Redfish

redfish

Tired of chasing tail and being unsuccessful? Well, here are a few tips from the pros to get your Redfish game spot on.

1) Artificial Baits

Artificial baits have quickly become the number one way to target these fish. Most Anglers look for these fish pushed on and off flats depending on tidal movements. There are four key types of artificial baits to keep your redfish game strong: spoons, soft plastics, top waters, and suspending baits. Spoons are very popular for covering mass amounts of water quickly to find fish. Some popular spoons are the Johnson gold weedless 1/4oz. and the Cajun thunder copper weedless 1/8oz. Soft plastics are good for working areas that are known to hold numerous fish or for skipping under docks and mangroves. Good soft plastics that you should keep loaded in your arsenal are Mirrolure Lil John's, DOA cal shad color 419, and Slayer Inc. Houdini shad tail. Rig these baits with a 1/16oz, 1/8oz or a 1/4oz jig head.

FISH TIP

When using a Top water plug, under absolutely no circumstance should you set the hook when the fish explodes on your bait. This is the number one way to lose the fish’s interest and have some new body piercings.

The jerk baits can be rigged with a weighted weedless worm hook. Top waters are a great way to work mullet schools on the flats and blind casting early morning and late evening near mangrove edges. Great Top waters are the Heddon Spooks and Spook Jr’s., and Rapala Skitterwalks. Keep working the lure until you feel the weight of the fish on your line. Suspending baits are an awesome way to work potholes, patchy bottoms, and grass flats in the middle of the day. The Mirrolure 17mr has rapidly become the go to suspending bait. Rapala Twitching Wraps, as well as the Mirrolure 19mr are also effective baits.

2) Live and Dead baits

Loading the live well and cutting the top off your kids' old wiffle ball bat to use to throw live chummers from the boat is now a charter captain's preferred method for finding fish. Anchoring on mangrove points and channel edges and fishing white bait under a 3 inch cigar float with a 20lb or 25lb fluorocarbon leader and a 1/0 to a 2/0 circle hook is a great way to locate fish and or get them biting. Dead baiting is anchoring and throwing out cut pinfish, ladyfish and mullet chunks on a circle hook without weight and waiting for the bite. Some anglers prefer this method of fishing over any other for Redfish, especially in the heat of the summer.

3) Rods and Reels

For live bait, we suggest our Graphite Signature Series Dogfish Stik in a 7'6" medium action or medium-fast action model paired with a Shimano Stradic 4000 with 10 to 15lb braid. For artificial baits, we suggest our Graphite Signature Series Dogfish Stik 7' to 7'6" medium-fast action models with a Shimano Stradic 3000 and 10lb braid. There are a lot of different price points, and our staff is more than happy to explain them to you to help you pick out the right rod and reel combo in your price range.