Customizing a Vudu Shrimp to Fish Topwater
Keith Lusher 09.07.23
Having been born and raised in south Louisiana, it never ceases to amaze me how we can take what seems to be a perfectly good product, and with a little cajun ingenuity, make it perform better. Corey LaBostrie lives in Lacombe, LA, and fishes for all species of fish in Southeast Louisiana. On his latest outing, he made a trip to the marsh near the mouth of Bayou Lacombe in search of bass. Bayou Lacombe is a freshwater tributary that empties into Lake Pontchartrain and sees an influx of brown shrimp in September which makes using shrimp lures advantageous to bass anglers.
During the morning hours of his trip, LaBostrie noticed shrimp being chased by bass on the surface of the water. As he processed the situation he figured out a way to match the bait and present his lure in the strike zone of the bass. LaBostrie quickly dug through his tackle and knew exactly how to target the bass in the canal. “I removed the weighted hook out of a Vudu Shrimp and fed a drop-shot hook through the chin of the lure,” he said. LaBostrie began casting and retrieving, keeping the shrimp near the surface. “The shrimp were popping all along the surface so I needed to figure out a way to keep the shrimp near the surface,” he said. “That weightless Vudu was the ticket to keeping the bait right under the surface of the water.” Within 30 minutes, LaBostrie put 4 bass into his canoe and he knew he was onto something. “When I took that weight out of the VuDu Shrimp it became more buoyant which allowed me to reel it in and keep it right below the surface,” he said. LaBostrie paddled farther into the canal and then into a duck pond. That’s where he finished off his limit of 10 largemouth bass. The seasoned veteran was excited to see the results of his new creation and hopes to add it to his arsenal of tackle options moving forward. “I’m catching fish like crazy with this rig,” LaBostrie said.
Fishing near Lake Pontchartrain often poses a problem because of the amount of ladyfish in the area this time of month. LaBostrie said this rig is perfect for weeding through those fish. “Most of the time your first few hits are going to be those ladyfish trying to eat the lure. But with this rig, the hook is in front of the shrimp so those ladyfish just bump the tail and aren’t able to get the hook in their mouth while the bass and trout inhale the whole thing,” said LaBostrie.
