“Chuck Byrd Investigates the Mister Mino for Catching Freshwater and Saltwater Fish”

Part 5: The Mister Mino as a Saltwater Grub

Editor’s Note: Chuck Byrd, president of Mister Twister (a division of Sheldon’s, Inc.) in Minden, Louisiana, is an avid fisherman and recently conducted field tests on the Mister Mino, a new Mister Twister lure. Byrd and other fishermen have had phenomenal results using the Mister Mino. This week, Byrd will tell us how to fish the Mister Mino, and why it was created.

Question: Chuck, you originally designed the Mister Mino for freshwater fishing, right?

Byrd: That’s right, I did. But the Mister Mino has really caught-on in the saltwater market. The 4-inch Mister Mino seems to be most popular rigged on a saltwater jighead with an exposed hook like most grubs and saltwater baits. It looks just like a goby, which is the natural prey of saltwater fish. If you take a cast net down to the Gulf Coast and cast it out to catch bait, you’ll see all kinds of minnows in that cast net that look exactly like the Mister Mino. We’ve got the colors and the styles that most closely resemble the fish in the cast net.

Question: So, you suggest rigging the Mister Mino on a jighead and fishing it like a saltwater grub?

Byrd: That’s right. I recommend a stop-and-go retrieve or a twitch-and-jerk type of retrieve, just like you’ll fish any saltwater lure. When you’re flounder fishing, you’ll rig the Mister Mino just like you’ll rig a live mullet and bounce it along the bottom. Remember the new Mister Mino is most-commonly fished in fresh water. This bait is just now arriving in the saltwater market as a productive bait, and the reports are it may be as effective, or more effective, in salt water as it is in fresh water. There are many people in the saltwater industry who don’t even know the Mister Twister Mister Mino exists, but they’re learning about it.

Question: What color’s most popular in the saltwater market?

Byrd: I’d have to say goby green.

Question: In saltwater, what does the color of the goby-green Mister Mino resemble?

Byrd: It’s probably the same as the pogys. We’ve got Mister Mino in the colors that best resemble all those fish that come out of the marsh estuaries along the coast.

Question: Chuck, I know you’ve been fishing for speckled trout and redfish out of Hackberry Lodge in Lake Charles, Louisiana. How successful have you been fishing the Mister Mino there?

Byrd: We’ve caught a lot of speckled trout and redfish in that region. I was there a couple of weeks ago, fishing with a friend of mine. We fished on some reefs, and my friend used the Mister Twister shrimp, and I fished the Mister Mino. I used a 1/8-ounce jighead, so I could get the Mister Mino to fall really slowly. I caught mostly trout with a few redfish. From what we’ve seen, we know there are quite a few saltwater fishermen who will be fishing with the Mister Mino this year.

Question: What size of Mister Mino will be the most popular in the saltwater market?

Byrd: The 4- and the 6-inch Mister Minos will be the most popular in the saltwater markets. The 2-inch Mister Mino may primarily be used for flounder fishing.

Question: So, the Mister Twister Mister Mino is one of the hottest new baits in both saltwater and freshwater markets this year, right?

Byrd: Absolutely. We’re asking all our customers to catch fish with Mister Mino this year and send us pictures of the fish they’ve caught and the Mister Mino bait used to catch those fish. We’ll be putting their pictures with their fish on our Mister Twister website.

Question: Chuck, if someone can’t find Mister Mino in their local tackle store, can they visit your website to purchase the Mister Mino?

Byrd: Yes, visit www.mistertwister.com. We’re having a special on the Mister Mino right now.