How to Fish a Popping Cork with Live Shrimp

Part of Knots & Rigs · All fishing tutorials

Jump to: What You Need · Building the Rig, Step by Step · Setting the Depth · The Pop-and-Pause Retrieve · Positioning on the Grass Flat · Three Mistakes That Kill the Bite

If there is one rig that has introduced more people to Florida inshore fishing than any other, it is a popping cork over a live shrimp. It works on the grass flats of Tampa Bay, the Mosquito Lagoon, Pensacola Bay, and a hundred other places: the cork calls fish in with sound, the shrimp does the rest, and when the cork vanishes you are hooked up. It is simple, forgiving, and deadly on speckled trout and redfish.

The rig takes two minutes to build and the technique takes an afternoon to learn. What separates the anglers who catch from the ones who watch is mostly depth and cadence — where the shrimp rides in the water column, and how they work the cork. Get those two things right and this rig will outfish far fancier setups on a grass flat.

What You Need

• A popping cork — cup-faced oval or cigar style are the Florida standards
• Two plastic or brass beads
• A small barrel swivel
• About two feet of 20- to 30-pound fluorocarbon leader
• A 2/0 or 3/0 circle hook, or a 1/16- to 1/8-ounce jig head
• Live shrimp, medium size

Building the Rig, Step by Step

1. Slide a bead onto your main line, then thread the main line through the cork. Most popping corks have a weighted end — that end faces down, toward the hook.
2. Slide on the second bead below the cork. The beads click against the cork and swivel when you pop it, adding a shrimp-like ticking sound.
3. Tie the main line to one end of the barrel swivel with a uni or Palomar knot. The swivel stops the leader from twisting as the shrimp swims in circles.
4. Tie your fluorocarbon leader to the other end of the swivel.
5. Tie the hook or jig head to the end of the leader. A jig head adds a little weight that helps the shrimp stay down and cast in the wind.
6. Hook the shrimp under the horn on its head, in front of the dark spot, or thread it through the tail — both keep it alive and swimming naturally. A lively shrimp catches more fish, so it is worth reading up on keeping live bait alive on hot Florida days.

Setting the Depth

Depth is set by the length of leader under the cork, and it matters more than any other part of this rig. You want the shrimp riding six inches to a foot above the grass — close enough to the bottom that a trout looking down sees it, high enough that it does not bury in the grass and foul. On a flat that is three feet deep, start with about two feet of leader. If your cork drifts over potholes and sand holes, a slightly longer leader that lets the shrimp dip into the hole is fine. Getting no bites with the cork sitting still usually means the bait is too high; constantly dragging grass means it is too low. Adjust a few inches at a time.

The Pop-and-Pause Retrieve

1. Cast up-current or up-wind of the water you want to fish, and let the rig settle.
2. Give the rod a short, sharp downward snap. The cup face of the cork should spit water and make an audible “bloop” — that sound imitates a shrimp fleeing and a trout feeding, and fish home in on it.
3. Reel up the slack and wait. Count to five, or even ten. Most strikes come on the pause, as the shrimp settles back down.
4. Pop it once or twice more, then pause again. Work the cork back slowly, covering water like a grid.
5. When the cork dips, sinks, or slides sideways, reel down until you feel weight, then lift the rod smoothly. With a circle hook there is no hook set — just steady pressure.

Resist popping constantly. A cork that never stops moving spooks wary fish in clear water and yanks the bait away from the ones following it. Two pops and a long pause is the rhythm that works from Cedar Key to the Indian River.

Positioning on the Grass Flat

Drift or pole quietly into position so the wind and current carry your rig across the flat, and cast to the edges: the sandy potholes scattered through the grass, the drop-off where the flat falls into a channel, and any point where current sweeps past a grass edge. Trout hang over the holes waiting to ambush what drifts by, and redfish cruise the edges. Keep the sun at your back when you can, keep your shadow off the water you are casting to, and make your first casts count — the fish closest to the boat are the easiest ones to catch, before the hull noise pushes them off.

Three Mistakes That Kill the Bite

Setting the shrimp to drag the bottom is the most common one — a bait plowing grass and mud reads as wrong to every trout on the flat, so shorten the leader until it suspends clean. Second is casting straight into the wind, which piles the rig at your feet; plan the drift so the cork travels across fishy water instead. Third is striking at the first dip of the cork: the fish often mouths the shrimp before committing, so wait for the cork to stay under or move off, then just reel tight and lift.

Species This Helps You Catch

• Spotted Seatrout — the classic popping cork target on every Florida grass flat.
• Redfish — reds crush a shrimp under a cork along flat edges and potholes.

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