The Inshore Shrimp Wars: Volume 1

Happy Monday Spacefish!

It is a beautiful spring morning on the East Coast of Central Florida. The sun hasn’t quite gotten up over the mangroves on the east side of the Indian River Lagoon, but it will soon. The sunlight is starting to slice its way through the limbs and leaves of the mangroves creating visibility for the angler into the world of shadows and barnacle encrusted roots where the Snook like to be. The water levels are lower than normal. The basement of this ecosystem has a higher ceiling than usual. It’s possible to get your lure into places that wouldn’t have been available in the rainy season. A new shoreline, endless possibilities – the first cast in a new spot is so crucial. Make sure you get close enough to make the first cast good enough. But don’t get too close to spook the fish. Open the bail, rare back, sling it in there. A natural translucent colored Shrimp lure, with a Chartreuse tail skips like a stone into a nice little shaded pocket between red mangrove roots. Damn, that’s a good cast. This could be it. You barrel have time to reel in the slack when all of a sudden you feel it. Thump. So you set the hook and the response is as immediate as it is intense.

In a matter of mere seconds a morning that was so peaceful and serene is anything but. Chaos succeeds tranquility.The rod in your hands is bent, the drag tight, the line is full of tension. You are so focused on the fish and trying to turn its head back towards you and a path out of the perils of the mangroves you realize your kayak has been pulled in closer to the mangroves but your nose is facing the wrong way. You realize you have already been brought into a subtle sandbar protecting a 2 foot drop off into the mangroves. How in the hell does that even happen??? No time to ponder it because you’re quickly being brought into an area shallow enough to ground your pedal drive. So you flutter your kicks to keep the pedals split and the fins off the hard sand while frantically reaching for the rudder cord so that it won’t be run into the ground and damaged.Good news, you got it up in time, bad news you have now lost all directional control. You try to backpedal, put you just spin and now you are facing out towards the open water with the rod wrapped around the side of the kayak back towards the mangroves.

This is probably it, it’s time to play your last card. Somehow you’ve ended up facing the wrong way and your legs are mashed on the pedal to keep your kick fins off the sandbar. Hail Mary time…. You cup the spool and pull back towards the front of the kayak. The fish thrashes the surface. It breaches with its mouth towards the heavens and shakes with all of its might trying to throw the hook. But the hook set was true and you have it hooked right in the top of the mouth. Relief. As long as you keep this line tight it will not chafe the leader. The Snook gambled when it came up for the head shake, now you have leverage, you pull off to the right side and get its head where you want it, you have a clear path to pull this fish out of the mangroves. It’s being pulled in, like it’s become a victim to a tractor beam in a sci-fi movie. It glides along the side of the kayak. All of that tussle in the mangroves has tired the fish and its bottom jaw is grabbed firmly by your right hand. Good Morning, Sunshine.

The Inshore Shrimp Wars: Volume 1

This week I decided to go out and test the DOA against the Vudu in a head to head competition.

Pictured below is my most quality fish from this weekend’s field testing. The DOA shined for me, it produced the most fish and the best fish. I personally believe the conditions and the environment were set up in favor of the DOA this weekend, and there may be other times and conditions in which the Vude may have the advantage. I’ll talk about the pro’s and con’s of both lures, and describe scenarios in which I think DOA would be the better option over Vudu, and vice-versa.

DOA Shrimp – The OG

Every industry has a standard bearer. Oftentimes it is animated, sometimes the competition improves upon it. Is the DOA Shrimp still the industry standard or has a newer, flashier, upstart dethroned it. Well… it’s tricky isn’t it?

I think it depends on the angler, and perhaps more importantly the situation. Did you know Central Florida is now under a “Severe Drought”? Water levels in the Indian River Lagoon are really low right now. The lack of rain has also significantly reduced run-off pollution. The water I was fishing (near Long Point) was so clean. I also focused on wind protected areas where I could try to sight fish along the mangroves. My most quality fish was caught in the early hours, but I was able to sight-cast a few smaller Snook, a Trout, a small Sheepshead and a few Mangrove Snapper in clean water.

The DOA Shrimp in this color was good for sight casting in clean water. It hits the water with a subtle sound and it drifts slowly. Shrimp lures with exposed lead, or a jig head often could spook fish in a similar situation. Also, the DOA skips significantly better than the Vudu. The smoother plastic vs the segmented TPE material of the Vudu definitely help to get this lure into the mangrove pockets and under docks to entice Snook.

The cons of the DOA are that it does not have great action when it’s being worked. Now that being said, if you ever look at Shrimp in a tank they just slowly glide and/or swim forward. That’s what I did if my DOA wasn’t hit on the fall or on the skip. I would glide it out as slowly as possible. Making it look like a Shrimp on the move (in no hurry). That being said, if the water would have been choppy, and murky I’m not sure how well it would have worked

Vudu Shrimp – The New Kid on the Block

I mentioned earlier that this wasn’t the best day, conditions for the Vudu. I kind of felt bad about it. I personally felt like I was being impartial. I left Long Point after 5-6 hours of fishing and drove up to Honest John’s and fished there another two hours. I casted the Vudu 2x as much there to make up for moving away from it down at Long Point. I focused on a shoreline that was being pushed by the wind, and the water was more turbulent and murky.

Earlier I mentioned how much better the DOA skips. The Vudu has a lead weight under the chin, and while it’s not easy and effective when employing side-armed skip casting, it does much better in the wind. It punches through the wind, and can be casted more accurately if you lob it in. Once it hits the water it sinks to the bottom faster and can be more effective in dirtier, wind blown water. It also has more erratic action when being bounced off the bottom and can kick up mud and debris to get a fish’s attention. It can catch fish on a slow and steady retrieve but in my experience does much better with a twitch-twitch-pause cadence.

So if fishing deeper water, and dirtier water, and more churned up water, the Vudu may be the better option for you.

The Winner Is?

I don’t think I can definitively declare one. I have had great experiences with both. As ObiWan Kenobi once famously said to a wayward Annakin Skywalker, “only a Sith deals in absolutes.” I think if you limit yourself to one or the other you may be missing out. I think if you are going to fish a shrimp lure, you should try them out for yourself and see which one gives you the most confidence.

DOA Lures is headquartered in Stuart, Florida. I have a feeling that this is a lure that was created for and tailored towards fishing the Indian River Lagoon at its best. Clean, calm water. A subtle and realistic presentation for fish that have a high level of visibility and can be easily spooked.

Egret Baits, the company that manufactures the Vudu Shrimp is from Louisiana. The fishing there is very different. The inshore fishery is muddy, and the tides are always fluctuating in or out. So I believe this shrimp lure performs better in those conditions. Which in the Indian/Banana River may be a good option for fishing wind blown areas of water that resembles chocolate milk from all of the runoff and algae.

Either way they are both good baits, and they have caught many fish, for many anglers!

Thank you for taking the time to read this report, and thank you to Kayaks By Bo for being our paddle partner! Stay safe, be happy, and go out and catch some fish this week!

Until next time!