That’s A Brown Corky Fatboy Lure For You!

Picture yourself as a mature speckled trout basking in the shallows of a barren East Matagorda Bay mud flat. At last, beams of light penetrate wintry clouds and are warming an insulating mud bottom, energizing your lethargic attitude.

All ten pounds of you cruises along the temperate flat soon reaching your familiar feeding ground-a distinct patch of boggy mud and elevated oyster shell. Approaching it sparks memories from seasons ago. Pastimes of gorging yourself with jumbo sized shrimp and feasting over endless schools of finger mullet come to mind and fuel your hunger.

You get into your favorite spot, right where the shell bed meets the mud and wait. Before long, a tempting six inch mullet comes along, oblivious to your presence.

Immediately, you propel at full speed and attack; exploding the waters surface. The six-inch mullet is devoured instantly and lays to rest in the yellow interior of your mouth. You slowly sink back to the warmth of the mud bottom.

Soon after, a wobbling, wounded-looking mullet pierces the water’s surface, several feet away. Vibrant in color, the four inch bait fish gently dances, flaunting its dazzling body as it sinks leisurely through the water column.

Your spotted body jumps back into attack mode and seals the wounded mullet’s fate. Only this time the mullet fought back.

With a violent shake of your head you manage to get the mullet out of your mouth, but you find yourself pulled towards to the surface by a force you can’t see – the struggle quickly tires you out, beaten by a Boga in your lip.

“Ten pounds at least!” a man yells.

Two other men surround your beastly exterior. Cameras flash.

Finally they unhook you and pit you back in the water, exhausted but relieved to have survived the ordeal.

As you swim away, you hear a voice in the distance exclaiming “That’s a Corky Fat Boy For You.” Are they talking about you? You haven’t even started to bulk up for the year; but you resolve to look closer at your prey next time around.

If trophy trout could have these feelings, they would know someone’s dream had come true.

After James Wallace caught that famous record breaking speck, the news got out in fishing reports in no time and trout fishers everywhere started to use Corky slow sinking soft baits just like Wallace had used. With their wobbly broken-back motion and a size about that of a topwater, these saltwater fishing lures can be just what a big speckled trout is looking for when used with a slow retrieve.

“When James Wallace caught that monster, things really took off for us,” reports Paul Brown, founder of B&L Corky. “People were flooding in and bought us out of every Corky we had in no time flat.” After all this time, this family owned Houston shop still finds Corky saltwater fishing lures one of their biggest sellers.

Port Mansfield fishing guide, Captain Mike McBride definitely knows a thing or two about Corky’s and uses a unique retrieve to fool lower coast specks.

“You’ll definite work Corkys a little different depending where you are on the coast, but personally I pop the knot off when I’m trying to keep the slack under control.” Against the common wisdom and frequent mentions in fishing reports, McBride doesn’t use the ultra slow technique, preferring to work his lure vigorously. “The point of a Corky is that it makes those unpredictable movements that realistically imitate prey,” McBride states.

Captain Jesse Arsola, a Matagorda trophy-trout guide, swears by a particular science when working Corky’s.

“When trout are aggressive they will nail anything; but when you have to work for them to bite, technique really comes into play.”

“If I use a Corky, I’m usually using a counting system. I keep track of how long it takes the lure to hit bottom, then I vary the amount of time I allow my Corky to sink before I pull out the slack. From there, it’s just a matter of identifying what count you tend to get bites on. This is a really easy way to figure out just where in the water column the trout are feeding.”

Captain John Havens, a tournament angler from Clear Lake, Texas favors chartreuse, white, and gold sided Corky Devil and a rather routine retrieve.

“The most important thing is to keep in contact with your lure so you can feel even the smallest bites,” says Havens. When using Corky Devil saltwater fishing lures, he gives the rod a lift and a quick twitch or two before letting it fall while retrieving.