Sometimes the best things in fishing are discovered completely by accident.

For instance, a “wide right” cast to a dock reveals a productive brushpile you never knew existed. Perhaps weather such as fog or wind forces you to fish in a place that otherwise you had no intention of fishing and you load the boat. Even a minor inconvenience such as picking out a backlash can allow a lure to sink to the bottom where the key bite occurs that turns your day around.

Indeed, in the world of fishing, sometimes silver linings are revealed completely by mistake. In my case, it was my forgetfulness that led to one of the most fantastic fish-catching techniques I’ve ever discovered for inshore saltwater fishing.

First, let me say that a mirror-calm sea grass flat on an early summer morning is one of the primary reasons I live near the Gulf Coast of Florida. This is where two of my favorite things come together: topwater lures and giant speckled seatrout. As the coastal flats of the Gulf warm up during the months of April and May, the first waves of big female seatrout rush the grass beds for their initial ration of spawning activity. Unlike other popular sportfish such as freshwater bass or inshore redfish, which only spawn once a year, seatrout are prolific spawners. Once the water temperatures reach the lower 70s, seatrout spend their summers in the lush sea grass beds of bays and flats doing two things: spawning and eating.

Some scientists have found seatrout to spawn as frequently as once every 7 to 14 days. The bigger female trout eat very little during spawning activity, making them all the more ravenous when their amorous ways are complete – and that’s where my topwater lure fits into the picture. For some reason, those bigger female trout in the 20- to 25-inch range have an affinity for just about any type of big topwater walker or chugger. Seldom do the smaller seatrout make an attempt at such large profile topwater plugs. I know this because I can pick up a standard jig or a saltwater grub and catch a slew of 12- to 15-inch trout in the same areas where the big ones are smashing topwaters.

The only hypothesis I have for this is that the bigger female trout are looking for something big and easy to dine on near the surface while the smaller males peck around in the sea grass for morsels like crabs and shrimp. In essence, using a big topwater allows for size segregation based on the sex of the fish. The biggest problem with the topwater gig, however, is wind; the bite is best when conditions are slick and calm. Trout can sense the splish-splash of a topwater from much greater distances on a calm flat; consequently, the strike zone is extremely large. But when a 15- to 20-mph wind puts a chop on the water, the topwater bite dies because the topwater gets lost in the commotion. Like with much coastal fishing, calm conditions usually prevail through the early morning hours and by 10 or 11 a.m. that pesky sea breeze puts a damper on the topwater action. For that reason, I used to think my trout fishing day was over as soon as the surface chop showed up. Sure, I could go to a jig or grub in the wind, but the smaller trout usually reigned supreme when the topwater bite died.

Several years ago, though, I discovered something literally quite by accident about those bigger trout that has allowed me to fish for them all day, even in a gale. The “accident” occurred one fateful day when I forgot to put my jig box – the one that holds all my lead jigheads and matching plastic tails and grubs – into my boat. In my pre-dawn race to capture the glass calm sunrise on the flats, I grabbed just two rods – a baitcaster and a spinning rod – and headed for the ramp. A Lucky Craft Sammy 100 was tied to my baitcaster, which was all I cared about for the first two hours of the morning while the calm prevailed. I tricked several 20-inch plus trout into smashing the Sammy along the slick, shallow grass flats between sandy potholes.

On that particular day, however, the wind started blowing early and by 9 a.m., my Sammy was lost in a sea of foamy chop. It was way too early to retire for the day so I figured I would tie a jig on my spinning rod and grub around for another couple of hours to see what else I could catch. That’s when I discovered – to my horror – that I never put my saltwater jig box in the boat. In fact, due to my absent-mindedness, I had not put any other saltwater tackle in my boat – no popping corks, no scented baits, not even a standard-issue spoon. Disgusted, I picked up my spinning rod to find it had a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 tied to the business end.

Incidentally, that particular lure was tied on my rod because I had just returned from an FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake where the suspending jerkbait had been the craze for spotted bass. With no saltwater tackle available, I was about to call it a day when the thought of throwing the Pointer 78 crossed my mind. “Why not?” I thought to myself. After all, it was clear water, some 4- to 6- feet deep with scattered grass. It looked just like Lake Champlain or St. Clair where smallmouth bass wolf down Pointers like potato chips. Still stewing in my disappointment of leaving my saltwater box on shore, I reluctantly sailed the Pointer out into the wind and half-heartedly began working it across the wind-blown flat.

On about the third cast, I noticed a wind knot in my line and stopped momentarily to pull it out. As I set my rod down to loosen the snarl, something nearly snatched the rod right off the deck. I grabbed the rod just in time to find a 23-inch seatrout thrashing about on the other end… my silver lining had been revealed. After releasing the sow, I was flooded with excitement. I began fishing the Pointer 78 like a madman, jerking and snatching it wildly across the flats in hopes that I had discovered something new. But 30 minutes later, I was fishless and began to think that my one prize trout had been a fluke. Then it dawned on me that my big bite had occurred when I was picking out the wind knot in mid-retrieve and the Pointer was doing what it does best: sitting perfectly still, suspended in the water column. That notion reminded me of one of the important elements I had learned about trout and topwaters over the years: cadence and pause is critical. For some reason, the best topwater retrieve is not a wild, fast one, but rather a slow, sloppy slushing abbreviated with long pauses, allowing the lure to sit motionless for as long as 15 seconds. And many times, big gator trout will annihilate the lure when it is sitting still.

With that in mind, I completely changed my jerkbait rhythm. Instead of a fast, frantic retrieve, I slowed down with a slower retrieve and started dead-sticking the lure with long pauses. From that point on, it was like I had hit the “on” button for big trout on a jerkbait. I ended up catching half a dozen more big ones on the 78 over the next hour before losing the lure to a giant trout, which was partially my fault because I never retied the line. But at that point, I did not care. I was thrilled to discover another deadly weapon to fortify my saltwater flats arsenal. Since that day, the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 has become one of my go-to lures on the flats. Other flats residents such as redfish, snook and even flounder will jump on a Pointer as well, making it a great search bait for inshore game fish.

As far as colors, I don’t think trout are too picky as long as the lure throws off some flash. Lucky Craft’s chrome-based “aurora” colors have always worked better for me in the brine than the more muted “ghost” colors. As far as gear goes, I fish the 78 on a spinning rod because of the wind. The Pointer certainly works great on casting tackle, but with a spinning outfit, I can force it into the wind or across the wind without worrying about backlashes. A 7-foot, medium to medium light spinning rod delivers the perfect action for making the Pointer “loaf” over the flats with little arm fatigue – the rod does all the work. Also, the softer tip has more give, which is critical because many times a trout will slash the lure when it is sitting still in a long pause, and plenty of tip lets the fish get the lure in its mouth.

For line, I prefer 10-pound braid for the main line and a section of 12- or 15-pound test fluorocarbon (5 to 7 feet in length) for leader. I join the two lines with back-to-back Uni-knots. In the clear waters of the Gulf, I do believe a fluorocarbon leader is crucial for trout. Many times they follow a lure for a while, studying it carefully before biting. Plus, a trout is a toothy critter, so sometimes the 15-pound fluorocarbon is the way to go.

The primary thing to keep in mind when using the Pointer 78 on the flats is not to over work it. This is especially true for bass anglers who might be used to working a Pointer very fast for a reaction bite from smallmouth. It’s not quite the same with trout. Many times, trout, especially big ones, will follow your lure, which is one thing that makes this technique so exciting. When you see a 25-inch gator trout nosing around under your lure, simply slow down and pause the bait as opposed to speeding it up. Again, there is something about a lure sitting dead still – the exact thing the Pointer is famous for – that really makes a trout unleash its fury on the bait.Ever since I learned how effective a Pointer 78 is on the inshore flats of the Gulf Coast, I’ve stocked several of them in my saltwater tackle box – now if I can just remember to put that box in my boat!