T-28

T28_0By Ed Snyder/Outdoors
Normally, one lure of the MirrOlure Class, wouldn’t keep paying off when it comes to catching big specks from early Spring through late Summer. Usually these artificial lures would change color identities with the changing seasons and water conditions. But this year the T-28 (red over gold) MirrOlure has been the consistent producer of big specks at Rollover Pass from 25 inches up.

Oh, the popular Texas Chicken (pink over gold) and 804 (black over red) along with the M-52 (black and silver) may have had there day catching big trout in the tidal waters of Rollover, but the #1 producer of trout over 25 inches, the T-28, has held true for the majority of anglers catching trophy specks from the cold waters of February/April thru the warm water months of July/August. WHY? I really don/t know, its red over gold colors doesn’t “match the hatch” so to speak of shad, croaker, or finger mullet, but the gator-specks seem to latch onto them like kids on Oreo cookies.

Gary Fruge fished a T-28 in the surf to catch this 28.5 inch- 7 lb speckled trout

Gary Fruge fished a T-28 in the surf to catch this 28.5 inch- 7 lb speckled trout

I, myself have previously taken 19 specks over 28 inches or better (releasing all but three) on these chunks of colored plastic with gangly hooks. A good number of my fellow trout anglers have also caught just as many through the year fishing with the same chunk of red over gold plastics.

The T-28 is a slow sinking lure which can be worked with several techniques. But the drift and flick method seems to work best. This is when casting into tidal currents, just let it drift and slowly sink, lifting your rod in a slight flicking motion every now and then to keep it off the bottom. The strike will come on the drift feeling much like a “flick”; when feeling this SET THE HOOK!

There are hundreds, if not thousands of artificial lures in the fishing market to pick from, with MirrOlure scratching out a big chunk of those we choose to fish with. In fact MILLIONS MirrOlures have been produced and purchased by us, the anglers, to use in our quest for the best fishing experience we can achieve in our fishing adventures.

(L to R) Eli Peralta landed this MUY 28 inch plus Gator-Speck on a T-28; Felix Barker landed this really nice 28 inch lunker speck while fishing a T-28; Eric Morrison wade-fished with a T-28 to tether this huge trout

(L to R) Eli Peralta landed this MUY 28 inch plus Gator-Speck on a T-28; Felix Barker landed this really nice 28 inch lunker speck while fishing a T-28; Eric Morrison wade-fished with a T-28 to tether this huge trout

The following is compliments of L&S Bait Company and their books on the history of MirrOlures’ “A Million MirrOlures: The History of the L&S Bait Company, 1937-2000”

This definitive history of the L&S Bait Co. – the second volume in the History of Illinois Fishing Tackle – began as a simple continuation of historian Stephen Lumpkin’s first book, The Jointed River Minnow. After several months of research, he determined that this book would be an enormous task that needed to chronicle the history and document all of the products of a company that was at times the largest fishing lure maker in the world. The result of Mr. Lumpkin’s efforts is A Million MirrOlures. The reality is that L&S sold many, many millions of MirrOlures, and this 220 page reference book covers all of them. It sets new standards on books that are devoted to documenting the history of fishing tackle. It includes the Harold LeMaster story, the inventor of the Shiner Minnow that began in 1937, the start-up of L&S in 1946 in Kankakee/Bradley, Illinois, the story of the partnership between LeMaster and Phil Shriner, the beginnings of the MirrOLure, the start up of the Florida operation in Clearwater in 1951, and many fascinating facts about the 63 year period from 1937-2000. This is just the first part of the book.

In Part II, the collector reference section of the book, Lumpkin covers all of the models produced (over 150 different models and sizes) and shows over one hundred and sixty colors produced during this time period. Dozens of incredibly detailed charts and illustrations help the collector identify product and learn more about when and for how long it was made. Over 500 full color, high quality photographs are a major part of this book and add to the overall impact of the fishing tackle made by an impressive and world class fishing tackle company still in business today. For more info on MirrOlure and its history Google (The History of Mirrolure).

It’s really a dizzying thought of trying to choose color, design, or technical concept of what you think would attract the feeding urge of a trophy speck. I mean, think of it! Experienced anglers mostly use the common sense factor of “matching the hatch”. Such as trout feeding on shad, you’d want to use a shad-like bait. Or, if the shrimp are active fishing with shrimp-like lures, even a run of surface running finger mullet would merit the use of a mullet colored bait to imitate the mullet. RIGHT? I know that would be my, as well as many others thoughts for having a successful fishing trip. Matching the hatch goes way back to my hand carving days of whittling out wooden images of bait-fish or bug like critters to hopefully catch some supper.

(L to R) George Brian fished a T-28 to land this lunker Speck; Great Catch on a Great Bait - T-28; Rollover angler Henri Fontenot took this gator-speck on a T-28

(L to R) George Brian fished a T-28 to land this lunker Speck; Great Catch on a Great Bait – T-28; Rollover angler Henri Fontenot took this gator-speck on a T-28

MirrOlure has actually done that for you, by “whittling” over 150 different models with over one hundred and sixty color combinations to choose from. But which lure to use at what time of year and in what weather conditions is a puzzle that must be solved by you, the angler. Matching the hatch again comes up as the common sense choice, but the the T-28 MirrOlure with its bright red top with black dotted golden sides and orange bottoms BLOWS THAT OUT OF THE WATER!!

I’ve even had thoughts that if you have ten anglers lined up casting T-28s in early Spring that are catching 26 to 28 inch speckled trout, then that’s a “no brainer”. But then you have ten anglers wade-fishing the surf in late summer, with nine anglers throwing M-52s, 808’s, and Texas Chickens pink over yellow lures in the middle of schools of flitting shad and mullet, when the only angler tossing a T-28 connects in the middle of the huddle to a 28 inch mega-speck…………..Lucky?

Whether lucky or not is up to your personal thoughts. Luck may have something to do with it, BUT, I’ve seen more large trout caught on the T-28 in the last three years at the pass than all the other trout hot spot sites combined. My estimate for here would be well over 100 25 inch plus specks caught here just from February until now (August 2014). The largest I’ve seen caught and released was 32 inches, with the last one (a 28.5 incher) caught on August 10th by a wader fishing the surf. NOW not all of these 25 inch specks were caught on T-28s, but at least 1/3 of them were.

(L to R) Gary Fruge and Fishin bud landed these two lunker specks on T-28s; Robert Aquirre took this 28 inch plus Gator-Speck on a T-28

(L to R) Gary Fruge and Fishin bud landed these two lunker specks on T-28s; Robert Aquirre took this 28 inch plus Gator-Speck on a T-28

Now, I’m not saying to start filling your tackle pack with T-28 MirrOlures, but I do advise your having more than one T-28 in your tackle pack for the security of that gator-trout bite. I’ve lost at least eight 8 T-28 MirrOlures this year due to fish break-offs or bottom snags for getting too close to the bottom, and at $8 a pop that can add greatly to your fishing expenses.

L&S Bait Company -or- MirrOlure, is working hard to keep up with anglers future demands for their fishing experiences by incorporating their ideas into the production of a variety of different styles and color combinations that would attract the feeding urge of trout and other different species of game fish.

On a note by an experienced Rollover Pass angler- “the main reason why the T-28 does so well at rollover pass is due to its red over gold color which gives it a golden croaker coloration. Golden croaker are a favorite prey of the lunker specks that feed on them at any opportunity. I must agree to this adage after seeing what happens when the golden croaker are running through the pass.

And because of this, a T-28 is always rigged to one of my casting rods ready for action.

Info Guides: Google, MirrOlure, and local confabs.

Article Sponsors:
The Beach Triton, Miss Nancy’s Bait Shop, CrystalBeachLocalNews.com

(published 8/26/2014)

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