Back when I first started fishing heavily with topwaters, I was given some Rattlin’ Chug Bugs to test and had great success. Since that time, I started fishing walking plugs like the Skitter Walk and She Dog much more but recently I have found myself getting back to chuggers, particularly during winter.

Chuggers are highly underrated for catching big trout and during the winter, their more leisurely pace loud “sploosh” can grab the attention of big sows in the bays. That is why I got a better blowup to hookup ratio on the day described above.

We often think of fish as voracious predators that cannot wait to get their mouths on whatever bait or lure we offer them. Reality is much different. We must remember that fish are cold-blooded and water temperatures dictate how they feed and respond to lures.

During winter on the Gulf Coast, water temperatures can run anywhere from the upper 40s to the upper 60s. In a short time span, that is great fluctuation and it can become a challenge for anglers to catch speckled trout. With that in mind, I believe anglers should stick to fishing lures as slow as they can. Even when the water temperature is up, it will allow them to score as trout and other predators are programmed genetically to take the easiest prey items, and one that is moving slowly is the most likely to get hit.

Many angler rush to tie on their walking plugs to experience the glorious “blowup” of a big speck. They are certainly effective, but I believe anglers should fish them slower than they normally do. I have been experimenting with fishing with chuggers and have had good success by fishing as slowly as possible.

During winter, I start by using the following pattern:

Cast. Chug. Wait five seconds. Chug again.

Then if that doesn’t work, use the same pattern but wait only three seconds. It is difficult to fish this way, since it is a lot more fun to make a topwater move fast, but crawling it along can be super effective.

Start fishing your plugs with a slow retrieve and increase gradually. Never fish as fast as you would in summer or fall. Even on warm days, trout are not as active as they are during those warmer periods. Despite this relatively inactivity, some of the best trout of the year are caught.

I like to use them on super lines like Berkley Fireline or Spider Wire because my style of hookset involves no true hookset.

We miss many trout because as soon as we see the blowup we rare back, trying to set the hook with only water in way of the hooks. In reality, most blowups are misses and we get the fish on the second or maybe third strike, so give the fish some time. I had to learn this lesson back in the 1990s while fishing in the Chandeleur Islands and getting only 1/3 of the fish that blew up on the Top Dog I was fishing. The guys I was fishing with were very patient anglers and simply let the fish hook themselves and started reeling in when they did.

With a super line with no stretch, you can do this easily. I let the fish strike and when it starts to run with the plug, I steadily raise my rod tip and start reeling in and rarely miss fish when I do so. When there is no stretch in the line, there is no give and therefore hooks go where they need to go.

Chester Moore, Jr. is The News Outdoors Editor. To contact Chester Moore, e-mail cmoore@fishgame.com. You can hear him on the radio Fridays from 6-7 p.m. on Newstalk AM 560 KLVI or online at www.klvi.com.