| 1)
Calculate the best time
to fish for redfish by looking at the local tides.
The bigger tides like 2.0+ are best. Its important to know
when the tide will be at its lowest level (low tide) in the
area where you plan to fish for redfish. You need to be
at your spot shortly after dead low tide, just as the
water is starting to come in. Redfish feed best
during the incoming tide. 2)
Where you fish for
Redfish
must be determined by the tide level.
Don't fish under the mangroves during the early incoming
tide phase. Fish the creek mouths and pot holes
leading up to the mangroves. As the tide level
increases you can start working under the mangroves. As the
tide level increases to flood tide (1.8 - 2.2) the
redfish will be anywhere from the outskirts of the
mangroves to a hundred feet back inside the mangroves. The
higher the tide the deeper into the mangroves the redfish
will feed. As soon as the
redfish detect the tide is changing and going out, they will move to the
outside of the mangroves to continue feeding. They will
follow the outgoing tide back to the creek mouths and pot
holes.
3)
Wade
fishing with white bait, shrimp or pinfish is the absolute
best way to catch redfish.
Anchor your boat a hundred yards away from the mangroves at high tide and wade
up to the overhanging mangroves. Free line a shrimp or shiner underneath
the overhanging mangroves and look out! I have caught 50 -60 redfish a day
this way, with many over 30 inches. You can also wade to a near mangrove
island from shore and use this technique.
4)
Another productive way to
redfish a high tide is to use a poppin' floater
with 2 feet of 30-50 lb leader and a # 3-5.0
hook. Again go with the shrimp, live white bait or a jig tipped with shrimp.
Toss the rig as close to the mangroves as possible and every 3-4 minutes jerk
the rod and pop the floater very loudly. This noise will get the attention
of redfish several hundred yards away and way back into the mangroves.
When the popper disappears set the hook! This method always works on high
tides.
5) Redfish
follow different patterns during different seasons on the year. Sometimes
they school up into hundreds of
redfish prowling the flats, sometimes they scatter out and you will only
find one here and one there. There are always redfish on the flats year round,
but you have to look for them in different areas of Pine Island Sound during the
different seasons. During cold fronts it can be difficult and you might be
better off fishing in the deep canals instead of the flats. |
