I’d rather catch speckled trout on topwater plugs than do just about any other thing in the world, and this is the time of year I really focus on the pattern. But success with the technique requires a few essentials: clean water, warm water, flooded flats and, usually, a rising tide.

Justin Bowles and I set out on a trip this week intending to throw the big, noisy lures, but we found only one of the required elements — clean water. The tide was, in fact, rising, but it was slower than the wheels that turn in Nancy Pelosi’s brain, and the volume of water being pushed in wasn’t nearly enough to compensate for the lowest tide of the season. The water was also chilly, with temperatures staying in the 50s throughout the trip.

So rather than beating our heads against the wall, we punted on trout and took what the conditions were giving us. Redfish. Lots and lots of redfish while fishing a very specific pattern.

It’s a pattern that almost always delivers whenever water levels are painfully low, and it looks like that will be the case for this week through the weekend. West winds will dominate throughout the end of the week, and they always push water out of Southeast Louisiana’s marshes.

The day of our trip, the redfish bit plastic craws as well as No. 4 H&H gold spinners teamed with 1/4-ounce Deathgrip Jigheads and shrimp Creole-colored Matrix Shad soft paddletails.

For all the details, watch the video below.

Like the video? Please give it a thumbs-up, and subscribe to the Marsh Man Masson channel on YouTube. Also, leave a comment below or on the YouTube page. How do you change your fishing strategies when water levels are extremely low? What are your favorite lures to throw in such situations?