- Here is a long-lasting, cost-effective, highly robust soft plastic bait to endure the razor-sharp teeth of saltwater fish.
- Save money, increase effective fishing time, and enjoy more moments reeling in fish.
- Imagine catching 54 toothy saltwater fish on ONE plastic tail bait! I did this myself. It’s true.
By Forrest Fisher
Saltwater fish are fun to catch but are brutal on fishing lines, reels, fishermen, and fishing lures. Sharp fins, sharp teeth, big fish, sharks – you name it. There are many opportunities for broken lines, fractured leaders, seized reel drags, and the endless need to replace fishing lures.
This is especially true for soft plastic baits fished on the inland fisheries across the southeast. Florida is a favorite wintertime stopping area for tourists, where thousands of miles of inland fishery habitat are dominated by multiple species of saltwater fish. They eat often, adding value to anglers’ interest in fishing here.
Speckled trout, pompano, flounder, Spanish mackerel, Snook, redfish, tarpon, and many other species are common. The one thing that many of these fish have in common is razor-sharp teeth, which are found inside the jagged jaw edges of these fish. These teeth will cut up braided lines and soft plastic jig tails in a microsecond.
My fishing partner and I have often run through a dozen plastic tail jig baits in 30 minutes or less when fish are on the feed. Soft plastic baits are highly effective in the inland fishery, and sales skyrocket at local fishing bait stores, especially during the post-winter (snowbird) season. The problem for many of us is that we need to have $50 or more to buy soft plastics with little durability that can get torn up in one cast by a single fish, often making these baits a single-use item.
After five years of fishing in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, with plastic tails or live bait (shrimp), I switched to hard baits. They last longer, and they work, too, but I caught fewer fish, and their per-piece cost ($10-$15) was much higher than a bag of 10 plastic tails ($7-$8). A bit frustrated, I called a friend – Bill Alexander, who manufactures plastic tail baits at his MTO Fishing Lure Company in Sylvan Beach, NY (MTO stands for Made-To-Order). I asked if they could produce a small but very durable shrimp-sized plastic bait that could be used with a NED-rig style jig head. The standard MTO baits are known to be super durable, and using just one of their plastic worms last year, I caught 11 black bass at a Florida lake to verify their durability. But these were freshwater bass with no razor-sharp teeth like saltwater fish have. So, I explained the big bad tooth fairy detail to Alexander, who is an ex-pro bass tournament trail angler. He said, “Let me see what we can do. Three weeks later, I met with Alexander – he came to Florida and handed me a package of specially made NED-rig-style plastic baits. He made them only about 3 inches long in off-white and solid pink colors. They looked real good.
The lures were made of specially formulated rubber-like plastic with impregnated mesh. The baits are semi-soft and medium-pliable, with a double layer of the patent-pending MTO mesh product process buried inside their shape.
They resemble shrimp-sized lengths and appeared to be a reasonable lure that could work, especially in the off-white color.
Bob Hookham (pronounced Hook-Em), invited Bill Alexander to join us on a fishing trip aboard his 24-foot sea-worthy fishing boat. It’s a deep “V” hull but allowed us to float over 2-foot-deep sand bars. A “flats boat” is not necessary to fish the open waters of Turtle Bay. Bob’s boat is spacious and comfortable, with an open bow and live well, offering adequate storage and built-in cooler-like spaces for our gear.
We motored West from Burnt Store Marina to a small embayment called Turtle Bay, near the Cape Haze Aquatic Preserve and Island Bay Wildlife Refuge. This unspoiled bay is surrounded by mangroves, and there are no houses on the protected shoreline.
The water level and current flow in Turtle Bay are subject to tidal changes and can rise or fall about two feet in 24 hours, depending on wind direction changes, moon-sun phase relationships and time of year. Today, the tide was low, with a slow rise of about 6 inches over our fishing period. The winds were from the East, which meant the water levels were even lower than usual as the water in the Gulf of Mexico was pushed toward Texas a bit by the wind. That meant we would be fishing the sand flats and not the mangroves. The boat draft was too deep to head into the shallow water mangroves. Fishing the flats meant we could concentrate on trout but would likely not find any redfish or Snook. We would save fishing for those species for another day.
The new and untested lures came right off the MTO prototype manufacturing line, and we were all excited to test them out. Using a 1/8-ounce NED-rig style jig head with an oversized 1/0 hook shank, I carefully threaded on the new plastic bait. I chose the off-white color to start, while Bob and Bill chose pink. Little did I realize how effective this bait was, not to mention how tough and robust these new baits would prove themselves to be.
Fishing from 10:30 AM through 1:30 PM that day in March, we each caught limits of speckled sea trout. I was in the front of the boat in the foredeck area, so I often had the advantage of first cast to new water. There was no electric bow motor, so we used the wind to drift over the sandy flats and sand bars typical of Turtle Bay. When we would find a likable edge area of seagrass and sand or an isolated oyster bar, I would drop the anchor, and we would all enjoy a few casts before moving on with the wind-driven drift.
Over the fishing time noted earlier, I caught an unbelievable 54 speckled trout using just one MTO NED-rig style plastic tail. Bob suggested to Bill in jest that he might name this lure the MTO-NED-SW54X (SW for saltwater and X for who knows how many you might catch on this lure?). It caught 54 fish before we decided to head back! Bill was getting tired of reeling in fish. The more surprising conclusion is that I could probably catch another 20 fish on that same bait before replacing it. We decided to keep one daily bag limit of these tasty trout for the dinner table, but we carefully released every other fish brought to the boat. We caught several different species of fish, as well.
Next to the flawless durability, We all liked the simple retrieve and action required to hook a fish. I have previously done very well fishing with spoons and hard baits in Turtle Bay, but these lures require frequent casting and rip-rip style of a retrieve. I’m getting a bit older these days, and that style of fishing is an excellent workout for many of us. With the MTO-NED-SW54X, you embrace the finesse of fishing with patience after the cast. Using a 10-pound Yozuri braided main line with a 30-inch, 20-pound fluorocarbon leader tied to a 1/8 ounce NED-rig style jig head, I was casting with a St. Croix Avid class 7-foot saltwater rod (VIS70MXF; medium power-extra fast tip). We let the lure rest at the bottom after the cast. Sitting motionless, it imparts a gentle rocking action from the rounded style head that can entice the most hesitant fish to hammer the bait. If no hit or no pick-up after 5-6 seconds, we lifted the jig straight up with a quick snap of the rod tip, reeled in two cranks with our 30-series open-face spinning reels, and let the jig and tail settle again. Wham! It was a fantastic day of fishing to prove the toughness of this unique prototype lure.
Alexander says, “We can make these up in several colors to match what folks in any part of the saltwater world might ask for.” With a grin, I shared with Bill that I like simple off-color white! The proof is in the unending rod bend, Bill! My rod (and I) needed a rest, too! Bob and I agreed that this bait-jig head combination was robust and effective, and we ordered additional numbers and colors of these incredibly durable baits.
These tough lures will be very effective for kids fishing with mentors—you never need to change the bait. They are suitable for the entire trip. I can’t wait until the tide is higher to test these on Snook and redfish in the mangroves. This was a memorable and exciting fishing day.
Alexander said anyone who would like to try these baits can contact him at MTO Lures, PO Box 286, Sylvan Beach, NY, 13157, call him directly at 315-520-9820, or email him at walexander2@twcny.rr.com. Alexander said the price for a pack of eight would be fair. Call for multiple-pack deals.
Tight lines, everyone!
Simon prefers the back of the boat to the front, so his fishing partner is offered control of the boat, running the bow motor for the day. Simon says in his British accent, “All of my fishing buddies seem to enjoy that part of our 6 to 8-hour fish trips. We each cast lines with plastic-tailed jerk baits on weighted weedless hooks or throw hard baits. Both lure types are designed to mimic the local forage groups. Doing that, I like to trail one or two lines for Shark. I have learned that it is better to trail one line simply. You can get into a real mess with two trailing lines when a handsome Gafftopsail Catfish hits and runs laterally. In the back of the boat, I can still cast out the side of the boat for multiple species, but now I trail just one line with a huge bobber, a wire leader and a huge hook with a half ladyfish or other cut bait. Some days, we catch five sharks and more than 50 other gamefish. It’s exciting! I’ve even caught sharks while casting lures. They can be that aggressive. “
