Inshore Fishing Blackbook Final PDF

Salt Strong Black Book 1
What Is The “Inshore Fishing

Blackbook?”
A little over 4 years ago, after exiting the financial services industry and selling everything we owned,
my brother Luke and I decided to start a new movement in the fishing world. We named it, Salt Strong.
Looking back now, we had no idea how we were going to make a living teaching fishing online, but the
one thing we did know was this… we loved creating content, we loved teaching and sharing fishing tips
(especially the ones that we wish someone had taught us many years ago), and we love helping our
online community of anglers who have become like family to us.
The very first thing we did was starting blogging about knots: knot strength contests, knot tutorials, and
knot PDF guides. Up next was a blitz of inshore fishing tips on every main species: redfish, snook,
flounder, speckled trout, and more. Then we started answering questions from our fast-growing audience
and putting them into blogs and videos. Kayak tips, SUP fishing tips, inshore tactics, and more.
Before we knew it, we had created over 1,000 blogs on our site (www.saltstrong.com)!
Recently, one of our “Insider” fishing community members (join here if you haven’t already) mentioned
that we should create a blog post or PDF outlining our top 100 most shared tips (with direct links to the
original blog post/video) so they would be easier to find for everyone.
And we agreed! Except for one slight change… when we decide to do something, we do it right… so
instead of just a blog post, we created an entire eBook PDF with a summary of all 100 of our favorite
tips along with a direct link to the actual post in case you want to see more.
So think of this blackbook like “cliff notes” where you can jump in, read a few “secrets” and then dig
deeper on the tips that intrigue you by going to the actual full blog or video (you’ll see a link below
every page with a direct link to the full blog and/or video).
I hope you get a ton value out of this blackbook, and we can’t thank you enough for all of the support.
Tight lines!

What Is The “Inshore Fishing Blackbook?” 2
The Top 100 Inshore Fishing Secrets 7
Section 1: Inshore Fishing Tactics
1. How To Consistently Catch Redfish, Snook, & Speckled Seatrout 9
2. Wade Fishing 101: How To Maximize Your Time & Strikes While Wading 10
3. 5 Shortcuts For Catching Snook 11
4. Live Bait vs Artificial? Why Neither Matter If You Know This… 12
5. The Complete Guide to Catch, Photo, & Release Fishing 13
6. 3 Shortcuts For Catching Spotted Seatrout 14
7. 3 Shortcuts For Catching Redfish Like A Pro 15
8. Which Is The Best Satellite Map For Finding New Inshore Fishing Spots? 16
9. Tips For Catching Flounder On Artificial Lures 17
10. How To Target BIG Redfish & Snook Inshore 18
12. Where To Find Feeding Redfish, Snook, Trout, & Flounder Right After A Cold Front 20
13. The #1 Flounder Rig Of All Time 21
14. The Scientific Method For Catching Inshore Fish In The Winter 22
15. Are You Making These 3 Deadly Mistakes When Releasing Snook? 23
16. This Is A Great Redfish & Trout Lure (When Fishing Thick Grass) 24
17. 5 Biggest Fly Fishing Mistakes For Redfish In Skinny Water 25
Section 2: Live Bait Fishing

18. How To Rig A Live Pinfish For Catching Snook, Tarpon, & Grouper 27
19. How To Catch Black Drum Using Sand Fleas 28
20. How To Hook Live Shrimp On A Jighead Like A Fishing Pro 29
21. How To Throw A Big Cast Net Without Using Your Mouth 30
22. How To Pick The Best Inshore Hook When Fishing Live Bait Or Cut Bait 31
23. How To Make A Sabiki Rig For Catching Bait [Quickest & Easiest Method] 32
24. How To Catch Pinfish For Bait (Without A Net Or Trap) 33
25. How To Rig Dead Shrimp On A Jighead 34
26. 3 Simple Ways To Bridle Rig Your Live Bait To Catch More Fish 35
27. How To Rig Blue Crab (For Big Bull Redfish & Black Drum) 36
28. Fishing With Cut Bait: How To Catch Redfish Using Cut Bait 37
29. Best Way To Hook Pass Crabs For Catching Tarpon & Permit 38
30. Chumming Tips: How To Make The Best Saltwater Fish Chum 39
Section 3: Knots and Fishing Line

31. The Best Fishing Knots Of All Time 41
[Ranked Strongest To Weakest] 41
32. Fastest Way To Tie The Amazing FG Knot 42
[Free PDF Guide Included] 42
33. Best Fishing Knot for Braided Line 43
[Braid to Leader Contest] 43
34. How Much Farther Can You Cast With 10 lb Line vs. 20 lb Line? Results Here 44
35. The Kreh Loop Knot 45
[Contest Winner] 45
36. Best Fishing Knot For Braided Line To Swivel, Hook, Or Lure 46
37. The Orvis Knot 47
[Including Strength Test Results] 47
38. Braid vs. Mono Casting Distance Experiment [Both Light & Heavy Lures] 48
39. The Strongest Line-to-Line Fishing Knot 49
(Mono-to-Mono Knot Contest) 49
40. Palomar Knot: How To Tie The Palomar Knot [Fluoro & Braid Adjustments] 50
41. Is Fluoro Leader More Abrasion Resistant Than Traditional Mono Leader? 51
42. How To Tie The Strongest Braid To Braid Fishing Knot 52
43. Is Fluorocarbon Leader Really Stronger Than Fluorocarbon Mainline? 53
[Shocking Test Results] 53
44. Braid vs. Mono Abrasion Strength Experiment [Vertical & Horizontal Tests] 54
45. Strongest Fishing Knot For Leader To Hook Connection [Snug Style] 55
46. How To AVOID Wind Knots And Tangles With Braided Line 56
47. The Best Loop Knot For Fluorocarbon Leader To Lure or Hook [Knot Contest] 57
48. The Strongest Knot For Doubling Over Braided Line [Knot Contest] 58
49. How To Tie The Blood Knot 59
50. The ALBRIGHT vs The ALBERTO vs The FG Knot [Strength Test] 60
51. The UNBREAKABLE Fishing Knot – The PR Bobbin Knot 61
52. Spiderwire Ultracast Invisi-Braid vs. PowerPro 62
53. Berkley Vanish vs. Seaguar Blue Label [Abrasion Test Results] 63
54. What Is The Best Monofilament Line For Abrasion Strength? 64
Section 4: Artificial Lures

55. The Best Lures For Catching Redfish 66
[Surprise Answer] 66
56. 7 Essential Saltwater Fishing Lures That Catch Fish Pretty Much Anywhere 67

57. 20 Tips That Will Increase Your Success With Topwater Lures 68
58. How To Tie Your Own Bucktail Jig 69
59. How To Rig & Use Gulp Shrimp 70
60. How To Catch More Flounder With This Paddletail Lure 71
61. How To Catch Snook On A DOA CAL Shad 72
62. Do Berkley Gulp Baits Really Work? 73
63. How To Choose The Best Hook For Soft Plastic Jerkbaits 74
64. Pro-Cure Bait Scent: How Many More Fish Does It Really Catch? [New Experiment] 75
65. Goofy Jigs: One Of The Best Lures For Catching Pompano On The Beach 76
66. Heddon Super Spook Jr. 77
67. How To Rig A Berkley Gulp Pogy Soft Plastic To Catch More Fish 78
68. How To Rig A DOA CAL Jerk Bait 79
69. The Trick To Avoid Berkley Gulp SHRINKAGE 80
70. How To Rig A WEEDLESS Gulp Shrimp 81
71. The Top 5 Fishing Lures Of All Time 82
Section 5: Casting And Fishing Techniques

72. The Coolest Casting Trick Ever [“Dart Cast”] 84
73. How To Skip A Lure Under Mangroves & Docks 85
74. Do You Make This Common Casting Mistake? 86
75. The Secret To Never Getting Your Lure Stuck In A Mangrove Tree 87
76. Sight Fishing Cobia On The Flats 88
Section 6: Gear And Rigging

77. How To Tie The Perfect Fishing Leader For Snook, Redfish, And Seatrout 90
78. How To Make A Grouper Rig That Saves Money, Time, & Marine Life 91
79. How To Rig A Popping Cork For Redfish, Flounder, Snook, & Trout 92
80. How To Spool Braided Line On A Spinning Reel (Without Line Twists or Loops] 93
81. How To Choose The Right Polarized Sunglasses For Fishing 94
82. How To Properly Replace Treble Hooks With Inline Single Hooks 95
83. What’s The Proper Drag Tension For An Inshore Fishing Reel? 96
84. What’s The Best Way To Clean A Spinning Reel After Saltwater Fishing? 97
85. This Is The Only Time To Use A Swivel For Inshore Fishing 98
86. This Trick Prevents Wind Knots, Line Twists, And Uneven Line On Your Spinning Reel 99
87. How To Spool A Spinning Reel With Braid While Saving Money And Time 100
Section 7: Kayaks, Standup Paddleboards And Boats

88. The Ultimate Guide To Buying A Fishing Kayak (Must Read Before Purchase) 102

89. Boat Ramp Mistakes: Top 5 Blunders That Cause Fights 103
90. Easiest Way To Launch And Load A Boat By Yourself 104
91. 11 Essential Saltwater Kayak Fishing Tips For Newbies 105
92. How To Fish From A Paddleboard 106
Saltwater Flats Edition 106
93. How To Back A Boat Trailer Down The Ramp Like A BOSS 107
94. How To Choose The Best Paddle Board For Fishing 108
95. Kayak Safety Tips: Everything You Need To Know About Safe Kayaking 109
96. SUP Fishing With A Push Pole & Casting Platform [Sight Fishing Machine] 110
97. 3 Reasons All Kayak Anglers Should Consider Paddleboard Fishing 111
98. How To Get Back In Your Kayak After It Flips Over In Deep Water 112
99. How To Best Store Live Bait While Kayak Or Shore Fishing 113
100. 5 Things Anglers Regret Not Knowing When They First Start Kayak Fishing 114
Conclusion 115

The Top 100 Inshore
Fishing Secrets
This book shows you the top 100 inshore fishing secrets every angler should
know — including best fishing knots, tackle, lures, tactics, tricks and
techniques to catch more fish in less time.
You’ll see a direct link to the full blog post and/or video at the bottom of
every page.
Enjoy! 

Section 1: Inshore Fishing
Tactics 

1. How To Consistently Catch Redfish, Snook, &
Speckled Seatrout
Three breakthroughs…
Everything changed for my brother (and pro angler) Luke Simonds the day he discovered these three
simple, yet incredibly powerful breakthroughs to consistently catching his favorite inshore fish.
Here are the three breakthroughs:
The first breakthrough was using online maps to find hidden structure (to find new fishing spots fast).
For instance, did you know that a circular dark area on a satellite map usually means an oyster bar while
a randomly shaped (non-circular) dark area usually means seagrass? Either way, both are considered a
form of structure. The big takeaway for Luke was looking for new honey holes with THREE or more
pieces of structure on the map all in the same area. For instance, seagrass with an oyster bar near a row
of docks with a couple drop-offs would be a guaranteed honey hole!
The second breakthrough was becoming an EXPERT at one lure. Aka “Simplify.” Too many weekend
warriors invest in way too many lures and tackle (when all they really need is to become a specialist at
one or two). In fact, if you can become confident at throwing one or two lures like a pro, you will be
able to out-fish your live bait friends (catching fish while they are searching all over the place for live
bait). Countless pro tournaments (with big money on the line) are won using just one (or two at a
maximum) lures. Rarely do the best inshore anglers use 10+ lures… they are experts at a couple.
The one must-have inshore lure is a 5-inch jerk shad (we like the Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad and the Z-Man
JerkShadZ on an Owner TwistLock hook 1/16 oz).
The final breakthrough was that a fancy flats boat isn’t necessary to catch loads fish. Some of our best
trips are in a kayak or SUP where we can stealthily go where no boat has gone before… some of the
biggest redfish, snook, and trout will get up in the skinniest water (especially during the spring and fall).
Lastly. the biggest misconception we had when he first got serious about inshore fishing was that we
needed live bait. Now that Luke has won multiple tournaments and caught countless inshore slams with
lures, we’re both believers that lures give you more control and more freedom than being held hostage to
live bait.
See the full post (including a FREE PDF download) in the link below:
Click Here To See How To Consistently Catch Redfish, Snook, & Seatrout 

2. Wade Fishing 101: How To Maximize Your Time &
Strikes While Wading
For this guide, we brought in a wade fishing master —Wader Dave — to tell us the secrets to catching
more fish while wade fishing.
Wader Dave breaks down the best wade fishing tips, spots and techniques you need to know to catch
more and bigger fish.
As one of the most important tips in the article, Dave goes over what rods to use when you’re just
starting to get into wade fishing.
He says he would “recommend you use a 7’ or 7’ 6” medium or medium light action spinning rod
matched with a 3000 or 4000 series spinning reel, spooled with 10 lb braid and a few feet of 20 lb
fluorocarbon leader.”
Fill a small waterproof box with half a dozen lead head jigs ranging in weight from 1/16 to ¼ oz, a few
of Luke Simonds favorite Owner TwistLOCK weighted hooks, a couple of ½ or ¾ oz gold or copper
colored weedless spoons and if you like plugs, throw in your favorite suspending and topwater baits.
Grab a couple bags of plastic swim and/or split tail baits in your favorite colors, a small spool of leader
material and throw them into a cheap fanny pack along with the waterproof box. Attach your pliers and a
plastic fish grip to the fanny pack strap and you’re almost ready to start fishing.
Dave also reveals how to identify good wade fishing spots.
He says causeways are some of his favorite spots to wade fish because they’re easy to access.
“The most productive causeways often offer riprap, rocks, mangroves and dead trees along their
shoreline and/or adjacent areas of pothole-filled grass flats,” Dave writes in the post.
He also tells you his top wading tips including this first one to live by: You don’t need to go any
further than knee to waist deep.
Most of the fish you target frequent depths of less than one foot of water. You can consistently catch
most inshore targeted species in less than waist deep water casting parallel to the beach or causeway.
See the full wade fishing guide in the link below.
Click Here To See Our Complete Guide On Wade Fishing

3. 5 Shortcuts For Catching Snook
Snook are one of the most popular inshore sport fish in Florida (and parts of Texas) due to their amazing
fight abilities and aggressive strikes (they are kind of like a bass on steroids). They just so happen to be
excellent fighters and great table fare too.
The key shortcuts to catching more snook are:
1. The most critical piece of the snook puzzle comes down to finding these three things (you
need at LEAST two out of these three things to have a successful snook spot)
• Current
• Structure
• Bait
2. Live bait is not a requirement - As we mentioned in Secret #1, becoming proficient (an expert)
with artificial lures is critical to catching snook all year long. Also, throwing artificial lures will
save you time and energy (never having to find live bait).
Tip #1 - Throw an artificial lure that has a similar color and profile as the bait in the water.
Tip #2 - The top three overall snook lures are a Berkley Gulp Shrimp (rigged on a 1/8 oz jig
head) for beaches and docks, a paddletail lure, and a 5-in jerk shad on a weighted hook.
3. Use the right gear for the conditions - you want to make sure you’re using the right size line,
leader, rod and reel for the type of area you’re fishing. Too many anglers go way too heavy on
the tackle when targeting snook. Quick rules of thumb:
• Don’t ever use 30+ lb braid and 60+ lb leader on the flats
• Don’t use 10 lb braid and 30 lb leader in an inlet.
• DO the opposite of each. Go light on the flats, heavy in the inlets and passes
4. Fancy boats are not a requirement - some of the best snook fishing spots in the world are
accessible by foot and some are not even accessible by boat! Piers, back country bays, beaches,
and causeways hold some of the biggest snook in Florida.
5. Don’t be afraid of fishing in the dark - snook are nocturnal feeders and are most active at
night. Fishing after sunset can be a fantastic time to target snook. Hit up dock lights when the
current is moving. Use a ducktail jig and get ready for a fight!
You can see the full snook guide by going to the link below.
See The Five Short Cuts For Catching More Snook Here 

4. Live Bait vs Artificial? Why Neither Matter If You
Know This…
While everyone has their own preferences on what they use to catch fish, the single biggest factor that is
going to help you consistently catch inshore fish is not live bait or artificial lures — it’s TRENDS!
You need to look at the following aspects of fish behavior in order to figure out their trends and catch
more fish (when you understand this, the bait becomes less relevant):
1. Where are the fish feeding based on the time of the year, bait runs, and their biology?
2. Are the fish looking for cooler oxygenated water (summer) or warmer deep pockets (winter)
3. Time of day? Tides?
4. Weather conditions?
5. What is the ideal water temperature for these fish to feed in (relative to their area - there is no
“absolute value” in terms of temp because a redfish in Virginia can clearly handle colder water
than a redfish in Florida).
These are the major factors that will influence where various species of inshore fish will be on any given
day.
For instance, let’s take water temperature. A redfish won’t feed if the water temp in your region is the
absolute hottest or coldest in the area. In these severe cases, the only thing on a redfish’s mind is finding
warmer/colder water where they can breathe. For instance, during a cold day, a two degree rise in
temperature in an area will hold more redfish than a spot just 15 meters away that is slightly colder.
Same for hot days. Finding an area with just 1-2 degree cooler water means tons of extra oxygenated
water for them.
It takes a lot of time, patience, trial and error to become a master at figuring out these trends, but once
you get a grasp on knowing where fish will be holding at certain times of the year, you can apply this
knowledge to different locations.
The best part about learning these trends is that they can be applied to target the same fish species in
every region they’re found!
A redfish in Texas is also a redfish when it’s in Florida. Apply the same tactics to catch them in both
states and beyond.
Remember, it’s all about TRENDS (not spot, not lures, and not live bait)
Click Here To See The Full Post 

5. The Complete Guide to Catch, Photo, & Release
Fishing
We’d be remiss if we gave all these fish catching tips but didn’t highlight the critical things we all need
to be doing to protect the fish we love and chase.
We have nothing against keeping fish, but we also believe that if enough people don’t practice proper
catch and release, it’s bad news Bears for fishermen in the future…
Here are the top five parts of the fish to protect when handling them before a release:
1. Gills - harm can be done to these important tissues that can result in a quick death for the fish
because all fish rely on their gills to breathe. Do NOT ever jam your hands or fingers up in their
gills and hold them up just by the gills. Remember, no gill holds. 
2. Skin - skin is their core defense against harmful bacteria, parasites, and/or chemicals that are in
the water. And any loss to their “slime” on the outer layer or to their scales can put them at risk of a
slow death from getting infected or poisoned. Please always wet your hands before handling a fish
or use a fish grip to pick them up for a quick pic (and release of the hook). 
3. Jaw - a fish with an injured jaw will have a very tough time capturing its food. And although a fish
with an injured jaw may very well swim away energetically when released, an injury to its jaw
could result in the fish being unable to feed — making it unable to survive. Please don’t handle
fish (especially big fish) solely by the jaw. It’s ok to use their jaw with one hand, but use your
second hand to support the belly of the fish to take some of the jaw pressure away. 
4. Internal Organs - the internal organs of some species can get compromised when they are held
vertically when out of the water since they simply were not designed to withstand gravity in that
position. This is especially true for larger inshore fish. It’s a good habit to always hold any fish
horizontally vs vertically.
5. Eyes - Fish heavily rely on sight to feed and stay out of trouble, so we always need to be very
mindful to not damage their eyes in any way. Humans don’t like fingers in their eyes… either do
fish.
If you want to see all of the top tips for taking pictures of your fish by yourself and with others and what
equipment you need to do it properly, then click the link below for the full article.
See The Proper Way To Catch, Photo & Release Fish Here 

6. 3 Shortcuts For Catching Spotted Seatrout
Speckled seatrout are one of the most popular and dependable inshore fish species to target from Texas
up to North Carolina.
And there are three shortcuts that really allowed us (and many other Salt Strong members) to become
better seatrout anglers.
The first one was learning how to assess an area for feeding seatrout. Like other inshore species, there
are three things you need to focus on when it comes to finding feeding trout:
1. Structure (#1 most important)

2. Bait
3. Current
Regarding structure, here are my favorite types for speckled trout:
• Seagrass*
• Oyster Bars
• Points (and potholes)
• Trees/Roots/Stumps
• Rocks
• Docks
*For the quickest shortcut for finding seatrout, I recommend focusing on underwater seagrass because
seatrout often stay around seagrass beds where they feed and reproduce.
The second thing you need to focus on is using the right gear to target trout. Seatrout aren’t the strongest
fighters, and their teeth (although sharp) are not good at breaking leaders so heavy tackle is not needed.
Scaling down your rod, tackle, line, and lures can help you catch a lot more trout.
The last thing you need to learn is how to confidently use lures to target trout.
It’s much better to become an expert at just one lure than to be decent at using a whole tackle shop full,
so you can catch a ton of fish with just using one lure and one rod/reel combo.
One of the most popular lures for consistently catching trout is a paddletail. The Z-Man MinnowZ on a
1/8oz jighead is a killer!
Click Here To See The Three Shortcuts To Catching More Trout 

7. 3 Shortcuts For Catching Redfish Like A Pro
It’s redfish time! Here are three shortcuts that can help you catch consistent redfish.
The first shortcut you need to know is that you need to find good redfish structure to locate these fish.
This includes oyster bars, shallow grass flats, docks, rocks/jetties and mangroves to name a few.
When looking for spots with feeding redfish, look for areas that have good structure as well as a healthy
supply of bait. Redfish will often hold in these types of areas throughout the year because it addresses
their two top concerns (finding food & protection from bigger predators). Remember that redfish LOVE
crustaceans (shrimp, crabs, etc) so anytime you see a shallow flat with standing birds (bird that are
feeding), this usually means they are feeding on crustaceans (aka stop and make some casts there).
The other critical piece of the puzzle for finding spots making sure you are fishing in area with
oxygenated water in the summer (aka find the cooler water). Likewise, find the warmer spots in your
area in the winter (aka find the warmest zones you can in the winter - this could be wind protected areas
during windy cold fronts, etc).
The awesome part of redfish is usually when you find one, you find a few friends (especially in the late
fall/winter months).
The second shortcut is to use the right gear setup for different fishing situations. Many anglers
mistakenly use the exact same redfish line and leader for every situation (wrong).
Our suggestions for the right line setups for redfishing are:
1. Open grass flat or oyster bar with slow current: 10 lb braid, 20 lb leader
2. Docks or Mangrove Line with slow/medium current: 10-20 lb braid, 25-30 lb leader
3. Fast-moving current with heavy structure: 20-30 lb braid, 40-60 lb leader
Our final shortcut is that you don’t need live bait to catch redfish. Becoming confident throwing a
couple different lures is as effective as throwing live bait and saves you time and money in the long run.
Our favorite lures for redfish are 5-in jerk shads (Gulp and Z-man), Gulp shrimp, and paddletail lures on
a jig head.
To see the full post, click below:
Click Here To See How To Catch More Redfish 

8. Which Is The Best Satellite Map For Finding
New Inshore Fishing Spots?
To begin, the most important things to look for on the online maps are:
1) underwater structure
2) underwater contour
The good news is that Google, Mapquest, and Bing all show underwater structure and underwater
contours. Bad news is that none of them are best in both categories (especially not in all areas).
So the answer to the “best satellite map for inshore fishing” question is… All of them.
Here are the steps:
1. If you’re going to fish a new area for the very first time, start with whichever online map service
you’re most comfortable using. Do some exploring for oyster beds, sea grass, and other structure.
2. Then, pull up at least one of the other online maps to check out a spot that may be unclear and/or
to double check that the structure/contour of interest shows up in more than just the one image so
you know it’s truly there.
3. Then, if you really want to analyze a spot, pull up a 3rd online maps and triple check the area.
You just never know when one of the satellite images might reveal something amazing…
Click below to see a bunch of examples of how different spots looks on different maps.
Click Here To See How To Read Online Maps 

9. Tips For Catching Flounder On Artificial Lures
Flounder spend the majority of their lives lying on the ocean floor, waiting for an easy meal.
Quick Flounder Knowledge 101
• Flounder spend the majority of their lives lying on the ocean floor, waiting for an easy meal.
• Flounder are excellent ambush predators, blend in with soft bottoms t and are very aggressive.
• Flounder head out of the passes and inlets at the end of ever fall (early winter) to spawn so there
is a mass exodus (and easy picking) in any pass or inlet in Nov/Dec
• Many of the larger female Summer Flounder prefer brackish waters and they love moving water
with any type of structure (anything from bridge pilings to rocks to ledges).
As for tackle, we recommend a 7’ bait casting setup with 15-20 lb braid line and a 20 lb fluoro leader.
However, any medium action setup will perform perfectly.
Lures: bouncing soft plastic paddletails, flukes, or bucktails off the bottom will allow you to cover more
water fishing for flounder and make it easier to find where they’re holding.
Mistakes: most anglers miss flounder on the hook set…Instead of a normal hook set, slowly raise the rod
tip, feel for fish movement, keep steady pressure and then set the hook HARD. When fishing with live
bait, give it a few extra seconds for the flounder to inhale the bait. With artificial lures, it will be a
quicker hook-set.
Tempo: when fishing for flounder (especially in the fall - one of the most popular times to catch flounder
nationwide), make sure to slow down your tempo a bit so your lure is popping off the bottom. These fish
are aggressive but they aren’t like snook or trout that frequently strike topwater lures.
One other tip is to make sure you retrieve your lure all the way to the boat (or kayak). So many nice
flounder are caught right below the boat (many guides believe that they use the boat’s shadow as shade.
The final tip is to ALWAYS have a net on the boat if you are targeting flounder. More flounder are lost a
the boat than any other inshore fish.
To see more flounder tips, click the link below.
Click Here To See Our Top Flounder Tips 

10. How To Target BIG Redfish & Snook Inshore
So far, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about how to catch redfish and snook in general.
But if you spent any amount of time targeting these fish, you know that catching the BIG (over-slot) reds
and snook can be much different than catching a juvenile fish.
The overall tips from earlier in this book still stays true. You must have:
• Strong Current
• Structure
• Bait
If you don’t have at least 2 of 3 (and ideally all three of them), then move on to a new spot.
But it also helps to have BIG baits.
Yes, it’s certainly possible to catch big fish on small baits, but a large bait certainly helps eliminate many
of the smaller fish and helps increase your chances of hooking into a lunker.
The other specific tip for BIG fish if finding BIG current.
Some of the biggest snook and redfish in America are caught in and around inlets and passes. Same goes
for the world record fish in South America (which are normally caught around beaches where there are
cuts with lots of moving water).
And that makes sense.
Lots of current, lots of big baits pushing through every day, and lots of structure inside and around the
mouths of passes and inlets). It’s an overshot fish heaven!
So find an area with lots of moving water (not way back in backcountry), find the big schools and bait,
and find an area with some structure on the bottom and you’ll skyrocket your chances of catching a big
one.
The final tip is don’t be afraid to have a fast moving lure or bait. Snook are predator fish that can be very
reactionary, and many times the big over-slot linesiders are caught when the bait/lure is moving fast (in a
reactionary strike).
Click Here To See The Full Post

11. How To Catch Speckled Trout In The Winter
November, December, January and February trout fishing can be excellent if you know the right tactics
to get on them.
All you have to do is change your tactics to target these wintertime trout (just because a nasty cold front
comes through doesn’t mean the trout bite is won’t be aweome).
Here’s the deal: Trout like to pack down together in a warmer temperature refuge during nasty cold
fronts. And usually once you find one, you find a truckload of them.
So you’re looking to find the place in your area that is going to be the warmest — deeper spots in the
morning, warm muddy bottom flats that have been sitting in the sun for the afternoon — there are going
to be your best bets in locating winter trout.
Some good examples of ideal spots are dark bottom mud flats, power plant outflows and deeper
channels and holes.
On the flip side, early in the morning (before the sun is up), trout will be in deeper pockets near the flats
where the water is a bit warmer.
Just keep in mind that trout are all looking for the same thing — temperature refuge somewhere safe
from predators that they can use as an ambush point to catch their prey.
Knowing this helps you key in on trout because you know they aren’t going to be spread out in the
coldest and roughest parts of the water or out in the open.
One other tip on lures is that a paddletail lure seems to be one of the best bets in the winter (and don’t be
afraid to rig on a BIG paddletail).
Same goes for live bait. Don’t be afraid to go BIG. It’s shocking just how big of a mullet that a trout will
scarf down. Go big or go home!
You can hear our entire podcast episode where we talk about everything trout -- including what you need
to do to target trout in the winter in the post below:

12. Where To Find Feeding Redfish, Snook, Trout, &
Flounder Right After A Cold Front
We used to believe that the toughest time to catch inshore fish was right after a cold front… it was
almost as if we had a false belief that the fish got “lockjaw” and weren’t feeding.
Boy, were we wrong!
Turns out that some of our best fishing days are after cold fronts (usually because all of the fish are in
the same small area - wherever they can find the warmest water).
So that is your goal as well - FIND THE WARMEST WATER in the area.
Quick story (and video link below): we recently went fishing in a brand new spot the day after a nasty
cold front came through. It was freezing, it was super windy, and it was a day that no one else was out
(except us - were literally one of the only boats to launch at the ramp that day).
As we surveyed the area, we knew that we needed to find an area that had wind protection (because the
cold wind cools down the water at night - so you want to find an area that the wind hasn’t been pounding
all night long - that will usually be one of your warmer spots).
We had noticed a small cove that had residential docks, big trees (to prevent the wind from ripping
across the water), and big 2-story houses (another helpful piece of structure to slow down the wind) on
the online maps so we started there (we assumed the cove would be the warmest place).
BINGO!
Within minutes, we started hooking up with fish.
And just two hours later we had landed over SEVEN different species (including redfish, snook, trout,
flounder, jack, grouper, etc) all right next to that small cove.
As the day went on and the sun came out, the fish slowly started moving out of the cove but we noticed
that they didn’t move far. It was an epic day and the lesson was find warm water that was wind
protected.
We caught almost all of the fish using a Berkley Gulp Shrimp and almost every fish was caught within
20 feet of a dock (structure).
Click Here To See The Full Video

13. The #1 Flounder Rig Of All Time
It’s flounder time again!
If you don’t know John Skinner, he’s probably the nation’s top expert on flounder fishing. He’s studied
how they feed underwater more than anyone else we’ve seen.
He’s also tested out every rig, jig, lure, and live bait out there (from Florida up the New York), and even
though he used to believe that live bait was best for catching big flounder (fluke), after watching how
these flounder attack baits underwater (right next to a live bait rig), he’s 100% sure that artificial lures
can outperform live bait for fluke.
Here’s what he uses:
It’s simply a Tandem Rig with a white or yellow bucktail on the bottom of the rig with a 4”inch green or
white Berkley Gulp swimming mullet as a teaser.
He’s caught more nice fluke using this rig than anything else (regardless if he’s fishing from boat, kayak,
or the beach.
Click Here To See The Full Post (With Videos)

14. The Scientific Method For Catching Inshore
Fish In The Winter
Here are the 3 most important functions you need to master in order to consistently catch inshore fish in
the winter:
1. Find structure (we love docks in the winter) that have some deep holes or pockets nearby. In the
winter, the fish are looking for the warmest areas around structure. This means they go deeper, so
if you can find a dock with deep water, you might just find a honey hole.
2. Number two is being able to quickly assess an area for bait. If you don’t see bait, then move on.
3. The final piece of the puzzle is finding the warmest areas in the spot you are fishing. For
instance, wind protected areas in the winter are warmer (because the wind hasn’t been slamming
that top layer with cold temps all night. Also, areas that have more sunlight will be warmer.
Finally, you really need a confidence bait. When Luke is exploring new areas, his go-to
confidence bait is a 5inch jerk shad rigged on an Owner TwistLock hook (1/16 oz). Great for
both super shallow areas all the way to 5 feet. In this scenario, Luke caught all species (redfish,
trout, snook, and grouper) using the Berkley Gulp 5-inch jerkshad (watermelon)
But the #1 rule is finding the right spot based on the biology of these fish (TRENDS)
Click Here To See The Full Video

15. Are You Making These 3 Deadly Mistakes
When Releasing Snook?
Did you know that 27,000 snook die in just in Florida alone every year due to improper handling of the
fish?
That’s a lot of dead fish that could have gone back for someone else to catch (and to spawn).
There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to handling and releasing snook so this post will focus
on the what causes an improper release (which results in cryptic mortality).
Note: Cryptic mortality is defined as a fish dying after being caught and released due to mishandling,
abuse or some other type of physical injury.
The top three mistakes to catching and releasing snook are:
1. Breaking a snook’s jaw - Snook (and other inshore fish) can get their jaw broken by holding a
snook vertically. If a snook breaks its jaw, it cannot eat and will likely die from starvation or fall
prey to a bigger predator. This usually occurs when an angler holds larger snook vertically by the
jaw (with no support on the snook’s body). The best rule of thumb is to ALWAYS hold snook (and
other inshore fish) with one hand supporting their belly.
2. Rapid back and forth revival - This rule has been debated for quite some time, but the overall
consensus is to NOT move the snook back and forth in a rapid motion when reviving it for the
release. Too strong of a back and forth revival is unnatural and can damage and even kill the snook
(however, a very slow back and forth with subtle movements is ok). But the most effective way to
revive a snook is to face it into the current and move it gingerly side to side in the current. Another
way is to turn on your trolling motor and hold the snook in the current until it pushes off naturally. 
3. Handling a snook with dry hands - Yes, hands can be a killer. The light layer of slime on the
body of a snook is essential for it to fight parasites and to remain healthy. If this slime is rubbed off
by human hands, it doesn’t just grow back overnight (in fact, it can create health problems for the
fish). It could even weaken the snook’s immunity to parasites that slowly kill the snook without
their slimy coat of protection.
Click on the link below to see the full post:
Click Here To See The Top Three Snook Release Mistakes 

16. This Is A Great Redfish & Trout Lure (When
Fishing Thick Grass)
All serious inshore anglers know how good seagrass can be for catching inshore fish.
It’s a form of structure that holds all kinds of bait, thus attracting every type of predator fish around.
But it also comes with one problem… when the grass gets too thick, it can be tough to find a lure that
doesn’t get hung up or wrapped up in grass (which causes you to miss opportunities for a strike as no
fish is going to hit your lure if it’s covered in grass).
So we brought on Capt. C.A. Richardson to reveal his #1 thick grass lure. Here’s what he uses (from TX
to NC):
Z-Man Trout Trick rigged on a Mustad Grip Pin weighted hook.
He Texas rigs this lure (pushes the hook point back into the durable Z-man plastic) making it completely
weedless.
He also makes sure to use a loop knot that doesn’t have a big tag end sticking out (like the Orvis knot)
Click the link below to watch how C.A. retrieves this lure and how smoothly it moves through the grass.
Tight lines!

17. 5 Biggest Fly Fishing Mistakes For Redfish In
Skinny Water
It’s inshore fly fishing time!
Shallow water redfish are some of the most finicky and challenging fish in the southeast, and there is a
learning curve for how to catch these fish on the fly.
Here are the top five fly-fishing mistakes anglers make when trying to catch redfish on the flats:
1. Too Many False Casts - False casts can send a redfish running in a split second. Redfish can sense
your line coming in their direction and will take too many false casts as a threat to their safety.
Remember that stealth is key when targeting these redfish and many times you will only get one
shot at them. Make it count. 
2. Weed Guard Is A Must - The most effective way to present your fly to redfish is by slowly
working it across the bottom. This often means you’ll have to drag your fly through grass and
weeds in order to get a good presentation in front of the redfish. A weed guard will prevent you
from snagging weeds and grass with your fly.  
3. Wait For The Right Opportunity - Many times, anglers may run into a redfish that is moving in a
way that is not conducive to getting a good presentation in front of them — such as when redfish
have their backs turned to the bow of the boat and are moving away from it slowly. Being patient
in this situation is key to catching fish like this. Wait for the right opportunity to present to the fish.
4. Don’t Rock The Boat - Many fly fishermen sway their bodies lightly back and forth when fly-
casting. Doing this in shallow water on a small boat can create tiny waves which can cause a
redfish to spook. 
5. Presentation, Presentation, Presentation - This is one of the toughest (because it takes some
serious practice to make accurate casts). But the overall rule is to lead the fish. Always let the fly
settle and don’t overcast on the fish (and don’t cast right on his nose!)
Click below to see the full post.
Click Here To See The Top 5 Fly Fishing Mistakes For Redfish 

Section 2: Live Bait Fishing 

18. How To Rig A Live Pinfish For Catching Snook,
Tarpon, & Grouper
It’s pinfish time!
The three most common ways to hook pinfish are:
1. Through the top of the head (first soft spot behind/above the skull bone)
2. Through the mouth (go in under the jaw and exit through the nostril)
3. Through the nostrils (go in one nostril and out the other)
In our opinion, options 1 & 2 work best for catching the most overall fish.
Here’s why we don’t like #3 as much… The problem with option 3 is that it is prone to casting the bait
off given that the nostril area cannot withstand much pull or force. And who wants to work hard to catch
pinfish only to see it sling off!
When deciding on option 1 or 2, we usually always go with the top of the head method (#1) whenever
we’re fishing an area with sandy bottom.
This method drives the pinfish further down in the water column which is mostly a good thing because
many target species like snook and grouper hang near the bottom to ambush prey.
Option 2 is better for keeping your pinfish off the bottom and is good for using in a strong current. This
will present the pinfish in a more natural way and increase your hookup ratio. This is also an extremely
effective method to keep your pinfish alive for a long time.
When fishing an area with a lot of snag-happy bottom structure (like inlets such as Sebastian Inlet), we
rig the pinfish through the mouth because it will not be pulled down quite as much.
We also rig it this way because this method results in the hook point aiming directly up which helps
lessen the probability of hooking the bottom.
You can see the different ways to rig a pinfish for the best hookup ratio and some live snook catching
action using pinfish in the post below:
Click Here To See How To Rig A Live Pinfish 

19. How To Catch Black Drum Using Sand Fleas
Most anglers associate sand fleas with pier fishermen and surf fishermen (because sand fleas are a
popular bait of choice for those anglers), but not many people realize how effective they can be when
used inshore as well.
One of our favorite fish to target with sand fleas in Florida’s inshore waters are black drum. In the winter
and spring (and sometimes all year long), these black drum run up and down the shallow shorelines in
huge schools looking for their next meal.
Cold fronts in the winter and spring really get these fish fired up and sand fleas are one of the most
convenient baits to target black drum with.
Sand fleas are durable and plentiful baits that do not require a lot of upkeep.
All it takes is a small container or a zip lock bag to keep them in (just make sure to keep them out of
direct sunlight to keep them from cooking, literally.) A little bit of water in the inside of your container is
also recommended to help keep them from drying out.
For these sand fleas, we recommend throwing them out on a jighead and letting them sit on the bottom.
Black drum will pick these up off their scent without even having to move the bait at all.
See a video of how to use sand fleas to catch black drum in the post:
Click Here To See How To Catch Black Drum On Sand Fleas 

20. How To Hook Live Shrimp On A Jighead Like A
Fishing Pro
It’s shrimp rigging time! Shrimp are one of the most effective (and easy to use) live bait species for
inshore fishing. However, they can become ineffective if not presented the correct way (and shrimp are
one of the most incorrectly rigged baits out there).
You should be hooking your shrimp differently depending on how, what, and where you are fishing,
however, we have found that one specific method seems to work in almost all situations (better than
anything else).
First, the do not’s…
• Never hook a live shrimp through the brain

• Never hook a shrimp through the middle of it’s body
• Remember that shrimp naturally kick backward when fleeing from a fish so know that they have
a natural tendency to curl up if they aren’t rigged correctly.
The correct way:
• Rip the tail off the shrimp first

• Slide the hook through the tail end (LEGS OUT) and then slowly bring the hook through the top of the
shrimp (well before it’s head - as seen in picture above)
See the full video on how to hook shrimp here:
Click Here To See The Best Way To Rig Shrimp 

21. How To Throw A Big Cast Net Without Using
Your Mouth
The ability to throw a cast net is essential for anyone who plans to fish regularly with live bait.
Here are the steps to throwing a cast net the proper way:
1. Clear the net of tangles and separate the net in half

2. Load the rope and a chunk of the net material in your trailing hand (keep it waist level)
3. Load front section of the net in your leading hand with another chunk of the net material an
weights
4. Load the middle section (with the remainder of the net material)
5. Throw the net in a casting motion leading with your front hand (left or right, whichever is in front)
The final piece of advice is to PRACTICE casting on land and watch where different parts of the net
land.
Too many anglers make the mistake of assuming it will be easy while out on the boat. But adding in
waves, wind, and other variables can be challenging if you haven’t practiced.
Check out the full tutorial by clicking the link below.
Click Here To See How To Throw A Big Cast Net 

22. How To Pick The Best Inshore Hook When
Fishing Live Bait Or Cut Bait
There are two main types of hooks for inshore fishing:
1. The J Hook
2. The Circle Hook
There are some pros and cons to each one of these hooks.
The J Hook has a longer, straighter shank than the Circle Hook. This long, straight shank helps keep
toothy fish from breaking you off, and it is also good for pulling fish out of structure and is usually less
expensive.
The bad news is that a J-Hook has a high risk of gut/foul hooking a fish, and it can be tough to remove if
it gets hooked deep in a fish’s mouth. It’s also more common to have some missed strikes with a J-hook
because you have to set the hook with a J-hook.
The Circle Hook has a hook point that faces 90 degrees to the shank of the hook, creating a circular gap
in the hook.
They pose very minimal risk of gut/foul hooking a fish, no hook set is required, and the hook will
usually be in the corner of the fish’s mouth.
They are, however, more expensive and not the best to use around structure. You also can’t set the hook
with a circle hook (you simply reel in and let the hook set itself). This is great for kids, but can be tough
for bass anglers and other experienced saltwater anglers who are used to setting hooks.
Additionally, offset circle hooks can still gut hook a fish as well (just not as common as the J-hook).
Finally, remember to use needle point hooks for trout and snook and cutting point hooks for tarpon,
redfish and sheepshead.
See the full hook post in the link below:
See The Full Post By Clicking Here 

23. How To Make A Sabiki Rig For Catching Bait
[Quickest & Easiest Method]
A sabiki rig consist of a series of small hooks that are attached to a single line with a weight on the end.
They can be extremely effective in catching multiple baitfish in a short time span (sometimes 5+ at a
time).
The sabiki rig can be used to catch common baitfish such as:
• Threadfin
• Cigar Minnows
• Pinfish
• Grunts
• Croakers
• Greenbacks
• Whitebait
• Pigfish
The major drawback of sabiki rigs is that they are very hazardous on the boat given that the many small
hooks are prone to catching any clothing or skin that happens to get too close. They can also be quite
expensive.
However, you can make your own sabiki rig easily at home.
All you need:
• small gold hooks

• mono line
• a dropper weight
• small Berkley Gulp pieces (optional)
Here are the steps: Tie the small gold hooks onto the mono line about 6-12” apart, and then attach the
weight to the tag end of mono using a dropper loop (see video link below). Next, thread your small Gulp
pieces on the hook to complete your sabiki rig.
To see exactly how it’s done, click the button below.
See How To Make A Sabiki Rig Here 

24. How To Catch Pinfish For Bait (Without A Net Or
Trap)
There is a great way to catch tons of pinfish while having fun with your entire family — all while using
a rod and reel to catch them.
The Secret: Pinfish absolutely love to bite small pieces of Berkley Gulp baits.
If you use Gulp baits, you know these lures will eventually break down (or get ripped apart), and you
can easily cut up bits and pieces of the Gulp lures leftover after catching some fish with them.
So instead of throwing those pieces away, save them to use for catching pinfish!
Here’s what you do: Put small fingernail size Gulp pieces on little hooks (or a sabiki rig - see tip above)
and use these three common retrieve techniques to catch pinfish with them, which are:
1. Let it sit on the bottom and wait for pinfish bites

2. Bounce it along the bottom
3. Drag it along the bottom
Make sure to reel in fast once you have a pinfish on and sling it into the boat in one smooth motion (way
too many pinfish are lost back into the water right at the side of the boat).
These Gulp baits are more durable than other pinfish baits like dead shrimp and can offer a reusable way
to catch pins.
The scent from the Gulp bait will cause the pinfish to strike the hook, allowing you to catch this bait on
a rod.
This is a great way to load your live well and introduce kids to fishing — killing two birds with one
stone.
One final piece of advice is to get a dehooker to quickly remove the hook and get these great bait fish
into the live well without a ton of oily hands on them.
Watch the full video here (where Luke catches ten pinfish with one gulp piece)
See The Post Here For How To Catch Pinfish 

25. How To Rig Dead Shrimp On A Jighead
Dead shrimp can be just as effective as live shrimp in some fishing situations. They both give off great
scent and they both have proven to catch pretty much every inshore species out there.
One of our favorite ways to rig a dead shrimp is to rig it on a jighead (and use it as if it were an artificial
lure). There are two effective ways to rig your dead shrimp on a jighead.
Option #1 is the same as shown in Secret #20 (see above).
Option #2 is to pop the shrimp’s head off (instead of the shrimp’s tail like in option 1).
Next, insert the hook through the head and make sure to have the point of the hook go out the top of the
shrimp’s body (so LEGS OUT just like in Option #1).
Note: This is the same method as if you were rigging a Gulp Shrimp on a jighead.
I like using this method for fishing in current, when doing a lot of casting and retrieving, and when I
need the dead shrimp to look more natural.
Couple of pointers:
Always make sure your dead shrimp is fresh (frozen). If it gets soft and mushy, it will fall apart quickly
and the bait fish will tear it apart before you can get a real strike.
Click the link below to watch me rig a dead shrimp using both methods.
Click Here To See How To Rig Dead Shrimp On A Jig 

26. 3 Simple Ways To Bridle Rig Your Live Bait To
Catch More Fish
Bridling is an easy alternative to directly putting the hook through the back, tail, or nose of a bait fish.
This method keeps the hook slightly elevated above the live bait (using a light rubber band to keep the
bait and circle hook attached).
Why would it matter to have the circle hook slightly elevated above the live bait?
Because creating a small gap between the live bait and the hook allows for the entire circle hook to
remain exposed for a very clean, unobstructed hook-set (helping you catch more fish).
It is also very important to have a fully exposed hook because so many missed opportunities happen
when the hook turns back into the bait.
The materials needed for bridling live bait are:
• Open-eye live bait rigging needle (aka “Bridling Hook” that you can get at most tackle shops)
• Rubber bands (you can buy these at Walgreens, or just borrow your teenager’s rubber bands from
their braces)
• Circle Hook
• Live bait (or dead bait)
• Monofilament or fluorocarbon leader
The way you bridle your bait depends on the fishing situation at hand. For instance, the way you bridle
bait for kite fishing is different than the way you would for inshore fishing.
• Kite fishing bridle (usually through the very top of the bait fish to keep it swimming upright near the
surface)
• Nose bridle (great for trolling - the circle hook goes right through the bait fish’s nose)
• Back bridle (great for free lining baits such as goggle eyes - the circle hook rests up on top of the bait
fish’s back)
You can see the three different ways to bridle your bait in the post below (a video for each one).
Click Here To See How To Bridle Rig Your Live Bait 

27. How To Rig Blue Crab (For Big Bull Redfish &
Black Drum)
First and foremost, remember that BIG fish love BIG baits…
That’s why I love using big blue crabs when targeting monster bull reds and black drum.
Couple of tips on the rigging these crabs:
• I’ve found that using a circle hook is best (the fish will usually hook itself when it takes off after
inhaling your crab)
• You will need some type of weight to fish these crabs the correct way (as these bigger fish are almost
always feeding toward the bottom). In the video, I go over the different types of weights (jig head,
dropper rig, etc).
• Take the flappers off the crab (so they can’t swim away as well)
• Take off the back legs
• Insert the circle hook through one of the back leg openings (there should be a hole where you took one
of it’s back legs off)
• If you are targeting smaller redfish or drum, don’t hesitate to break/cut the crab in half (this also
creates a ton of scent)
• Either way, cast it out, give it enough line to get to the bottom, double check that your drag is set right,
and get ready for a fight!
Click Here To See The Blue Crab Rigging Video 

28. Fishing With Cut Bait: How To Catch Redfish
Using Cut Bait
Using cut bait is a great choice when targeting redfish, especially the larger bull reds.
Redfish are primarily bottom feeders and are constantly scouring the bottom for crabs, shellfish, shrimp,
or anything smelly and tasty that may be left on the bottom.
Here are my 3 top choices for cut bait:
1. Mullet (#1 choice)

2. Ladyfish
3. Pinfish
An important tip on cut bait is that FRESH is BEST when using any type of dead bait.
Avoid frozen, or previously frozen baits, if at all possible.
Not only do frozen baits put off a different scent in the water than fresh bait, but frozen baits will also
turn very mushy when they thaw out.
On the other hand, fresh bait will stay on your hook much longer and put off a more natural scent that
the fish prefer. I’ve also found that smelly frozen bait will draw in a lot more catfish as they are
scavengers and love the old, dead, rotting fish smell (and no one likes to catch catfish when targeting
bull reds).
Also, make sure to have a sharp knife and a small cutting board to cut the tail off the mullet, to make a
few slits, and to possibly cut small chunks.
Here are the best places that are ideal for using cut bait to target redfish:
• Potholes in Grass Flats

• Deeper Edges of Flats
• Bridges/Docks/Jetties
• Inlets/Passes/Barge Canals (Late Summer Through Fall)
Click Here To See How To Catch Redfish Using Cut Bait

29. Best Way To Hook Pass Crabs For Catching
Tarpon & Permit
One of the best baits for catching tarpon and permit is a healthy pass crab.
Tips On Hooking Pass Crabs (or small Blue Crabs)
• To rig the crab you will first need to remove the claws (these claws will really hurt if they get
ahold of you and some fish will be hesitate on attacking a crab that can bite them).
• You want to ensure that the crab is alive so be careful when taking off the claws and while
inserting your circle hook.
• The best way to remove the claws is by grabbing them with a pair of pliers and crushing a part of
the claw. Sometimes the crab will release the claw on its own but sometimes you will have to
squeeze your pliers and break the shell for them to come off.
• After you take the claws off, insert the hook from the bottom of the crab in between the rear leg
and the one next to it.
• When pushing the hook through, aim for the hook to exit the top of the shell where there is a
light colored, almost white spot.
• You will want to move the hook back and forth to work its way through the shell without
breaking it or making a larger hole than what is necessary.
• If you make a large hole or crack the shell your crab will most likely not stay in position on the
hook very well.
Here’s the quick video on hooking pass crabs so you can see exactly how to rig them.
Click Here To See How To Rig Pass Crabs

30. Chumming Tips: How To Make The Best
Saltwater Fish Chum
It’s Chum time!
Here’s what you will need:

• Purina Tropical fish food
• A bucket (I prefer one with a lid) to put the powder in
• A chum bucket (for the mixture)
• Menhaden oil
• Water
• Cast net
How To Make The Fish Chum

1. Put approximately 4 handfuls of the Purina Tropical fish food powder in a bucket.
2. Add water (but not too much because it will get too watery. You want your chum to be a little
watery but more like mud). Note that I start by adding just a few hand fulls to the bucket at a
time. You want it to be thick so when you throw it in the water it breaks apart and spreads out.
3. Lastly, you add the secret ingredient, menhaden oil. You add a couple squirts of the oil and mix it
in and now you have the secret potion.
4. Ball it up into small balls and get ready to toss
Notes on this Purina Tropical Fish Food Chum Recipe:
• When you throw the chum in the water it falls apart and spreads out so the bait can smell it.
• This type of chum can work on the grass flats or in deep water to about 15 feet. In fact, I’ve used
it successfully on everything from shallow grass flats to the Skyway Bridge in 18 feet of water.
• Call around to your local feed store and ask for Purina Tropical Fish food. I buy it in the 50 lb
bag.
• Where you throw it all depends on current and how fast the chum sinks. Make sure to carefully
watch where the chum ends up. The last thing you want is to chum an area that 30 yards away
(where you can’t make a cast with the net)
Click Here To See How To Make Fish Chum

Section 3: Knots and
Fishing Line 

31. The Best Fishing Knots Of All Time
[Ranked Strongest To Weakest]
We put together the results from our continued testing and ranked fishing knots based on their strength
& performance results for multiple categories.
Our top ranked fishing knots for each category are:
1. Best Braid to Leader Knots

• FG Knot
• 6 Turn Surgeon’s Knot
• Double Over Double Uni Knot
• Crazy Alberto
• PR Bobbin Knot
2. Best Line Doubling Knots
• Braid (In Order)
• Bimini Twist, Spider Hitch, Surgeon’s Loop
• Doubled Line To Leader (In Order)
• FG Knot, No-Name Knot, Yucatan Knot
3. Best Braid to Swivel/Hook Knots
• Modified Uni Knot
• San Diego Jam Knot
• Palomar Knot
• Orvis Knot
• Improved Clinch Knot
4. Best Mono to Mono Knots
• 3 Turn Surgeon’s Knot
• Double Uni Knot
• Albright Special
• Blood Knot
5. Best Line to Hook/Swivel
• Loop Knot (In Order)
• Rapala Loop, Non-Slip Loop Knot, Figure 8 Loop, Perfection Loop, Canoe Man Loop
• Snug Knot (In Order)
• Palomar Knot, Orvis Knot, Clinch Knot, Uni Knot, Double Davy Knot
You can see the full knot rankings in the post below:
See The Strongest Fishing Knots Ranked Here 

32. Fastest Way To Tie The Amazing FG Knot
[Free PDF Guide Included]
The FG Knot is the ultimate knot for connecting braid to leader line (see secret #33 for the results of the
knot contest)
Note: other knots such as the PR Bobbin Knot are stronger, but no other knot offers the combo of ease of
tying and strength as the FG Knot.
Strong, sleek and quick to tie -- the FG Knot is our number one recommend knot for inshore anglers.
And even though many anglers overcomplicate it, all it takes is 20-21 tight wraps of your leader line
around the braid, a super tight cinch down, a few cinch knots to lock it all in place, and this knot isn’t
going anywhere!
It’s kind of like that old Chinese Finger trap we did as kids.
The only bad news is that this knot is really tough to demonstrate in a 1-page PDF so definitely click on
the link to watch Luke tie it (step-by-step).
You can see the fastest and easiest way to tie the FG Knot, as well as a PDF on how to tie this knot, in
the post below.
See How To Tie The FG Knot Here (Plus PDF Guide)

33. Best Fishing Knot for Braided Line
[Braid to Leader Contest]
We did a strength test on the four most popular braid to leader knots:
• The Improved Albright

• Slim Beauty
• Double Uni
• FG Knot
Before the test we were sure the Double Uni Knot was going to win, as it’s one of the most widely used
fishing knots in the world (and it’s what we’ve been using for years).
But we were wrong…
The force at which each knot broke was as follows:
• Improved Albright: 14-16 lbs

• Slim Beauty: 13-15 lbs
• Double Uni: 15-17 lbs
• FG Knot: 20 -23 (WINNER)
What we learned:
The FG Knot has proved to be the strongest braid to leader connection we’ve found up to this point.
Not only that, but the FG Knot provides one of the slimmest profiles for a braid to leader fishing knot
out there.
This was an impressive win for the FG Knot because the weak line in the connection was rated as 10 lb
test for these tests, showing that the FG Knot has a high breaking point even on light line.
We fully endorse the FG Knot as a must-know for every angler who uses braid fishing line.
See the full results of our test and video tutorials on how to tie each knot in the link to the post below:
Click Here To See The Strongest Knot For Braid To Leader Connections 

34. How Much Farther Can You Cast With 10 lb Line
vs. 20 lb Line? Results Here
Have you ever wondered how much farther a lighter pound test line casts vs a slightly thicker line? We
had always heard that you can cast farther with lighter line (which makes sense), but no one had ever
created a test to see just how far.
So we did…
We picked 10 lb and 20 lb because the majority of inshore anglers use braided line in the 10 lb to 20 lb
range to target redfish, seatrout, snook and most inshore fish.
In this casting distance experiment, we wanted to know how much casting distance that those who use
20 lb line are giving up by going for the added power.
Here are the core variables that were in this experiment:
1. Rod Length: Equal – both the exact same 7’6″ TFO Rods with the same power rating
2. Reels: Equal – both lines were on the same sized Shimano Stradic Ci4 reel
3. Lures: Equal – used teardrop shaped weights to minimize the wind resistance variable,1st test used
3/16 oz, 2nd test used 1/2 oz weights
4. Casting Force – As equal as possible without a $$$$ machine which is why we did multiple casts
with each line to get an average
5. Line Gap: The gap between the edge of the spool and the outer layer of the line is a big factor with
spinning reels, so we made sure to keep them equal.
6. Line Sizes: One reel was loaded with 10 lb braid while the other was loaded with 20 lb braid
What we learned:
This test revealed that the 10 lb line enabled us to cast about 30 feet further on average.
Although that seems relatively small, that equates to an entire football field of water that we can cover
every 10 casts.
You can see the full experiment in the video in the post:
Click Here To See The Full Test Results 

35. The Kreh Loop Knot
[Contest Winner]
Want to know our favorite knot for connecting lures (and sometimes hooks that need some flexibility to
move around on the line) to leader line?
It’s the Kreh Loop knot. Here’s why…
We wanted to determine which loop knot is the best one to use for our leader to lure connections so we
decided to test four popular loop knots to see which one would have the best performance on the water:
• Kreh Loop
• Perfection Loop
• Rapala Loop
• Canoe Man Loop
We tested these loop knots based on:
• breaking strength
• ease of tying
• ability to not snag floating debris
What we learned: After performing our tests, we declared the Kreh Loop — also known as the Non-
Slip Loop Knot — as the winner.
Not only was the Kreh Loop strong, but it’s also simple to tie (in under 20 seconds).
Plus, the design of the knot has the tag end pointing backwards (downwards) down the leader line so
that it does not pick up floating debris.
Although it was not quite as strong as the Rapala Loop, it is much easier to tie and it’s the more
weedless option.
In fact, many people switch to the Non-Slip Loop Knot after other loop knots let them down against big
fish.
In this post, we show you how to how to tie the Kreh Loop — aka the Non-Slip Loop Knot — in a video
tutorial.
Click Here To See How To Tie The Kreh Loop 

36. Best Fishing Knot For Braided Line To Swivel,
Hook, Or Lure
The most common problem facing anglers who use braided line is that many of the best mono fishing
knots are not nearly as good when used with braid (given the vast differences in the two line types,
diameters, material, etc).
And even though most inshore anglers use a mono/fluoro leader, there are still many anglers in murky
water who don’t use one.
So we decided to perform a test that matched the most popular knots against one another to determine
which one truly is the strongest fishing knot for a braided line to a swivel, hook, or lure connection.
The knots that we tested were:
• Uni Knot (improved for braid)

• Palomar Knot
• San Diego Jam Knot
The test measured the strength of the each knot at their breaking point using a scale we attached to the
fishing line that each knot was tied on.
What we learned:
The top knot was the Braid Uni Knot which had a breaking point of range of 19-22 lbs.
The runner up was the San Diego Jam Knot which had a 18-21 lb breaking point range.
The Palomar Knot was third with a breaking point range of 11-15 lbs.
The Improved Clinch Knot came in last for this test, with a breaking point range of 6-13 lbs.
Check out the video and test results by clicking below.
See The Braid Knot Test By Clicking Here 

37. The Orvis Knot
[Including Strength Test Results]
The Orvis Knot has been one of our personal favorite knots over the past 20+ years for connecting a
leader line to a hook and/or swivel. It’s a very easy knot to tie, it’s very small, and it has a shockingly
high breaking strength.
The Orvis Knot can be tied following these five easy steps, which are:
1. Thread the tag end of your line/leader through the eye of lure/hook
2. Twist tag end behind mainline to form a loop
3. Thread tag end through the loop you just formed (which forms another loop - it will look like a
Figure 8)
4. Thread tag end through this 2nd loop two times
5. Pull the knot tight
When you use leaders with a higher breaking strength than the mainline, the knots used to connect
leaders to a hook, swivel, or lure do not necessarily have to be the absolute strongest knot for that
particular type of connection.
You just need one that is stronger than the breaking strength of the connection to your lighter mainline.
The Orvis Knot is a good knot to choose for snug lure/hook/swivel connections due to its ease of tying
along with its ability to not snag onto weeds or floating debris.
Debris that gets caught on the tag end can completely ruin your chance of getting strikes.
Click Here To See How To Tie The Orvis Knot 

38. Braid vs. Mono Casting Distance Experiment
[Both Light & Heavy Lures]
We set out to see which line type is going to give you the best casting distance:
• braided line
• mono line
To do this, we used 10 lb braid and 10 lb mono line spooled on rod and reels with equal length and
measurement and used the same lures on each line (exact same brand rods and reels as well).
We then casted the two rods five times each and measured the casting distances each line gave us (we
did five casts to try to make it as consistent as possible with an average of the five casts).
We ended up doing this test one time before receiving feedback and updating the experiment to test out
two different lure types:
• a light lure
• a heavy lure
Our experiment variables were:
1. Line Power: Equal – both at 10 lbs

2. Rod Length: Equal – both the exact same 7’6″ rods made by the same manufacturer with the same
power rating
3. Reels: Equal – both lines were on the same sized Shimano Stradic Ci4 reel
4. Lures: Equal – both were 1/2 oz teardrop shaped weights so that wind-friction is minimized
5. Casting Force – As equal as possible without a $$$$ machine
6. Line Diameter: Not equal – but that’s ok because it is part of the reason why braid has an
advantage
What we learned:
As expected, the braid enabled us to have longer casting distance relative to the same power line in
mono.
With the lighter lure, we were able to throw the braid line 30 percent farther than mono (and 7
percent farther with the heavy lure)
Click Here To See The Braid vs. Mono Casting Distance Test 

39. The Strongest Line-to-Line Fishing Knot
(Mono-to-Mono Knot Contest)
We tested four of the most popular mono to mono line connections against each other to see which one
is the strongest for mono-to-mono connections:
• The Surgeon's Loop

• Albright Knot
• Double Uni Knot
• The SS Knot
We first tried the Surgeon’s Knot against the Albright Knot, where the Surgeon’s Knot prevailed.
Note: the Albright Knot broke at 6-8 lbs of force.
We then tested the Double Uni against the SS Knot and the SS Knot prevailed.
Note: the Double Uni Knot broke 7-12 lbs of force.
Result:
The Surgeon’s Knot was the overall winner and had a breaking strength of 13-15 lbs. It barely beat out
the SS Knot, which had a similar breaking strength range of 13-15 lbs.
What we learned:
When using mono line for a line to line connection, we strongly suggest using the Surgeon’s Knot.
Not only is this the strongest mono to mono line connection we’ve tested, but this is also an incredibly
simple and quick fishing knot to tie.
In fact, we’d would say this may be the easiest and fastest line to line connection for mono lines.
You can see how to tie all these knots, as well as the pros and cons of each knot, in a the link below:
See This Post For The Results 

40. Palomar Knot: How To Tie The Palomar Knot
[Fluoro & Braid Adjustments]
The Palomar Knot is one of the most popular fishing knots in the world. In fact, this is the strongest knot
we’ve found for hook to line connections.
The Palomar Knot can be tied in five easy steps:
1. Double over the tag end of the line

◦ Starting with five to six inches of doubled line is easiest
2. Thread the end of the doubled line through the eye of the hook/lure
◦ Pinching the end of the loop to form a point makes this step much easier
3. Make an overhand knot on the doubled line leaving the hook/lure in the middle
◦ Make sure that the doubled line tag end forms a loop that is at least as wide as the hook/
lure
4. Thread the hook/lure through the doubled tag line
◦ This is simple for hooks, but it can be difficult with larger lures
5. Tighten the lines down until it forms the final Palomar Knot
◦ Wet line with saliva or water before tightening
This is a modified version of the Palomar Knot for braid and fluorocarbon that is stronger than the
traditional Palomar Knot. You can also make modifications to the Palomar Knot based on the different
types of lines you may be tying the knot with.
You can see the tests we did to find the strongest version of the Palomar Knot for every line type in the
post below:
Click Here To See How To Tie The Palomar Knot 

41. Is Fluoro Leader More Abrasion Resistant Than
Traditional Mono Leader?
The big debate… Is fluorocarbon or monofilament fishing line more abrasion resistant? That was the
question we wanted to answer once and for all… so we decided to set up a test for it.
In this experiment, we tested the difference in abrasion resistance between fluoro and mono line for the
following two scenarios:
1. Both lines have the same rated strength (20 lbs)

2. Both lines have the same diameter (we tested 20 lb mono vs. 25 lb fluoro which had the same
diameter)
We used an oscillation device that simulates fishing line rubbing up against structure using sandpaper (It
works pretty simple: The sandpaper wears down at the line until one of the lines snapped first).
What we learned (A bit SHOCKING):
The results showed that mono line was the clear winner every time.
However, some research we read before the test said that monofilament can lose some of its strength
after being submerged in water for an extended period of time. So we soaked the mono line in water for
over 15 minutes and did the tests again; it still won by roughly the same margin each time.
Mono is much cheaper than fluoro, so this is a good option for leader material if you don’t specifically
need to use fluorocarbon (of course, the line companies won’t tell you this…)
Click Here To See The Fluoro vs. Mono Abrasion Test Results 

42. How To Tie The Strongest Braid To Braid
Fishing Knot
Some of you might be wondering… when would you use a braid to braid knot?
Well, the most common use for a braid to braid knot is to splice a braid backing on your spinning reel in
order to save money and time when re-spooling (allows for the untouched backing to stay on the spool
while applying a fresh top section) - see that tip here
After testing some of the most popular knots (blood, traditional double uni, albright, alberto) to connect
a braided line to another braided line, we found that the Modified Double Uni Knot has the highest
breaking strength for braid to braid connections.
The Modified Double Uni adds a couple extra wraps to the knots for extra strength — making it more
efficient for braid line.
This knot is easy to tie, very small and its hold strength tests just as strong as connecting to a swivel or a
leader, meaning there isn’t much (if any) loss of strength to the overall system due to the splicing of the
braid.
Note: this knot is simply the popular Double Uni Knot for line to line connections with just a slight
adjustment in doing 10 wraps on each side vs. the traditional 5 wraps.
So just remember:
Normal Double Uni Knot with 10 wraps on each side.
This knot is easy to tie, has a thin profile, and it’s breaking strength has been the best we’ve tested for
braid to braid connections so far.
You can see the full post with a video tutorial on how to tie the Modified Double Uni Knot in the link
below:
Click Here To See How To Tie The Modified Double Uni Knot
 

43. Is Fluorocarbon Leader Really Stronger Than
Fluorocarbon Mainline?
[Shocking Test Results]
Do you know the difference between the material in a fluorocarbon leader line compared to a
fluorocarbon mainline designed to be in the reel’s spool?
It kind of looked the exact same to us…
This question comes up quite a bit due to the large price difference between the two — with
fluorocarbon leader line being significantly more expensive than mainline.
In fact, it is very common for fluorocarbon leader line to be 5+ times more expensive than
fluorocarbon mainline when measured on a price-per-yard basis.
For example, the price per yard of Seaguar Red Label Fluorocarbon Leader line is $.49 cents per yard,
while Seaguar Red Label Fluorocarbon Mainline is just $.07 cents per yard.
We began to wonder if this was simply a marketing ploy to get us anglers to spend more on basically the
exact same line…
So we decided to test the abrasion strength of fluorocarbon leader line vs. fluorocarbon mainline of
equal strength to see what the performance difference would be in terms of abrasion strength.
What we learned was SHOCKING!
After countless test, we discovered that not all fluorocarbon leaders are stronger than their equivalent
main lines (some were even weaker).
However, the diameter of the line plays the biggest role in the line’s abrasion strength — meaning that
fluorocarbon leader line and mainline of equal diameter will have similar strength.
But considering that they are charging upwards of 500% more for fluoro leader line, you might want to
rethink buying it in the future… I know we have.
See the full article in the link below:
Click Here To See The Full Test 

44. Braid vs. Mono Abrasion Strength Experiment
[Vertical & Horizontal Tests]
Do you know which line is more abrasion resistant… mono or braid?
We couldn’t resist testing it ourselves…
Here’s what we did:
We tested braid and mono lines of the same strength rating in two different ways to see which one has
the better abrasion resistance by rubbing them against really rough surfaces to see which one could last
the longest.
The purpose of this experiment was to see which line (braid or mono) can handle getting rubbed up
against a rough surface best (aka – abrasion strength).
This experiment consisted of these two tests:
1. Side-to-Side Abrasion Test

2. Around-the-Piling Test
What we learned:
Monofilament line proved to be much more resistant to abrasion compared to braid in this test.
No matter what direction the lines were rubbed against the oscillation device, the mono line still proved
to be the stronger option.
Note: This reinforced a previous test that showed mono was more abrasion resistant than fluorocarbon as
well.
This test is one example of why you should use mono or fluorocarbon leader with braided line.
Mono line not only has tested as a more abrasion resistant line than fluorocarbon and braid, but it also
less expensive.
You can see the full results of these tests as well as video of the experiment in the post below.
Click Here To See The Full Experiment 

45. Strongest Fishing Knot For Leader To Hook
Connection [Snug Style]
It’s a fact… everyone has their “favorite” go-to knot… but that doesn’t always mean it’s the strongest
knot.
We had been using the same leader to hook knot for years and we were curious on which knot was truly
best (strongest) for leader to hook connections.
We tested these four to see which one is the best overall for leader to hook connections:
• Orvis Knot
• Uni Knot
• Palomar Knot
Instead of focusing purely on strength, we also chose the best knot based on the ease of tying along with
which way the tag end is pointing.
The tag end is a factor because seagrass and other debris often gets caught on tag ends that point up
towards the mainline. For this reason, it’s best to use a knot which leaves the tag end facing back
towards the lure/hook.
For our strength tests, we first tested the Uni Knot vs. the Palomar Knot. The Uni Knot broke first at
21-25 lbs of force.
We then pitted the Improved Clinch Knot vs. the Orvis Knot. The Improved Clinch Knot broke first at
15-18 lbs of force.
Finally, we tested the Orvis Knot vs. Palomar Knot. The Palomar Knot proved to be the overall strongest
knot and broke at 25-26 lbs of force. The Orvis Knot broke at 23-24 lbs of force.
Although the Palomar Knot ended up being the strongest, the Orvis Knot is still our favorite knot
because its tag end points down towards the hook/lure — making it a better weedless choice.
Check out the link below to see the full post:
Click Here To See The Best Knot For Leader To Hook Connections 

46. How To AVOID Wind Knots And Tangles With
Braided Line
Braided fishing line was one of the biggest game-changers to the fishing industry, but it’s not without its
flaws…
One of the main issues anglers have to deal with is the hated wind knot…
A wind knot in your fishing line can be one of the most frustrating parts of fishing (and it always seems
to happen when there are fish in the area…)
Although wind knots can happen when using mono line, they are much more burdensome with braided
fishing line.
These are our top 14 tips on how to avoid wind knots:
1. Avoid Casting Into the Wind (and when you have to, make sure to avoid the high rocket-ship casts…
having a ton of light floating in the wind is just asking for a wind knot).
2. Avoid Casting Your Leader Knot Through the Rod Guides

3. Avoid Casting Too Hard
4. Avoid Flimsy Rods
5. Keep Tension on Your Line When Spooling or Retrieving
6. Avoid Putting Too Much Line on Your Spool
7. Take a Look at How Your Line Lays on Your Spool
8. Close the Bail by Hand
9. Stop Your Cast By Hand Before It Hits The Water
10. Avoid Rainbow Casting
11. Avoid Using Heavy Leader with Light Lures
12. Proper Lure Rigging to Avoid Line Twist
13. Point Your Rod Straight Out After Your Cast
14. Apply a Line Lubricant to Your Line
These tips will help you reduce the number of wind knots you get in your braid line, which is helpful
because most of the time when you get a wind knot in braid line you have to cut the line (which can
become costly).
You can also see why wind knots occur at all in this post, which is mostly due the speed you cast your
line at into the wind.
Click Here To See The Our Top Tips To Avoid Wind Knots

47. The Best Loop Knot For Fluorocarbon Leader To
Lure or Hook [Knot Contest]
In this experiment, we were curious as to which loop knot was the best when tied with a fluorocarbon
leader line.
We tested the four most popular loop knots against each other to see which one gives you the best
performance on the water.
The knots we tested were:
• Kreh Loop
• Perfection Loop
• Rapala Loop
• Canoe Man Loop
For the first test, we put the Kreh Loop vs. Perfection Loop.
What we learned: The Kreh Loop beat out the Perfection Loop — Note: the Kreh loop broke at 19-20
lbs of force.
Next, the Rapala Loop beat out the Canoe Man Loop — which broke at 17-18 lbs of force.
Finally, The Rapala Loop beat out the Kreh Loop as the strongest.
The Rapala Loop broke at 22-24 lbs of force while the Kreh Loop broke at 20-23 lbs of force.
Although not quite the strongest in the category, our preference is still the Kreh Loop knot (aka. Non-
Slip Loop knot). But if you purely want the strongest knot, the Rapala Loop is the winner.
It’s easier to tie than the Rapala Loop and it’s tag end points directly down making it a better weedless
option.
The strength difference between the Kreh Loop and the Rapala Loop was so minuscule that it does not
make much of a difference in performance on the water.
Click Here To See The Best Loop Knot For Fluorocarbon 

48. The Strongest Knot For Doubling Over Braided
Line [Knot Contest]
There are many instances in saltwater fishing where you need to double over your braid to get added
strength.
So we had to know… which knot was truly the strongest.
We tested these four knots to see which fishing knot is the strongest for doubling braid line:
• Bimini Twist
• King Sling
• Spider Hitch
• Surgeon’s Knot
We attached scales to the lines that the knots were tied to and measured the force that each knot broke at.
The Bimini Twist beat out the King Sling in the first matchup and the Spider Hitch beat the Surgeon’s
Loop.
We then pitted the Bimini Twist vs. the Spider Hitch to crown our champion of these knots.
Our results were as follows:
1. Bimini Twist won at 16.3 lbs

4. Spider Hitch won at 19.1 lbs
5. Spider Hitch won at 17.0 lbs
What we learned: This test showed that the Bimini Twist is the strongest knot for doubling braid line
out of the knots that we tested.
This makes sense. The Bimini Twist is one of the most popular knots in fishing and is regularly used in
inshore, offshore and for fly fishing.
You can see video tutorials on how to tie these knots in the post below:
Click Here To See The Full Test 

49. How To Tie The Blood Knot
The Blood Knot is a solid knot for connecting two lines of similar diameter. It is very sleek and strong
— which makes it a favorite among many fishing guides.
Below are the six steps to tying the Blood Knot:
Step 1: Overlap 5 Inches of Leader and Main Line - Overlap five inches of leader line and mainline
and pinch the overlap point.
Step 2: Make 5-7 Wraps Around the Leader Line With the Tag End of Your Main Line - Make
five to seven wraps with the tag end of your main line over the front and around the leader line.
Step 3: Put the Tag End of the Main Line Through the “V” at the Overlap Point -
Step 4: Repeat Steps 2 and 3 Using the Tag End of Your Leader Line -
Repeat Steps 2 and 3 using the tag end of your leader to make 5-7 wraps from the back around the main
line. Then put the tag end of your leader line through the “V” at the overlap point.
Step 5: Lubricate the Knot and Pull Both Lines and Tag Ends Finger-Tight - Lubricate the knot and
pull the leader and main lines and both tag ends finger-tight.
Step 6: Cut the Tag Ends - After your knot has coiled together tightly, cut the tag end of each line.
Your Blood Knot is complete.
Click Here To See How To Tie The Blood Knot 

50. The ALBRIGHT vs The ALBERTO vs The FG Knot
[Strength Test]
The ultimate braid to leader knot match-up!!!
In this experiment, we wanted to see if the FG Knot could be unseated as the strongest braid to fluoro
connection.
So we tested these three popular knots to see which one has the strongest breaking point.
• Albright Knot
• Crazy Alberto Knot
• FG Knot
We first tested the Albright Knot vs. the Crazy Alberto Knot. The results were close, but the Crazy
Alberto Knot proved to have the higher average breaking strength. The results of the test were:
1. Albright Knot pulled out @ 7.2 lbs of tension

2. Albright Knot broke @ 11.3 lbs of tension
3. Albright Knot broke @ 9.4 lbs of tension
4. Alberto Knot broke @ 15.6 lbs of tension
5. Alberto Knot broke @ 9.2 lbs of tension
We then tested the Crazy Alberto Knot vs. the FG Knot. Here were our results:
1. Alberto Knot broke @ 10.4 lbs

What we learned:
The FG Knot remained undefeated in this test and is still the fishing we endorse for braid to leader
connections.
See our full tests of these knots in the post below:

51. The UNBREAKABLE Fishing Knot – The PR
Bobbin Knot
Is there really a 100% knot?
Some anglers say yes, while others say no…
But if there ever was one, it would be the PR Bobbin Knot. The only bad news is that you need a PHD
in order to tie this (you’ve got to see the full video on this one - it’s pretty wild - even takes fire to finish
it off).
So what does a 100% knot mean? It means that it’s guaranteed to hold up 100 percent of the time.
In other words, your main fishing line, leader line, or other knot in your rig will break before this knot
does.
So here’s the quick overview:
This knot involves making a series of knots that forms into one incredibly strong connection. This is an
offshore anglers’ dream and can be used to target fish of any size.
You need to make sure you have the following items to tie this knot. What you’ll need:
1. Bobbin – This is a small tool that loads the tag end of your mainline up onto the tool in order to
make the wraps you need to tie the PR Bobbin Knot. The bobbin helps you keep line tension
during the tying process. 
2. Mainline – You need a large amount of mainline tag end to spool onto your bobbin for the knot. 
3. Leader Line – You need a large spool of leader line to attach to the mainline for this knot.
The bobbin is necessary for this knot and can be found at most tackle shops – especially those that cater
to offshore anglers.
Bobbin prices range from about $25-80.
This is guaranteed to be the strongest line to leader fishing knot there is and even beats out our favorite
knot — the FG Knot — in terms of strength.
Click Here To See How To Tie The PR Bobbin Knot 

52. Spiderwire Ultracast Invisi-Braid vs. PowerPro
Which braid fishing line brand gives you a better performance: Spider Wire Ultracast Invisi-Braid or
PowerPro?
These are two of the most popular brands of braid fishing line on the market and we wanted to see which
brand gives you the superior performance on the water.
To do this, we tested the casting distance, knot strength and abrasion strength of PowerPro and
Spiderwire Ultracast Invisi-Braid.
Both lines were brand new 10 lb test line rigged on the exact same rod and reel for each test.
The results were interesting because each line came out on top in different test categories.
What we learned: Spiderwire Invis-Braid had a better casting distance than the PowerPro.
For abrasion resistance, PowerPro had the slight advantage over the Spiderwire Ultracast Invisi-Braid.
And there was no noticeable difference in the knot strength between the two lines.
You can see how we set up the tests in the experiment videos in the post:
Click Here To See The Ultimate PowerPro vs. Spiderwire Test 

53. Berkley Vanish vs. Seaguar Blue Label
[Abrasion Test Results]
This leader line test came as a recommendation from our audience in our continual quest of finding the
best fluorocarbon line to use when in need of abrasion-resistant leader line.
For this experiment, we tested these leader lines to see which brand is the stronger fishing leader.
• 20 lb Berkley Vanish vs.

• 20 lb Seaguar Blue Label fluorocarbon
The interesting part about this test was the price difference between the two brands.
The cost per yard for the Berkley Vanish was $0.06 — which is very inexpensive for fluorocarbon line.
The cost per yard for the Seaguar Blue Label was $0.64 — which is the upper-median for fluorocarbon
leader line.
We tested these lines using the same oscillation device we’ve used to test line abrasion strength in
previous tests as well.
What we learned:
The line testing proved that the general spool of Berkley Vanish can handle abrasion from rough
sandpaper-like surfaces better than the much more expensive Seaguar Blue Label.
Yep, Berkley BEAT Seaguar Blue Label (which is 10 times more expensive).
So given the price difference, it would seem Berkley Vanish gives you the better value for fluoro fishing
line in terms of abrasion resistance.
Of course, there are other variables to finding the ideal leader line (like visibility, how well it holds up in
a knot, etc), but for abrasion alone, Berkley seems to have one of the toughest lines out there.
You can see the full test by going to the link below.
Click Here To See The Full Leader Test 

54. What Is The Best Monofilament Line For
Abrasion Strength?
There are tons of different mono brands out there, but no one seems to tell you which brand is really the
toughest/strongest/most abrasion resistant (because everyone seems to only pitch the brand who
sponsors them…)
But the great news is that we DO NOT have any sponsors (so we can tell you like it is).
And if you are anything like us, you probably want to know the best brand for mono fishing line, right?
So we made couldn’t resist doing another experiment…
In this one, we bought 20 lb mono line of the following brands and tested them against each other using
our oscillation test device, which simulates an abrasive structure:
• Berkley Big Game

• Stren Original
• Ande (Leader)
• Berkley Trilene XL
What we learned:
The test results showed that all the lines are pretty close, but two brands stood out from the others as the
strongest.
Those two brands were:
1. Stren Original
2. Berkley Trilene Big Game
Based on our test, these two brands will give you the most value and best performance for your mono
fishing line.

Section 4: Artificial Lures 

55. The Best Lures For Catching Redfish
[Surprise Answer]
Want to know the best lures for catching redfish?
We decided to break down the top lures for targeting both shallow water and deep water redfish in this
tip.
Why two different depths?
Because the lures you use to target shallow water redfish are not going to as effective when targeting
deep water redfish — and vice versa.
Our top redfish lures are:
Shallow Water Lures for Redfish
• Soft plastic Gulp Jerk Shad or Z-Man Paddletail rigged on Owner TwistLock weighted hook
• Weedless spoon
• Hard plastic twitch baits (Mirrorlure has proven to be the best for us)
Deep Water Lures for Redfish
• Soft plastic rigged on a jighead (Gulp Shrimp do amazing weighted properly for target depth)
• Bucktail Jigs
• Swimbait like the Egret Mullet
With shallow water lures, you want something that isn’t going to get hung up on the bottom and that
won’t sink too quickly.
With deep water lures, you need something that will get down to the redfish that you can either skirt
along or bounce off the bottom.
The lures mentioned above will catch fish and are a great place to start when targeting reds on artificial
lures, but click below to see the full video.
Click Here To See The Best Lures For Catching Redfish  

56. 7 Essential Saltwater Fishing Lures That Catch
Fish Pretty Much Anywhere
With this list of the seven essential fishing lures, you can catch fish anywhere in the world.
These lures cover the entire water column so that no matter what fish you’re targeting, you’ll have the
lure you need to get the bite.
Our top seven essential fishing lures are:
1. The Gold Spoon

2. Berkley Gulp Shrimp
3. A White Bucktail Jig
4. Topwater Lure/Popper
5. Soft Plastic Fluke (Jerkbait)
6. MirrOlure Suspending Twitchbait
7. Rapala X-Rap Jerkbait/Slashbait
These not only cover the entire water column, but they also imitate a number of different natural baits
(mullet, white bait, shrimp) so you have a lure that resembles whatever bait the fish are keyed in on.
More often than not, at least one of these essential saltwater fishing lures will be able to produce strikes
for you — pretty much anywhere in the world.
You can see the full article by clicking here:
Click Here To See The Seven Essential Fishing Lures 

57. 20 Tips That Will Increase Your Success With
Topwater Lures
It’s topwater time!!!
If you have ever used a topwater lure to catch redfish, snook, trout (or even a largemouth bass), then you
know how exciting it can be to anticipate the strike and watch a fish blow up on the lure.
Many people struggle to catch fish using topwater lures because of simple mistakes, so we put together
the top 20 topwater fishing tips here:
1. Don’t be too quick to set the hook (only set the hook when you feel the fish on the line - not when
you see the explosion)
2. Take the split ring off your topwater lures
3. Use mono leader with topwater lures
4. Use “Extra Tough” or “Extra Abrasion Resistant” mono
5. The color of your leader does not matter
6. Use 2’ long leaders
7. Keep your rod tip low for retrieves
8. Rod length affects hookup ratio
9. Use loop knots to connect it to your leader
10. However, you don’t need a loop knot for straight retrieval topwater
11. Use the “Pop and Pause” retrieve
12. Maintain a steady retrieve all the way back to you
13. Watch behind your lure for wakes
14. Make it look like an injured baitfish
15. Always have a soft plastic ready to throw where you see strikes on the topwater but can’t get a
hookset
16. Replace your treble hooks with single inline hooks
17. The color on the bottom of your topwater is important
18. You should use different topwaters for dark & cloudy vs. bright & sunny conditions
19. One black topwater and one white topwater should be good for everything
20. Morning and evening are the best topwater times
To see more on why each of these tips will help increase you topwater strikes, click the link below to see
the full post and video.
Click Here To See The Top Topwater Tips 

58. How To Tie Your Own Bucktail Jig
There’s nothing more rewarding than landing a slob of a fish on a lure you made yourself, and a bucktail
jig is great overall choice if you want to make your own lure that can be used to catch snook, trout,
redfish and more.
The required bucktail jig materials are:
• Jighead (pretty much any jighead can work, but we usually use a 1/4 to 3/8 oz DOA C.A.L red
jighead with strong hooks, a nice paint job and good eyes)
• Bucktail hair (you can get this at any fly shop or online)
• Thread (you can use spare braid such as 10 lb PowerPro braided line)
• White fingernail polish (to paint the thread so it matches the white bucktail)
Optional bucktail jig materials include:
• Fly tying vice to hold the bucktail jig in place

• Bobbin (for fly tying – helps you spin the thread around the jig)
• Feathers – White Hen Neck Hackle
• Silver Flashabou to give that bucktail some flair
To make your lure, tie strands of the bucktail to form the lure’s body on the jig. You do this by wrapping
your thread around the base of the hook near the jig eye.
You want to make sure your bucktail is tied in a full, even circle all the way around the base of the hook
on the jig. To see the full video (with step-by-step instructions) click down below.
Click Here To See How To Tie Bucktail Jigs 

59. How To Rig & Use Gulp Shrimp
One of the most popular inshore lures is the Berkley Gulp Shrimp. This thing can catch just about
anything!
And the best rig we’ve found with this lure is using a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jighead (we prefer DOA CAL).
The jighead gets it down to the bottom where you can do an up and down retrieve (with in between
pauses on the bottom). This simple popping off the bottom is one of the easiest and most effective ways
to catch inshore gamefish.
In terms of color, our overall personal favorite color is New Penny and our favorite size is the 3” model.
The most critical part of the rigging is making sure the hook comes through the dead center of the
shrimp. If it’s off center at all, the shrimp will helicopter in the water (pretty much guaranteeing that you
won’t get strikes).
Here’s what it should look like when rigged properly.
You can see a video tutorial on how to use Gulp Shrimp here:
Click Here To See How To Use Gulp Shrimp 

60. How To Catch More Flounder With This
Paddletail Lure
Flounder is one of the most sought out gamefish in the country. And why not, they’re fun to catch and
delicious to eat.
Given their body design, the most important thing to consider when flounder fishing is keeping your bait
close to the bottom where the flounder will be stalking prey.
On top of that, here are seven good places to find feeding flounder:
1. Sandy bottoms in grass flats

2. Around and under docks
3. Reefs and wrecks
4. Jetties (jetty rocks)
5. Points
6. Mangrove roots
7. Bottom fluctuations
Flounder eat small baitfish and shrimp. For that reason, we love to target them using artificial lures.
Our absolute favorite lure to use for flounder is a small jig consisting of a 3-4” paddletail rigged on a 1/8
oz to 1/4 oz jighead (Z-Man makes the best overall paddle tails in our opinion - and no, we are not
sponsored by them).
How to retrieve for flounder:
Even though flounder lay on the bottom, they are incredibly aggressive predators and will pounce on
anything that looks like a bait fish bouncing in front of it.
So with this you, simply bouncing it along the bottom is a great way to prospect for flounder laying in
wait on the bottom to lurch on unsuspecting prey.
Although we’ve have caught flounder on other lures, jigs, shrimp and live bait, our “Go-To” lure is a
paddletail jig.

61. How To Catch Snook On A DOA CAL Shad
One of our favorite artificial lures for snook is the DOA CAL Paddletail Shad — which we throw on a
1/8 oz DOA Jighead when fishing flats in the 3 to 5 ft depth range.
Here are some things to consider when fishing for snook using a DOA CAL that can help you catch
more fish, including:
• Always make sure that the hook is perfectly centered in middle of the shad (you can use your
thumb to mark the proper hook setting area)
• Use a loop knot with this type of lure (for added movement)
• When fishing shallow flats, make sure to keep the rod tip up, reel somewhat fast with small
intermittent jerks, but still slow enough where the DOA CAL is hitting the grass and popping up
• After putting the DOA CAL on the jig, always do a quick test in the water to make sure it swims
with no twists or funky action
• After you catch a snook (or any fish) with this lure, make sure to recheck that the hook/jighead is
properly set on the shad
Snook clearly love this DOA CAL Shad (which is a 3-inch bait with a smooth body and angled
paddletail), but none of it matters if you don’t place the plastic DOA shad on the jighead correctly.
Finally, this DOA CAL shad works great for catching snook, redfish, and trout on any 1-5 foot grass
flats all year long.
Just vary the jighead size depending on the depth of that water you’ll be fishing to ensure it stays close
to the bottom while retrieving the bait.
See The Full Tip In This Post

62. Do Berkley Gulp Baits Really Work?
Berkley Gulp Baits are not your typical soft plastic lures. Why? Because “normal” soft baits are made
out of polyvinyl chloride.
Gulp on the other hand, isn’t a plastic at all. It is made from water-based resins (which also means that
it’s mostly biodegradable).
As soon as your Gulp bait hits the water, it releases scent formula. On the other hand, standard soft
plastics that are made from oil-based resins do not release their scent until the bait has been broken.
So why does Gulp smell so potent?
Essentially, there is a three-step approach to scenting Gulp Baits.
First, all Gulp has a standard formula that will universally stimulate all carnivorous fish.
Second, the baits are “seasoned” with more specific formulas based on more specific diets of fish.
Third, the final layer is forage-specific — which means that Gulp Shrimp will have traces of shrimp
scent and baitfish-style Gulp will have traces of baitfish in them.
These baits can be extremely effective for generally every inshore fish you target — especially fish like
redfish and black drum that rely heavily on scent to find their prey.
And even though these baits are expensive (and get ripped quickly), they do work amazingly well.

63. How To Choose The Best Hook For Soft Plastic
Jerkbaits
It’s extremely important to select the best possible hook for soft plastic lures. The wrong hook on the
right lure still means wrong…
To begin, here are the core categories for how to choose soft plastic hooks (ideally you want a hook
covering all THREE):
• Ease – How quickly a bait can be rigged

• Longevity – How many fish per bait can be caught
• Utility – How well it makes a bait swim/twitch
Here are the types of hook options for soft plastics:
1. Bent Shank (worm-style)

2. Spear Attachment
3. Twist-On Attachment
The bent shank hook is a classic that has been around forever. It’s unweighted and you can rig soft
plastics on these hooks without an attachment.
Spear attachments are usually put on weedless hooks with a weight on the shank. The spear attachment
allows you to rig your soft plastics on the hook by inserting it in the nose of the lure.
The twist-on attachment lets you thread your soft plastics on a weedless hook with a weight on the shank
as well.
Our preference:
We highly recommend a weighted weedless hook with a twist-on attachment. We believe this type
of hooks keep your soft plastic in place better than the other hook options.
Our all-time favorite is the Owner TwistLock hook in 1/16 or 1/8 oz (depending on the depth you
are fishing).
You can see examples of each hook in the post below:
See How To Choose The Best Hook For Soft Plastics Here

64. Pro-Cure Bait Scent: How Many More Fish
Does It Really Catch? [New Experiment]
Have you ever been curious to see if Pro-Cute scent really makes a difference when it comes to catching
fish on artificial lures?
We sure were…
So we decided to set up an experiment.
To do this, we set up an on-the-water test with lures with Pro-Cure (and without Pro-Cure) to see if our
catch rates went up or not.
We took two rods, one with a lure with Pro-Cure and one without it, to a trout flat to see which one
caught more fish.
What we kept constant for this test:
• Lure
• Rod
• Reel size
• Line size
• Leader line
• Knots
We switched rods every 3 casts while fishing so that we would have an equal amount of casts with each
of the lures to see if there were any differences in fish caught.
What we learned:
We ended up catching fish on both rods and there really was not a noticeable difference between the two
lures’ performances. In fact, the lure without the Pro-Cure caught just as many fish.
While these results are not definitive, they do show that a lure without Pro-Cure can be just as effective
as one with Pro-Cure.
Click Here To See The Full Pro-Cure Test  

65. Goofy Jigs: One Of The Best Lures For Catching
Pompano On The Beach
One of the top (yet not widely known) jig for catching delicious pompano is a Goofy Jig -- a deadly surf
fishing lure that pompano love to scoop up.
This combo jig-teaser lure is a simplistic approach that can be great way to target pompano, whiting,
redfish, snook, trout and even bonefish.
These lures are durable, cast like a bullet, catch a variety of fish and are inexpensive, and they are
available in a variety of versions, colors and weights.
Salt Strong Fishing Coach Wader Dave suggests tying 3-4’ of 20 lb fluoro leader using a Double Uni
Knot and thread the teaser and jig onto a loop knot when rigging the Goofy Jig.
Goofy Jigs are meant to be dragged across the bottom and are very effective even in heavier current.
They can be used with or without a teaser, but hookup rates seem to be higher with the fly-like bucktail
teaser up front.
Click Here To See The Goofy Jigs Guide 

66. Heddon Super Spook Jr.
It’s topwater time!!!
One of our favorite topwater lures of all time is the Heddon Super Spook Jr.
This is a great “walk-the-dog” (side to side) motion topwater lure with an attractive profile in the water.
And we’ve caught every type of inshore fish imaginable on this lure.
The Super Spook Jr. specs are:
• Size: 3.5 inches

• Weight: 1/2 oz
• Standard Hooks: #4 saltwater treble hooks
We aren’t huge fans of the treble hooks that come with the Super Spook Jr. lures and we highly
recommend replacing them with single inline hooks.
To see how to retrieve this topwater lure, click the link below to see the full tutorial on how to use the
Heddon Super Spook Jr.:
See How To Use The Heddon Super Spook Jr. Here 

67. How To Rig A Berkley Gulp Pogy Soft Plastic To
Catch More Fish
Gulp Pogy tails have the great scent of all Gulp baits, but they also have some added action because the
small paddletail at the end of the lure gives out some great vibrations. We’ve found these baits to work
incredibly well when fishing for snook along the beach and when fishing grass flats and shallow
channels in the 2 to 6 ft depth range.
The pros of the these lures are:
• Easy to rig
• Added action compared to Gulp Shrimp due to paddletail
• Good size for a large variety of inshore species (and really great when your target species is
feeding on smaller bait)
The cons of the Gulp Pogy are:
• They can easily be ruined by puffer fish and pinfish

• Prone to get damaged after catching a strong fish
• Like all Gulp soft plastics, they require added care
A jigging retrieval method of two short/quick jerks, letting it sink back to the bottom and repeating again
gets the most consistent results. If done right, wait for the strike right after it hits the bottom.
You can see the full post on Gulp Pogy lures here:
Click Here To See How To Rig A Gulp Pogy 

68. How To Rig A DOA CAL Jerk Bait
One of the best jerk baits for the flats and backcountry is the DOA Cal jerk bait.
We’ve caught every inshore fish imaginable (including a overshot snook and monster bull redfish) with
this lure on a weighted Owner TwistLock hook.
However, these soft plastics are only effective when rigged properly.
Without proper rigging, they will helicopter in the water and will not look appealing to your target
species, while also twisting up your line (which decreases its strength and increases your chances of
getting birds nests).
To begin, we recommend using an Owner TwistLock hook for this DOA CAL.
Our other top tips for this lure are:
1. Cast with the wind whenever possible (allows for max distance and feel). For the best retrieve
results, do two quick, short twitches with your rod tip pointing up. 
2. When you do have to cast into or across the wind, point your rod tip down and work it the exact
same way so the wind doesn’t take control over the line. 
3. When working deeper water (3 ft or more), keep your rod tip down and pause for a longer period
of time to allow the bait to stay close to the bottom.
Click Here To See How To Rig A DOA CAL  

69. The Trick To Avoid Berkley Gulp SHRINKAGE
We really like what Berkley Gulp has to offer in soft plastic lures, but we absolutely hate when we lose
one of these lures because it shrank and hardened up.
For many years, we thought Berkley Gulp baits were too expensive because they’d harden after one use.
However, this quickly changed once we started making some minor adjustments when using them.
These adjustments allowed us to catch more fish per Gulp bait bringing the cost per fish caught way
down.
What we learned: The first adjustment is putting them back in the container they came in (as soon as
possible. Fresh is best with GULP.
Another good trick for this is getting a waterproof case and putting your Gulp juice and all your Gulp
lures in there together.
You also want to make sure to wash any gear you used with Gulp juice because it will cause it to rust
much quicker than just saltwater alone would.
Making these adjustments will help you save money and your lures overtime while using your Gulp
baits.
You can see a video of our full Gulp bait shrinkage tips in the link below:
Click Here To See The Trick To Avoid Gulp Shrinkage 

70. How To Rig A WEEDLESS Gulp Shrimp
One of our favorite tricks for catching snook, redfish, and big trout from under mangrove overhangs is
to rig a weedless Gulp Shrimp.
This allows you to have the confidence to skip the lure as far as possible under the mangrove overhangs
(and docks) without the fear of getting stuck under the bushes on a root, oyster, dock pilings, or an
underwater limb.
More importantly, this rigging method will allow you to present a highly effective bait to many fish that
you otherwise could not reach — especially compared to fishing with live bait which prevents you from
efficiently covering every single nook and cranny of a mangrove line because the baitfish will die if you
cast them too much and they’ll get hung up in the structure if you get them too close.
This allows you to get a strong scented bait in front of fish that are waiting to ambush their prey.
All you have to do is a get a solid hook (even weighted hook) that you can skin hook on top (see picture
above).
You can see the full tip (and video) to rigging Gulp Shrimp weedless in the post below:
Click Here To See How To Rig A Gulp Shrimp Weedless 

71. The Top 5 Fishing Lures Of All Time
We’ve narrowed down the best five fishing lures for inshore fishing after extensive research and testing
(and from asking thousand of our Insider members).
These lures have helped us catch literally thousands of fish over the years, and they seem to be baits that
never go out of style.
In no particular order, the top five inshore fishing lures of all time are:
1. The Weedless Gold Spoon - Spoons are designed not to look like any prey in particular, but rather
create a lot of commotion, vibration, and flash that inshore fish cannot resist.  
2. Topwater Plugs - The “walk-the-dog” types of topwater lures are deadly just about anywhere there
are inshore feeding fish. They are especially great over shallow water where fish do not have to
rise up off the bottom too far to eat the lure. 
3. The Bucktail Jig - You can use heavier bucktails to catch massive snook and tarpon in deep water
with heavy current or use tiny bucktail jigs to catch trout on the flats. Both tactics are effective. 
4. The Paddletail Jig - The paddletail jig can be worked with a straight retrieve or with a twitch-
twitch motion bouncing it off the bottom. Both retrievals will catch fish. 
5. Jerk Baits And Twitch Baits - For soft plastic jerk baits, we love the 5-inch tails rigged weedless
on a weighted hook. This is our go-to rig for fishing on grass flats and is deadly for redfish, trout
and snook.
Click Here To See The Top 5 Fishing Lures Of All Time

Section 5: Casting And
Fishing Techniques 

72. The Coolest Casting Trick Ever [“Dart Cast”]
Want to maximize your accuracy while increasing the distance in your casts with minimal effort? Well, it
all comes down to casting. Casting often gets overlooked (yet, he or she who can cast the best usually
catches the most fish).
A technique that was game-changing for me is called the "Dart Cast.” This special casting technique will
help you:
1. Cast Further
2. Increase Accuracy
3. Expend Less Effort
We found this casting technique when we realized the science behind maximizing casting distance in fly
fishing by utilizing the rod’s ability to store and unleash power could be applied to spinning tackle too.
We call this cast the “Dart Cast” because its core benefit is that it allows your forward motion to be just
like what a dart thrower does to achieve maximum accuracy and precision.
It focuses on maximizing the rod energy to release the lure in the cast to go as far as possible.
You can see a video tutorial of how to throw this cast in the link below:
Click Here To See How To Throw The "Dart Cast"

73. How To Skip A Lure Under Mangroves & Docks
Do you know the best way to get your lure under docks and mangroves?
It’s a technique called the skip cast.
The skip cast is one of the most effective techniques to know when targeting fish under mangroves,
docks and other structure.
The skip cast involves keeping your rod tip low and casting a soft plastic lure under overhanging
structure.
By keeping your rod tip pointed straight at the water, your lure skips low across the water just like when
you skip a rock across the water.
This low trajectory allows you to skip a lure up under structure or far back into mangrove trees without
getting your line or lure hung up in the structure.
Fish will often sit under docks and mangroves where a traditional cast will not get back to them.
With a skip cast, you can easily reach the strike zone for these fish and get a lure in front of their face,
resulting in a strike more times than not.
It’s best to use a weedless rigged soft plastic lure when skip casting under structure for two reason:
1. The soft plastic lure will skip nicely across the water because of the buoyancy of the soft plastic
material.
2. Weedless lures will not get hung up on structure once you’ve skipped it up into the strike zone.
The best advice is to aim low a few feet before the structure you are trying to skip under. Think of it just
like skipping a rock or seashell.
The next best advice is to PRACTICE. I’ve found it incredibly helpful to practice in the open water
where I’ll pick a random spot on the water about 20 or 30 feet in front of me and try to get my best skip.
Practice makes perfect with this technique.
You can see a video tutorial on how to skip cast in the link below:
Click Here To See How To Skip Cast 

74. Do You Make This Common Casting Mistake?
Do you know the #1 casting mistake made by countless anglers?
It’s probably not what you think (yet it certainly has cost many a fisherman a nice fish).
Here it is:
The #1 mistake when casting is when an angler casts any fishing knot through rod guides.
Yep. Here’s why:
The act of casting fishing knots through guides can significantly weaken the most important connection
in your line system (your line to leader knot).
Every time your line to leader knot slams up against a rod guide (or guides) during a cast, the friction
from the repeated impacts will cause wear and tear and eventually cause the knot can unravel or break
prematurely.
Although the wear and tear is small to start, the continued knot abuse on the guides can create a big
problem for anglers in the form of casting off their lures or losing the biggest fish of the day.
This wear and tear compounds even quicker the further your knot gets reeled into the series of guides.
Note: This can be especially troublesome for those of us who use the super-slim FG Knot because the
first braid coil (closest to the lure) is the most important part of the knot.
If it gets compromised (breaks or gets knocked lose) then the whole knot could fall apart.
When using a line to line fishing knot to connect your mainline to your leader, make sure to not make a
habit of casting your knots through the guides.
Way too many anglers have lost a fish and reeled in their line to see that they lost the fish due to their
line to leader knot coming apart (many times due to the friction from casting it through the guides - NOT
a bad knot).
See the full post in the link below:
Click Here To See The Post 

75. The Secret To Never Getting Your Lure Stuck In
A Mangrove Tree
Want to know the trick to never getting your lure stuck in a mangrove tree again?
Although mangroves can be an awesome form of structure for targeting all sorts of inshore species, these
salt tolerant trees can be incredibly good at snagging all types of lures that happen to get a little too
close.
There are three necessary steps to effectively fish mangroves without getting stuck in their limbs —
which will allow you to fish more and catch more fish.
The first breakthrough is the skip cast (see tip #73 above).
The most important factor in fishing mangroves is becoming an excellent caster because the fish often
are holding up under the mangrove branches.
The skip cast will get your lure deep into the mangroves where the fish are holding, and it can get your
lure way back in the strike zones.
The second breakthrough is to use weedless lures.
These days, I won’t even use lures while skipping under mangroves unless they are as weedless (even
the best skip casters will make contact with mangrove roots or limbs on occasion).
No matter how good of a caster you are, there will be times when your lure finds its way into the
mangrove limbs and gets snagged.
The third breakthrough is the “TAP.”
Learning how to tap your lure out of trouble with strategic flicks of your rod will make you a more
stealthy mangrove angler as well and help you get your lure unstuck.
While most angler try to “grip it and rip it” out (which usually causes the hook to dig into the branches
and get stuck even worse), the best thing to do when caught up are gradual small taps with your rod tip.
Try it next time. You’ll see that most times it just pops out.
Click Here To See The Article

76. Sight Fishing Cobia On The Flats
Cobia are one of the ultimate inshore game fish to catch. They get big, they fight like crazy, and they
taste amazing! Bad news is that you don’t get a ton of opportunities to sight cast for them on the flats, so
when you do, you’ve got to make sure your cast counts.
Here’s my best advice (assuming you don’t have live bait ready in your hand).
Step one is to always be on the lookout for large rays cruising the flats. Almost all of my inshore cobia
have been caught off the backs of big rays, and it was always when I was paying attention around me.
Step two is to be wearing polarized glasses so you can see the cobia well before it gets close to the boat.
Step three is the most critical… the CAST.
The toughest part is getting the perfect cast that takes your lure right in front of the ray, because rays
have a tendency to do a sharp turn when they see a lure or line in front of their face (taking the cobia
with them).
So the trick is to make a cast well in front (and past) the ray, wait until it gets close, and then do some
quick pops with your lure with the goal of having it run right in front of the cobia’s face (who will
usually be right on top of the ray).
Click Here To See A Real Life Example Of Cobia Eating A Lure On The Flats

Section 6: Gear And
Rigging 

77. How To Tie The Perfect Fishing Leader For
Snook, Redfish, And Seatrout
FACT: A fishing leader can make or break you when it comes to landing the biggest fish of the day.
Having a good leader line with strong knots is absolutely essential for inshore anglers who want to land
big snook, redfish, trout, tarpon, etc.
In order to rig your fishing leader the right way you’ll need a couple materials, including:
• Mainline in spool (10 lb to 20 lb braid)

• Leader line (20 lb to 40 lb monofilament)
• Lure/Hook (whichever lure/hook you plan to use)
• Pliers/Scissors/Knife to cut line
The steps to tie the perfect fishing leader is:
Step 1: Tie Braid to Leader Knot - we recommend the FG Knot.

Step 2: Determine Your Leader Length - we typically use 2ft leaders
Step 3: Tie Lure or Hook to Leader With Loop Knot - we suggest the Non-Slip Loop (Kreh Loop Knot)
Click Here To See How To Tie The Perfect Fishing Leader 

78. How To Make A Grouper Rig That Saves Money,
Time, & Marine Life
Grouper are one of the most coveted fish species among recreational anglers.
These predator fish are:
1. Tough as heck fighters

2. Found in most regions/depths
3. Some of the most popular fish-eating meat in America
This makes them a very popular fish to both offshore and inshore anglers.
But a problem with grouper fishing (and targeting other species when bottom fishing) is that many
anglers don’t put much thought into making their leader rigs.
Here’s the wrong way:
1. The weight gets fixed onto the line with no way to slide off.
2. The weakest point in the overall system (most often at the knot that connects the lighter main
line to the top of the heavier leader assembly) is right up above the weight.
Here’s a way you can be smarter in your approach to grouper fishing by taking the following tips to
make your leader rig:
1. Use a sliding weight - fish can’t get pinned down by it because it moves.
2. Control the weak point - you want to make the hook knot is your weakest point in your leader. This
way if it breaks, you get most of your rig back (which helps keep fishing line from clogging up the
ocean).
3. Use these knots for your setup - braid to fluoro connection using the FG Knot. Connect stronger
fluoro to lighter fluoro using the Uni Knot (for the weight section). Connect the fluoro to the hook
using a Non-Slip Loop Knot.
This setup will allow you to break off your light leader without sacrificing your entire rig if you get hung
up on bottom structure.

79. How To Rig A Popping Cork For Redfish,
Flounder, Snook, & Trout
Popping corks are one of the most common and effective rigs to catch inshore fish with. It's a deadly rig
because you can fish them with a lure or with live bait under the cork.
What’s a popping cork? Popping corks are bobbers that are created to make a loud topwater “pop” that
draws fish to your bait — live or artificial — connected underneath the float.
Popping corks can be a great choice for murky water where sound and vibration is going to be more
important for catching fish than color and sight. The popping cork also gives a unique action to a soft
plastic lure when retrieved.
As you give a tug on the popping cork, it will cause your lure to bounce up toward the float as if it is a
shrimp or baitfish fleeing from a predator. It will then slowly fall back down to the bottom as you pause
your retrieve.
This is an incredibly user friendly rig and is great for fishing with kids or beginners.
When live bait fishing – especially bait fish – the bait will do most of the work and will naturally cause
the cork to pop and click. I’ve found that a small #2 Circle Hook is ideal for most live bait while using a
popping cork.
With shrimp, more manual popping of the cork is required to give it an effective presentation. You can
see the full post on how to rig and use the popping cork here:
See How To Rig A Popping Cork Here 

80. How To Spool Braided Line On A Spinning Reel
(Without Line Twists or Loops]
Spooling braid line on a spinning reel sets the foundation for your entire presentation to a fish.
However, spooling your line incorrectly can lead to wind knots and tangles that can be frustrating on the
water, or worse, cause you to lose a fish.
Our top tips for spooling braid line on a spinning reel are:
1. Always use a wet cloth to run the line through while spooling
2. Keep the line tight in your hands using the cloth through the ENTIRE process. If you give up
pressure for even a second, it could result in your line not sticking to the spool the way you want
it to
3. Always remember to flip the bail before you tie the knot on the spool
4. Try to shoot for 1/8 of an inch left on your spinning reel (between the end of the line and the end
of the spool) for maximum casting and performance
There are countless ways to lose or miss a fish and most of the variables that cause you to lose a fish are
mostly out of your control. But controlling your spinning reel line doesn’t have to be one of them,
following these tips will make sure of that.
See the full post in the link below:
Click Here To See The Full Article 

81. How To Choose The Right Polarized
Sunglasses For Fishing
One of the most important pieces of fishing equipment every angler needs is a good pair of polarized
sunglasses. Not only that, but you need to make sure you get the pair that's right for you.
Polarized sunglasses severely reduce the amount of glare you deal with on the water and allow you to
see through the water with greater clarity (and they are critical for sight fishing and shallow water
fishing in general).
The first thing to consider is a glass lens vs. polycarbonate lens.
Glass lenses are scratch resistant and usually let you see a little bit better than the polycarbonate lenses.
Of course, glass is a bit more expensive (and slightly heavier). Polycarbonate lenses are more durable
and weigh less too. Our favorite two brands for inshore fishing are Smith and Costa.
As for color lenses, green mirror front and amber inner lenses give you the best option for inshore
fishing.
Yellow is good for low light conditions and gray lenses are good for all around use.
Blue mirror front and gray inner lenses offer the best choice for offshore fishing.
You can see our full guide on how to choose the right polarized glasses here:

82. How To Properly Replace Treble Hooks With
Inline Single Hooks
A big trend among serious inshore anglers is replacing their treble hooks with inline single hooks.
Why?
Well, if you have ever caught fish on treble hooks, you are probably well aware of the damage they can
cause to a fish’s mouth, face, eye, skin, etc (or even your own body).
Treble hooks can also affect your hookup ratio when targeting certain fish, as the treble hooks spread the
force the hook sets across the three points.
Many anglers like to change out the treble hooks on their plugs for single inline hooks -- especially
when targeting big fish with boney mouths like tarpon.
Inline hooks are specifically made to replace treble hooks on hard baits.
They are super sharp and the eye of the hook is “inline” with the hook itself to keep the hook inline with
the body of the lure.
The eye is also larger to allow the hook to move around freely to help increase hook-ups.
When putting these inline hooks on your lures, it’s important to make sure you have the hook facing the
proper direction (this is the biggest mistake people make)
The inline hooks should face:
• The rear hook should be facing to the rear

• The front hook should be facing forward (this is the most common mistake anglers make)
Use split ring pliers to remove the treble hooks from the split rings on your hard baits.
They have a notch at the tip that helps open up the ring to remove or put on a hook.
See the video on how to replace treble hooks with inline hooks in the post:
Click Here To See The Post 

83. What’s The Proper Drag Tension For An
Inshore Fishing Reel?
One of the most overlooked factors in fishing that can make or break the day is the drag setting of a reel.
An improperly set drag can be the reason that a fish of a lifetime gets away with your favorite lure.
Here’s the overall takeaway here:
A reel’s drag should be set at 20% to 30% of the line’s strength rating.
At first glance, this seems to be low since that leaves a lot of strength on the table.
But when considering the amount of drag that the water pulls on the line when a fighting fish
is swimming at max speed, the low rating makes more sense.
For instance, if you have 10 lb line, the recommended drag range is 2-3 lbs.
If you are fishing with 20 lb test line, the recommended drag range is 4-6 lbs.
This is also another reason that most of the inshore reels that boat 20+lbs of drag will rarely ever be
used.
Once the reel’s drag setting is at the proper tension, we recommend pulling it out with your hand several
times to develop muscle memory to how the tension feels so that you can accurately set it via hand
going forward.
This will help you identify if the drag setting is off in the future as well.
Setting the drag is not an exact science and there are situations where you will have to adjust your drag
based on conditions and the type of fish you’re targeting.
But there’s nothing worse than losing a fish of a lifetime due to something you have 100% control over.
A great way is to get a pulley weight, tie one end to something stationary, and test out your drag strength
(like we do in the video below).
Click Here To See How To Properly Set Your Drag 

84. What’s The Best Way To Clean A Spinning Reel
After Saltwater Fishing?
As you know, saltwater can completely destroy fishing equipment (especially expensive fishing reels).
So it’s important to make an effort to clean off our reels after every trip out on the water (while at the
same time not making things worse with a bad cleaning).
Yes, there is a proper way to clean your spinning reel. Here are a few tips.
For instance, with your spinning reel you should:
1. Always do some type of cleaning to your reels after fishing in saltwater, whether it be a hose or a
wet towel to wipe it down
2. But NEVER spray your spinning reels from the underside of the reel (if you hose off your
spinning reel, make sure to hose it off from the top of the reel so the water has less of a chance of
getting inside)
The goal is to get as much salt off your spinning reel as possible, and the best way to do this is by
spraying from the top of reel with a hose.
Why never spray from the bottom?
Spraying from the underside of the reel can force remnant salt from your fishing outing up into the gears
of the reel.
Overall, most full-time guides will tell you that a quick spray of the reel, rod, and lure (hook) along with
a gentle wipe down with a soft towel to remove all salt is all that you need to do to keep your gear
working well for years.
These newer model reels are rarely made to take apart (unless you really know what you are doing as
they have a gazillion parts and you can end up making things worse unless you are very careful).
You can see a video of how to properly clean your spinning reel after each saltwater trip by clicking the
link below:
Click Here To See How To Clean Your Spinning Reel

85. This Is The Only Time To Use A Swivel For
Inshore Fishing
The swivel might be the most misused and misunderstood saltwater fishing instrument known to man.
It’s a must have for offshore fishing, but inshore fishermen should rarely use a swivel.
Here’s the scoop:
Most anglers don’t know when they should use a swivel, where to place the swivel on the leader
assembly, or what knots to use to tie the swivel to the leader.
The core benefit of a swivel is to prevent your line from twisting, so situations in which line twists are a
risk are when the swivel should be pulled out of the tackle box.
So the only situations we recommend using swivels for are:
1. When using a casting lure that is prone to twist during the retrieve (like some spoons)
2. When trolling live/dead baits that are likely to twist
3. When soaking live/dead baits in areas with tons of current
The ideal place to have a swivel if you’re going to use one is at the top of the leader away from your
lure/hook.
Anglers make the mistake of placing the swivel way too close to the bait, which hurts your chances of
catching fish (because that swivel can be quite visible to a fish).
There are multiple benefits to NOT using swivels when it comes to inshore fishing.
Our top three reasons to NOT use swivels are:
1. Swivels put the more fragile mainline at risk of getting weakened (you are usually better off with a
strong line to leader knot like the FG knot)
2. Swivels can damage rod guides (NEVER reel the swivel through the top guide)
3. It takes longer to tie two knots for the swivel than one line-to-line knot
We also show you where to find the best knots to use for a swivel in the link:

86. This Trick Prevents Wind Knots, Line Twists,
And Uneven Line On Your Spinning Reel
Wind knots and tangles can be one of the most frustrating parts about using a spinning reel.
There are numerous ways that wind knots, line twists, and knots occur on spinning reels loaded with
braided line, and one of the most overlooked causes is uneven line on your spool.
Here’s what happens when you have uneven line in the spool:
• If your spool is sitting too high, the braided line will start to unevenly bunch up towards the
bottom of the spool which will cause knots due to line overlapping
• If your spool is sitting too low, the braided line will start to unevenly bunch up towards the top of
the spool which will cause knots due to line overlapping
There is a simple solution when you notice your braided line is not being evenly distributed on the
spool.
Have you ever noticed the small washers that come with every new fishing reel? They are usually at the
bottom of the box in a small clear zip lock baggie (and most anglers have no idea what they are for).
But now you do… those washers help you get an even spool!
Here’s the deal:
Simply remove the top of the spool and adjust the washers on top until you get it perfect.
Note that each spinning reel is different, which could mean taking away washers, adding more, or
substituting for different size washers to adjust your reel to the proper setting.
Another Important Note: Use nylon (or plastic) washers that will not rust or corrode.
You can see a video on this trick in the post below:

87. How To Spool A Spinning Reel With Braid
While Saving Money And Time
This is a really cool braid tip I wish someone had told me back when I first started using braid (back
when I was spooling the entire reel with braid).
And this isn’t just a tip on adding some mono at the bottom of the spool… this is an entirely different
level of saving money on line.
Here are a few simple tricks to saving time and money when it comes to re-spooling your spinning reel
with braid line.
The top time and money saving tips for spooling braid onto a spinning reel are:
• Don’t change your braid out too quickly (it can last a long amount of time!). Unless you are fishing a
serious tournament for money, braided line will last a really long time and doesn’t need to be replaced
every couple of months like many of us did with mono.
• Splice the braid at a measured yardage mark in order to allow the base line to stay on the spool for a
very long time while only replacing the top section at a pre-determined yardage. This bottom layer
will rarely see the light of day and it will last years in many cases. For the top layers, I usually go for
75-80 yards of braid on the top (so a 150 yard spool will last me two rounds on the reel). So in any
given year, I’m only having to replace that top 75 yards. It also gives me a mark on the line (at the
connecting knot) to know how much line is out at any given time.
You can connect a new top section of braid to untouched braid backing already on the spool using the
Modified Double Uni Knot — which adds additional twist to the Double Uni Knot during the knot tying
process.
Using braided line can be an absolute game changer for anglers who target saltwater species with
artificial lures because of the increased casting performance and feel that it provides in comparison to
monofilament line.
Following these tips will help you save money and time while using braid line.
Click the link below to see the full post:
Click Here To See How To Spool A Spinning Reel With Braid

Section 7: Kayaks, Standup

Paddleboards And Boats 

88. The Ultimate Guide To Buying A Fishing Kayak
(Must Read Before Purchase)
Kayaks can be an awesome way to target fish on the water. However, there are some things that anglers
should know before buying their first kayak.
For instance, there are a couple different kinds of kayaks to choose from.
Sit-on-top kayaks are the top choice for anglers and give you a couple different advantages on the water
— such as staying dryer and giving you easier access to your gear.
With sit-on-top kayaks, you and your gear are all at one level with no inner compartment. Sit-in kayaks
have the inner compartment you sit in and does not offer the same amount of storage space as sit-on-top
kayaks.
Pedal drive kayaks are another top choice for anglers (and a MUST if you can afford it). Game-changing
when fighting fish, etc.
These kayaks are propelled using your legs to “pedal” which either turn a propeller or move fins
underneath the kayak.
There are also things to consider when choosing your paddle.
If your kayak paddle is too long, you will zig-zag as you paddle.
Too short of a paddle and you’ll have to reach down to put the blade in the water.
Too heavy and you won’t be able to paddle as far or as long as you want to.
Adding a couple kayak accessories will also make fishing much easier.
Some must have accessories are rod holders, tackle storage space, pliers, boca grips and a good seat will
make your day kayak fishing easier and much more enjoyable.
Also, make sure to get a nice life jacket that doesn’t make you uncomfortable. Some of the cheap ones
get incredibly uncomfortable after a long day of paddling.
You can see the complete kayak guide in the post below:
See The Guide To Buying A Fishing Kayak Here 

89. Boat Ramp Mistakes: Top 5 Blunders That
Cause Fights
If you’ve ever spent time at a boat ramp, you know it can be one of the most frustrating parts of going
fishing — especially on a busy weekend.
Don’t even get me talking about Memorial Day weekend… madness!
Most of this frustration comes from simple boat ramp mistakes.
Knowing the proper boat ramp etiquette can save you a lot hassle on your fishing trip.
Here are the top five mistakes that cause most problems at the boat ramp:
1. Don’t Block the Launch Lane - Many boaters park their boats in front of the boat ramp to prep it.
Similarly, they’ll take the boat out of the water and park it in the ramp lane area as they pack up
their gear into the car. Do NOT do this… ever.
2. Be Prepared with Your Gear Before Launching - Pack your rods, coolers, tackle boxes and any
other gear you need for your outing in the boat before putting your boat in the water.
3. Don’t Block the Ramp in the Water with Your Boat - After you’ve launched your boat, you
want to make sure you park at the dock in a way that does not block others from utilizing the boat
ramp. Same when loading your boat back on your trailer. Don’t block the ramp!
4. Don’t Cut the Line - This tip speaks for itself.
5. Don’t Gun it onto the Trailer - The force from having the motor down in the running position
and gunning the boat onto the trailer causes water pressure down the ramp. This water pressure
erodes the bottom directly below the concrete ramp and creates a hard ledge.
No one goes to the boat ramp wanting to get into an argument, and getting into one can put a damper on
your whole day of fishing.
Following these tips can help you avoid a problem at the boat ramp and make your day a little more
stress-free.
Other anglers will also appreciate this behavior.
Find Out The Top Five Boat Ramp Mistakes Here

90. Easiest Way To Launch And Load A Boat By
Yourself
One of the most difficult parts about a solo fishing trip can be the part where you launch and load your
boat by yourself.
However, knowing the following tips will help you launch and load a boat all by yourself without any
stress.
Our top tips for launching a boat by yourself are:
1. Attach a long rope to the front of your boat (I usually double up two long ropes).
2. Tie the long rope from the front cleat on the boat to the back of your truck (see video). When you
back down, do a hard stop to help your boat slide off the trailer. The rope will prevent it from going
off too far.
3. Have all your gear ready before launching your boat (rods in the rod holders, tackle box in the
boat, cooler in the boat, etc. 
Our top tips for loading a boat by yourself are:
1. Tie the boat off at the back of the dock and back your trailer straight down the middle of the ramp  
2. Get on your boat, untie the rope and give a small shove off the dock 
3. Drive the boat up the trailer and attach it to the trailer winch. jump off, winch up, and head out!
These tips make the entire process of launching and loading your boat easier.
This is not the only way it can be done, but these are the tips we’ve picked up over the years that we feel
like can help you get your boat in and out of the water easier when your by yourself.
Definitely click below to see both the launch and load.

91. 11 Essential Saltwater Kayak Fishing Tips For
Newbies
There are things we wished veteran anglers would have told us when we got into kayak fishing.
In fact, it would have made our first experiences fishing in a kayak much more enjoyable if we’d known
them.
New kayak anglers should hear these 11 essential tips for kayak fishing:
1. Don’t go cheap on the paddle - this is essentially your motor and you will be using it constantly.
A low quality paddle will make fishing more difficult. Get a nice paddle. You’ll be glad you did.
2. Bug spray - you’re likely going to be kayak fishing some buggy places.
3. Waterproof camera and mount - a mount and waterproof camera will make getting pictures of
your catches much easier on the kayak.
4. Anchor, push pin or power pole - you need to be able to stop quickly to effectively fish certain
areas and these let you do that.
5. Sunscreen & sun protection clothing - this will prevent sunburn while kayak fishing.
6. Proper fish handling gear - boca grips, landing nets, pliers, etc.
7. Plenty of liquids - kayaking is a lot of physical activity and you need plenty of fluids to stay
hydrated.
8. No bananas on board the kayak - BAD LUCK!
9. Must-have safety gear - life vest, cutting tool, VHF radio, flares, whistle, paddle leash, first aid
kit.
10. Rain gear - don’t get caught in a storm without it.
11. A plan - have a safe and smart route planned.
These tips will help you get started kayak fishing and will make your time on the water easier:
Click Here To See Our Top Kayak Fishing Tips For Newbies 
92. How To Fish From A Paddleboard
Saltwater Flats Edition
There are some great advantages that fishing from a standup paddleboard (SUP) offers you, but also
some drawbacks.
Here are the top pros to SUP fishing:
• Fantastic ability to see lots of fish - SUP’s give you a higher vantage point than kayaks, making
it easier to see fish. It’s kind of like having a “tower” on a kayak. That extra few feet from
standing can mean the difference between you seeing a fish from far away or spooking it.
• Easy to load and unload - Paddleboards are typically much lighter than kayaks of equal size.
Also, they’re easy to carry to reach even the most protected backcountry lakes. In most cases, I
can carry my paddleboard, tacklebox, and two rods all in one trip (without having to go back to
my truck). You definitely can’t do that in kayak.
• Fantastic exercise for both upper and lower body - Paddleboarding gives you a more natural
paddle motion than kayak fishing. It’s also great for building balance.
Here are top cons to SUP fishing:
• The boards and paddles can be expensive - Brand new boards and nice paddles often go for
more than $1,000 and $2,000 respectively. And a solid paddle is anywhere form $100 - $300. 
• Many boards with clear-coat paint can get damaged by underwater objects – always be very
careful when paddling near oyster bars or shallow and rocky bottom. It also makes it a little
tougher to haul around and store vs a kayak (due to the fact most of them can crack or chip easier
than a kayak). 
• Wave activity can cause balance issues – given the high center of gravity along with the fact
that you’re standing on a floating board, wave activity can make it very difficult to maintain
balance — especially while trying to fish. Some boards also have quite a bit of hull slap so
always do a demo run before ever buying a SUP.
Make sure to check out the full post below for more details on buying a SUP.

93. How To Back A Boat Trailer Down The Ramp
Like A BOSS
For many anglers, the worst part of their fishing trip is backing up a boat trailer in and out of the water.
This is particularly true for new boat owners who may not yet be comfortable driving with their boat
trailer.
Our essential tips for backing a boat down the boat ramp like a boss are:
1. Quickly Line Up Your Vehicle & Trailer With The Ramp - Having your trailer and vehicle lined
up straight with the boat ramp will make getting your boat in and out of the water
exponentially easier. Practice this in an empty parking lot after hours to nail this when you step up
to the plate at a real ramp.
2. Get Comfortable Using Your Side Mirrors - You want your side view mirrors to be in a position
so you can see the side of your vehicle, the wheels of your trailer and the target launch spot (edge
of the boat ramp dock on both sides of your boat). Your side mirrors are your main resource for a
perfect launch.
3. Keep Steering Wheel Movements To A Minimum - It’s typically best to ONLY make slight turns
on the wheel so that you don’t end up going down the ramp in an uncontrolled zig-zag pattern. This
is the biggest mistake most newbies make. SLOW movement!
Mastering these skills will make getting your boat in and out of the water simple and easy.
You can see a video in the post that shows you how the steering wheel affects the boat coming down the
ramp. See the full post in the link below:
Click Here To See How To Back Your Boat Down A Ramp 

94. How To Choose The Best Paddle Board For
Fishing
It’s paddle board time again!
In general, there are three different types of standup paddleboards options you can choose from, and just
like any product, some boards are better than others for fishing.
Here are the three types:
1. Surf Style (round and lifted front end. great for surfing, super light, fast, but they definitely have a
hull slap - not the best for fishing the flats)
2. V-hull (pointed front end with body that flairs out, decent stability, less hull slap, but slightly
heavier than the surf style board in most cases).
3. Catamaran (twin v-hull with open center, not as much water drag but tends to be slightly heavier
than the other two. Definitely the best stability of the three types).
The surf style SUP is a multi-purpose board good for surfing, fishing and touring. They’re typically
pretty light, inexpensive, and have good stability for their size.
However, they can have a loud hull slap, their rounded front creates more drag than V-hull designs and
can be tough to paddle in the wind.
The V-hull SUP offers good water displacement for going long distances, have a low hull slap noise and
comes in many different shapes and sizes.
But they are often less stable than surf-style boards, the water drag on these boards increase as stability
increases, and they can be expensive.
Catamaran style SUPs have low water drag, are very stable, and have minimal hull slap noise.
But these boards are also heavier than surf and V-hull styles, more expensive than most other boards,
and are tough to find/test since only one company makes them.
We personally recommend either a surf style or catamaran style SUP if you plan to fish from your
paddleboard.
Click Here To See How To Choose The Right Paddleboard For Fishing 

95. Kayak Safety Tips: Everything You Need To
Know About Safe Kayaking
Kayak fishing is one of the most fun ways to get on the water, but it also can be dangerous in certain
situations.
However, there are a few small things kayak anglers can do to be safer during their fishing trips.
Being seen at night and during low light conditions (such as rain, fog, etc.) is highly important for your
safety in a kayak.
It is very important NOT to add any unnecessary lighting that can confuse vessels in navigation (as it
could result in a collision).
Having a flair is another great thing to have on the water. It can allow you to alert help if you get into a
dangerous situation.
You also want to make sure you have the mandatory safety gear required by the state.
Most states will have their own special requirements as to what gear is mandatory to have.
In Florida (along with many other states), we are only required to have the following:
1. PFD (Personal Flotation Device)

2. Whistle
Additionally, a radio and small first aid kit can be lifesaving equipment.
I also recommend ALWAYS having a knife on board because you never know when a line might get
wrapped around you, your rods, or part of your kayak. And trust me, the last thing you want is braided
line wrapping around you when you are fighting a fish.
The final recommendation is to always have your gear strapped down and prepared for a spill. No one
ever thinks the are going to flip over in a kayak, but it happens to even the best of them if you spend
enough time on the water (especially if you spend any time standing up in your yak).
See The Kayak Safety Guide Here

96. SUP Fishing With A Push Pole & Casting
Platform [Sight Fishing Machine]
Fishing from a standup paddleboard (SUP) can be an incredibly effective way to target fish.
And we’ve had numerous anglers ask us about tricks and tactics to sight cast from a paddleboard.
After trying many different things, we realized that you can make your SUP an even more effective sight
fishing vessel by bringing a platform to cast from and a push pole.
When a cast platform and push pole are added to SUP fishing, the ability to see into the water increases
significantly due to the added height and the stealth is better since the noise from the push pole is placed
further back than just a paddle.
It also enables you to control your drifts better because the push pole essentially acts as a big rudder
which you can move from side to side to control speed and direction of your drifts.
The advent of stand-up paddle boards has enabled inshore anglers who enjoy paddle fishing to see fish
much easier than they would in a sitting position of a kayak while still being able to quietly move across
the water.
Of course, we highly recommend that you have a SUP such as the L2Fish catamaran that will enable this
without flipping over.
Click Here To See How To Fish From A SUP With A Push Pole 

97. 3 Reasons All Kayak Anglers Should Consider
Paddleboard Fishing
Standup paddleboard fishing is becoming more and more popular every year.
After making the switch from canoes and kayaks to paddleboards, we decided to show you the pros and
cons of SUPs.
From how we see it, SUPs offer a huge height advantage over kayak fishing.
The higher you are, the better you can spot fish, bait, boils, potholes, grass beds, etc. In fact, I am
confident that I can out fish someone in a kayak if I am in my paddle board all day long. That extra few
feet of sight fishing is critical.
And the extra height isn’t just good for sightfishing, it’s also great for seeing bait, mullet, etc.
Also, as you’ve seen in the previous tips, some standup paddleboards are easier to load and transport
than kayaks as well. They weigh less and are much easier to carry as they are thinner than kayaks.
SUPs also offer a more natural exercise experience.
Kayaking and paddleboarding provide some excellent exercise and although there is no debating that
kayaks will give you one heck of a workout, it can be debated that it isn’t a “natural workout” as our
bodies were not designed to be sitting down all day.
Whereas on a paddleboard, you are standing upright using both your upper body (for paddling), and
your lower body (for balance and leverage).
There is more leg stiffness while paddleboarding just due to the fact your calves and leg muscles are
working hard to keep you balanced, but overall this is more natural for your body.
Of cousre, there are some cons to SUPs as well…
A high-end paddle board is usually more expensive than kayaks, they aren’t as good in the wind, and
they can be tougher for older folks.
But all in all, if you are serious about fishing, we believe SUPs give anglers a couple more advantages
than kayaks.

98. How To Get Back In Your Kayak After It Flips
Over In Deep Water
If you've ever flipped over a kayak in deep water, you know it can be one of the most frustrating
experiences -- especially when you're fishing.
Not only can you lose gear, break rods, and literally ruin your tackle, this can also be extremely
dangerous and you can find yourself in a bad situation if you can’t get back in your kayak.
However, there are four steps to getting back in your kayak in deep water, which are:
Step 1: Flip your kayak back over in the upright, safe position (assuming it flipped over while you
flipped out)
Step 2: Grab both sides of the kayak near the center of the yak (preferably using handles if your kayak
has them) and pull yourself up to where your belly button is dead in the middle of the kayak. Wait until
you are stable before moving on to step 3.
Step 3: Using your upper body, lift yourself up and flip your butt around into the kayak seat. If you
have an elevated seat that is too high, you can lift yourself up right in front of it and then move up into
the seat.
Step 4: Swing your legs back into position on the kayak.
The most important thing is to stay calm and don’t panic! That’s easier said than done when you are
out in the ocean with waves pounding you, a storm coming, or a big fish/shark below you, but it will
only make it tougher if you are in panic mode.

99. How To Best Store Live Bait While Kayak Or
Shore Fishing
Fishing from a kayak or from shore can have its disadvantages when trying to store and keep bait alive.
Unlike boats, we are restricted on space and how much we can carry.
But that doesn’t mean you are forced to only use artificial lures when fishing from your kayak (or shore
fishing).
These important tips will help you keep your bait fresh while kayak or shore fishing:
1. Aerate Your Bait!

2. Keep Your Water Cool
3. Keep Your Water Fresh
4. Don’t Overload On Bait
5. Remove Dead Bait
6. Use a Dip Net
7. Catch Your Own Bait
The biggest issue most kayak anglers make it using a cheap bait bucket for forgetting to keep the water
fresh.
Bait fish need constant oxygenated water, and keeping them stuck in a bait bucket that’s out of the water
is certainly going to limit their lifespan.
Having a good live bait cooler can help you keep your bait alive while kayak and shore fishing.
Our top choice is a live bait cooler such as the ones made by Engel.
For one, it is a cooler, which helps maintain the water temperature inside of it.
It also comes with an aerator to help oxygenate the water and keep your bait fresh.
This cooler is available in a variety of sizes (13qt, 19qt, and 30qt). The 13 quart is a perfect size to carry
in a kayak and can be easily slung over your shoulder using the shoulder strap that also comes with it –
great for shore fisherman too!
Click Here To See The Full Tip

100. 5 Things Anglers Regret Not Knowing When
They First Start Kayak Fishing
The final tip…
Even though we are bigger fans of fishing for a boat or from a paddle board, we are smart enough to
keep our eyes on the popular trends…
And the hottest trend in fishing right now is kayak fishing.
So this final post gives you the top five mistakes people make when buying a new fishing kayak —
things that most kayak anglers wish they knew when they first started getting into the sport (including
us).
The top five kayak fishing mistakes are:
1. Most Kayak Anglers Are “Fishermen” Before They Are “Kayakers” - most new kayak anglers
lack the knowledge and skills for safe and efficient kayaking. Not knowing how to choose the
proper kayak and paddle, not having proper paddling technique and not knowing how to re-enter
your kayak if (and when) you do fall out in deep water are just some critical skills that need to be
learned before you attempt to fish from your kayak.
2. Do NOT Install Accessories Until You Have Tested Your Kayak Out First- the last thing you
want to do is buy all of these fancy accessories for your kayak, install them, take your kayak to the
water, and then you realize you have no use for half of them (or they are placed in bad locations).
Get comfortable with kayak first then install accessories.
3. ALWAYS Try Before You Buy - test your kayak just like you’d test drive a car to make sure
you’re comfortable with it.
4. Don’t Go Cheap On The Paddle (And Don’t Forget Your Paddle At Home)! - don’t go cheap
on your kayak paddle. The paddle can make or break your kayak fishing experience. Good paddles
enhance your trip while cheap, heavy paddles will kill your arms, back, and even your hands.
5. Know Your Limits - this rule applies to purchasing a kayak and when you are out on the water.
When purchasing, be sure you are physically capable of handling whatever kayak you may choose.
We’ve seen too many people buy kayaks that they can’t carry or load.
See The Full Post By Clicking Here

Conclusion
I really hope you enjoyed this Inshore Fishing Blackbook.
Make sure to head over to www.saltstrong.com to check our latest tips (we are adding new ones every
week).
And if you really want to take your inshore fishing game up a notch, I highly encourage you to join us in
the amazing Salt Strong “Insider” fishing community.
Click here to learn more.
Tight lines my friend!
Don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me directly if we can help you or better serve you in any way.
Joe Simonds
Salt Strong

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Salt Strong Black Book 1

What Is The “Inshore Fishing

Salt Strong Black Book 2

Section 2: Live Bait Fishing

Section 3: Knots and Fishing Line

Salt Strong Black Book 3

Section 4: Artificial Lures

Salt Strong Black Book 4

Section 5: Casting And Fishing Techniques

Section 6: Gear And Rigging

Section 7: Kayaks, Standup Paddleboards And Boats

Salt Strong Black Book 5

Salt Strong Black Book 6

Salt Strong Black Book 7

Salt Strong Black Book 8

Here are the three breakthroughs:

Salt Strong Black Book 9

Dave also reveals how to identify good wade fishing spots.

See the full wade fishing guide in the link below.

Click Here To See Our Complete Guide On Wade Fishing

Salt Strong Black Book 10

The key shortcuts to catching more snook are:

Salt Strong Black Book 11

Click Here To See The Full Post

Salt Strong Black Book 12

Salt Strong Black Book 13

1. Structure (#1 most important)

Regarding structure, here are my favorite types for speckled trout:

Click Here To See The Three Shortcuts To Catching More Trout

Salt Strong Black Book 14

To see the full post, click below:

Click Here To See How To Catch More Redfish

Salt Strong Black Book 15

Here are the steps:

Click Here To See How To Read Online Maps

Salt Strong Black Book 16

Quick Flounder Knowledge 101

To see more flounder tips, click the link below.

Click Here To See Our Top Flounder Tips

Salt Strong Black Book 17

But it also helps to have BIG baits.

And that makes sense.

Click Here To See The Full Post

Salt Strong Black Book 18

Click Here To See The Full Post

Salt Strong Black Book 19

Boy, were we wrong!

Within minutes, we started hooking up with fish.

Click Here To See The Full Video

Salt Strong Black Book 20

It’s flounder time again!

Here’s what he uses:

Click Here To See The Full Post (With Videos)

Salt Strong Black Book 21

Click Here To See The Full Video

Salt Strong Black Book 22

The top three mistakes to catching and releasing snook are:

Click on the link below to see the full post:

Click Here To See The Top Three Snook Release Mistakes

Salt Strong Black Book 23

Z-Man Trout Trick rigged on a Mustad Grip Pin weighted hook.

Click Here To See The Full Post

Click Here To See The Full Post 

Click Here To See The Three Shortcuts To Catching More Trout 

Click Here To See How To Catch More Redfish 

Click Here To See How To Read Online Maps 

Click Here To See Our Top Flounder Tips 

Click Here To See The Full Post 

Click Here To See The Top Three Snook Release Mistakes 

Click Here To See The Full Post 

Click Here To See How To Rig A Live Pinfish 

Click Here To See How To Catch Black Drum On Sand Fleas 

Click Here To See The Best Way To Rig Shrimp 

Click Here To See How To Throw A Big Cast Net 

See The Full Post By Clicking Here 

See How To Make A Sabiki Rig Here 

See The Post Here For How To Catch Pinfish 

Click Here To See How To Rig Dead Shrimp On A Jig 

Click Here To See How To Bridle Rig Your Live Bait 

Click Here To See The Blue Crab Rigging Video 

See The Strongest Fishing Knots Ranked Here 

Click Here To See The Full Test Results 

Click Here To See How To Tie The Kreh Loop 