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## fishn4fun (May 11, 2008)

That's an awesome idea I might try it for trolling behind the kayak


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Guys, the kid was so excited to be catching two fish at a time that he had to show them to every boat that passed within 1/4 mi of us. I'm guessing that after we released 30 fish, one of the other boats started tossing the same setup. No joy for them tho. These were all fish in the 12-14 in range and they wanted small stuff.
Lesson here: MATCH THE HATCH. And as for the comment about just using a topwater, these guys were making halfhearted swipes at the Zara Puppy. Once the trailer went on, it was a feeding frenzy.


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