The Tidal Surge split tail plastics in plum/chartreuse work very well.

Spring/Summer/Fall
Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad
Matrix Shad
Bone Skitterwalk
Johnson Silver or Gold Sprite spoon

Winter:
Assassin Rat Tail
Corky-Original and Fat Boy
Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow/X-RAP
Mirrolures

Matrix, they catch everything! I even caught a hardhead Monday night along with lots of trout.

LL, could you pls describe the "clown" color for me? Thanks.

it's like a watermelon/yellow pattern.
you'll know it when you see it

Croaker is king, but you want artificial suggestions.... Norton Sand Eel Jr in glow/chart and Mister Twister Sassy Shad Glow or Black/Pearl.

DOA BaitBuster deep runner when looking for big ones. DOA CAL Shad Tail in rootbeer/chartruse any other time.

Gulp Jerk Shads, Heddon topwaters, Corkies, & Keitech "Fat" Swing Impact swimbaits. 1/16th oz 2/0 jighead for the soft plastics, upgrade treble's to KVD elite's short shank 1X hooks.

If you want to catch a 30+ trout and are okay with not getting many bites; try a 7" Basstrix swimbait in Ayu, 3/8th oz 7/0 Trokar belly weighted hook on 20lb flouro. Giant goofy looking bait, but my PB on it is a 34" trout,and has also caught me 3 bass over 8lbs.

Tight Lines.

The first trout I caught on artificial was about 42 years ago, and it was a MirroLure. The last trout my wife caught (while I was striking out on fly) was ... on a MirroLure in January at South Padre Island (my old stomping grounds).

I like throwing a big 4" Red Flake DOA Shrimp under a Chartreuse Cajun Thunder Oval Cork. Under the lights, you CANNOT beat an H&H Killer Shad Rig 2" or 3" in the Glow color.

Thanks LL