|
11/15/2018 0 Comments only one team left - who will it be? November 15, 2019
For Immediate Release St. Bernard, LA T-H MARINE , a proud sponsor of the 2019 Redfish World Series announces the next four teams that will be competing for the Title of Redfish World Champion! The inaugural Redfish World Series – “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin” – will take place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana September 26-29, 2019. Only 48 of the top redfish teams in the country, including several Legacy Teams from the past, will make the cut for this unique event. Never in the history of competitive redfish angling has a field of this magnitude been assembled and the team that comes out on top will truly be the Redfish World Champions. Our field of sponsors continues to grow as well. More sponsor announcements coming soon. T-H MARINE - Where anything and everything for your boating needs can be found. Visit their site - https://thmarinesupplies.com/ - thank 'em for helping to make the Redfish World Series a truly awesome event, and see what the buzz is all about with their product lines. T-H Marine Supplies is truly a one-stop-shop for anything on the water. If it goes on or in a boat these guys have it! Forty Seven of the 48 teams have now been announced! There is only ONE team to go. The selection has been made and the Final Announcement will come very soon. The excitement to see which new teams have been added and who the Final Team will be is growing daily. As we approach the end of the selection/announcement process anglers, fans, family, and sponsors across the country have now realized that these are the most coveted invitations in the history of competitive redfishing and are holding their breath hoping that their favorite team will be chosen. The following Four teams join the first 43 in their pursuit of the title of Redfish World Champion:
Congratulations to these teams and best of luck as we move forward to the Final Announcement coming soon. Don’t see your favorite team yet? There's Only One More Team To Go! Check back daily so you don’t miss the excitement of the Final Announcement and complete list.
0 Comments
11/12/2018 0 Comments evolution Baseball – from the earliest days of the sport to today there have been many advancements. The balls are better, the bats more robust, the gloves and other equipment have been upgraded many, many times. But one thing has remained constant – they still throw a ball and an opponent tries to hit it. The work, the skill, the effort, the desire, and the drive required to produce results at a championship level remain the same. Football – tons of advances in equipment, workout regimen, dietary regimen, and strategies. But one thing remains the same – advance the ball beyond the opponent’s goal line by throwing and catching or running with the ball. The work, the skill, the effort, the desire, and the drive required to produce results at a championship level remain the same. Golf – From hickory sticks to metallurgical wonders of alloy, golf equipment has evolved tremendously over the decades. But the game has remained constant - completion of a series of designated holes by striking a ball in such an incredibly accurate manner that one is able to complete the series of holes in fewer strokes than the opponents. The work, the skill, the effort, the desire, and the drive required to produce results at a championship level remain the same. Basketball – by now you get the picture. The work, the skill, the effort, the desire, and the drive required to produce results at a championship level remain the same. Every sport started out as a friendly method of competition. It was for bragging rights mostly. It was just to see who could master the skills required to perform better than others. And, over time, every sport evolved from that out-in-the-street backyard mentality to a tier of competitions led by those that were the very best at their sport. It is notable that in every professional sport there has been a limit to the changes allowed by the groups of leaders that oversee the integrity of their sport. These are the people that founded and perfected the professional level of every competitive sport. The common thread among them is a deep and abiding love for, and belief in, their chosen sport. These are the men and women who loved and cherished their sport above their own personal gain and wanted to be certain that the integrity, the heart, the very foundation, of their sport remained unchanged. They wanted to ensure that performing professionally in any sport became defined by the work ethic, skill, sacrifice, and desire that it takes to get there and stay there. This is true in fishing as well because not every change in equipment, technique, or method is a good thing for the truth and integrity of the sport. Fishing is as old as humankind itself. It is man versus fish. Pretty simple really – catch a fish, eat a fish. Then someone challenged someone else with the idea of catching more or bigger fish than the other person. From this very first competition, the idea and concept of organized competition took root and grew. Methods and techniques and equipment changes flourished. Mason jar tournaments evolved for weekend fun and some of these anglers began to become known for their prowess and expertise in finding and catching fish. They used their knowledge from years of study and hundreds upon hundreds of hours on the water learning about the life and times of their prey. Again and again they were the victors in these competitions and it was due to their skill, intelligence, work ethic, and love of the “pureness” of their sport. Many different fishing organizations have evolved from that first contest eons ago. All these organizations have at their very core an inviolate principle of sportsmanship. They deny their competitors the use of equipment or technique that gives an unfair advantage to the competitor. It doesn’t matter if that equipment or technique is available to everyone. It becomes a matter of principle, of sportsmanship, and of honesty in competition. Utilizing a means that detracts from the skill level, work, effort, and drive required to compete at a championship level is simply not allowed in any other sport nor should it be allowed in competitive angling. Now let’s talk about fishing at a championship level – particularly redfishing. Same story as the other sports. Equipment has changed, techniques have changed, competition has intensified, rewards are greater – and perhaps in no other sport have the changes been as dramatic. Boats, rods, reels, electronics, navigational aids, motors, lures, livewells – every single aspect of competitive angling has changed and changed dramatically. B.A.S.S., the largest and most well-known fishing organization in the world, has enacted rules that disallow certain techniques that give an angler an unfair advantage over the fish as well as the other anglers. There is zero tolerance for an elevated platform of any kind and of any height. There is zero tolerance for those that would tarnish the sport by competing in an unsportsmanlike manner. There is enforcement of the rules evenly and fairly no matter the transgressor. Then there is competitive redfishing. A sport that, 20 years later, is still trapped and writhing in its infancy. A sport still fragmented and lacking in serious leadership and direction. A sport that has witnessed all the same changes in equipment and technique but without supervision, leadership, or direction. A sport that is still locked in the “out-in-the-street backyard” stages. In short, there is no comprehensive authority to turn to for definition of the sport as a sport. A fishing method or technique that is tremendously advantageous and blurs the line of work ethic, knowledge, and skill should not be allowed on the field of play. But that is exactly what is happening with the equipment and technique of “burning”. Any angler of moderate skill given the resources to be able to utilize the technique of running a boat on plane in shallow waters, around every shoreline, and across large shallow flats will be able to find fish and compete on the same level as a veteran angler who has honed his or her skills over years and years of tireless study and effort. It is not truth in action because it artificially transcends and defeats multiple levels of competence and skill. Burning is merely an easy shortcut that short-circuits and eliminates what should be the inherent advantages of knowledge, skill, hard work, and personal drive. Simply put, this technique detracts from the skill level required to compete at the highest level. It detracts from the merit, the honesty, and the truth of the sport. Until every redfish tour, trail, and competition in this country bans the use of this technique we will not, we simply cannot, build the sport of competitive redfishing to the level it deserves. Because, as long as this technique is allowed, the separation between anglers of moderate skill and those at the expert level will remain so blurred that a distinction between the two is impossible and the sport of competitive redfishing will forever be denied the growth to attain professional status.  November 09, 2019
For Immediate Release St. Bernard, LA CLUTCH FISHING joins the 2019 Redfish World Series and is proud to announce the next three teams that will be competing for the Title of Redfish World Champion. The inaugural Redfish World Series – “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin” – will take place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana September 26-29, 2019. Only 48 of the top redfish teams in the country, including several Legacy Teams from the past, will make the cut for this unique event. Never in the history of competitive redfish angling has a field of this magnitude been assembled and the team that comes out on top will truly be the Redfish World Champions. Our field of sponsors continues to grow as well. This week we welcome Clutch Fishing. Visit their site - https://clutchfishing.com/ - thank 'em for helping to make the Redfish World Series a truly awesome event, and see what the buzz is all about with their product lines! Forty Three of the 48 teams have now been announced! There are only five teams to go. The selections have been made and the announcements will continue weekly. The excitement to see which teams are joining this select group is growing daily. As we approach the end of the selection/announcement process anglers, fans, family, and sponsors across the country are holding their breath hoping that their favorite team will be chosen. The following three teams join the first 40 in their pursuit of the title of Redfish World Champion:
Congratulations to these teams and best of luck as we move forward with additional announcements coming weekly. Don’t see your favorite team yet? There's still Five more to go! Check back daily so you don’t miss the excitement of the upcoming announcements. 11/8/2018 2 Comments watts up? by RWS Staff
The Past: It’s a done deal. A record of events. You can see it, touch it, and know what it is. 1960 – Looking back on a simpler time in this country when the average cost of a new house was $12,700, average rent was $98, Gasoline was 25 cents a gallon, a loaf of bread was 20 cents, and you could get a new car for $2600. You could even take a selfie but it was a little more cumbersome with the Polaroid Land Camera and was considered pretty darned expensive at about $93. And, in the sleepy little burb of Lakeland, Florida Sylvia Watts gave birth to twin boys – Greg Duward and Bryan Christopher. 2018 – Today the average cost of a new house - $369,400, average rent $2000, gasoline $2.80, loaf of bread $2.50, new car $36,270. And a selfie? That’s about $400 on the low end to $1500 at the top. And, in the dark recesses of one man’s mind (yes, it was Gritter) an idea was born. An idea that would grow into a very special event. An event that will expose, celebrate, and nurture the competitive redfishing industry by showcasing the best redfish anglers in the country. These are the teams that consistently perform at a very high level and, due to their constant presence in the media, are the most influential group of redfish anglers in the world. These are the teams that will make up the 2019 Redfish World Series www.facebook.com/RedfishWorldSeries/ The Future: it’s a funny thing. It is not recorded because it’s not here yet. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. You don’t have any idea what it contains. But…..we are all flying headlong into it. Back in 1960 no one knew that home prices, rent, gasoline, food, and photos were going to become so expensive. No one knew that a World Series would come to mean something other than baseball. And, no one knew that these two infants - these Watts boys - would go on to become a couple of the most celebrated outdoorsmen and anglers of their time. They grew up around water. They waded. They swam. They watched. They fished. They studied. The water, the salt, the air, the pure joy of being outdoors soon intermingled with their blood and they became one with the environment. They followed, they observed, and they learned all about the creatures of the water, their habitat, and their habits. They became the quintessential hunters of the watery world they loved so well. Then, came the competitions. In their late teens and early twenties, they stalked the local bass competitions and became feared opponents. In the mid-1990’s they got interested in saltwater competition. They fished competitively for reds, snook, and trout with Bryan winning the SFFA Grand Champion title on the fly rod in 1997. In 2000 they fished the inaugural Herman Lucerne event in Flamingo, FL chasing six different species over two days. They won that event. And, in 2001, they backed it up with another victory in the same event. To this day they are the only team to win successive titles in that event. The bit was in their teeth now and there was no turning back. In 2000 the IFA came along and began their redfish series. The Watts boys were there too. Over the next several years they notched back to back wins, Championship Titles, Team of the Year, and were a constant and persistent force to be reckoned with. Their pervasive success continued with the ESPN Redfish Cup where they were the 2003 inaugural Port Aransas Cup Champions followed by a Championship win in Venice, LA and, subsequently, Team of the Year honors. Additionally, they have won Team of the Year on the FLW redfish tour, have an uncountable number of Top Ten finishes, and may be the only team to hold Team of the Year honors on all three of those tours. Not only have they been incredibly consistent with their competitive prowess, but they have contributed widely to the advancement of the sport of competitive redfishing. Their very notoriety brought much interest and involvement by anglers and industries to the sport. They helped make competitive redfishing a topic of general conversation thereby increasing its visibility and popularity. Current Day: The Watts brothers are much more sedate now and don’t get on the water competitively as much as they have in days past. This is mostly because their days and weeks are consumed traveling and building the brand for one of the finest fishing products in the world – Power Pole! www.power-pole.com/ Oh, they still travel to competitions regularly. But now they are there as Power Pole company support instead of as competitors. This makes the other competitors happy on both accounts. It is for good reason that these guys are known around the industry as the Godfathers of competitive redfishing. It is also for good reason that they are the first Legacy team invited to compete in the 2019 Redfish World Series in St. Bernard parish Louisiana www.sbpg.net It remains to be seen if their competitive juices, their desire to win, their innate talents can be re-ignited, stoked to a high intensity, and brought once more to the pinnacle of victory in the fiery crucible of competition just one… more… time.  November 04, 2019
For Immediate Release Chalmette, LA ENGEL COOLERS joins the 2019 Redfish World Series and is proud to announce the next four teams that will be competing for the Title of World Champion. The inaugural Redfish World Series – “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin” – will take place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana September 26-29, 2019. Only 48 of the top redfish teams in the country, including several Legacy Teams from the past, will make the cut for this unique event. Never in the history of competitive redfish angling has a field of this magnitude been assembled and the team that comes out on top will truly be the Redfish World Champions. Our field of sponsors continues to grow as well. This week we welcome Engel Coolers. Visit their site - www.engelcoolers.com - thank 'em for helping to make the Redfish World Series a truly awesome event, and see what the buzz is all about with their product lines! Forty of the 48 teams have now been announced! The excitement to see which teams are joining this select group is growing daily. Fans, family, and sponsors across the country are holding their breath hoping that their favorite team will be chosen. The following four teams join the first 36 in their pursuit of the title of Redfish World Champion:
Congratulations to these teams and best of luck as we move forward with additional announcements coming weekly. Don’t see your favorite team yet? Check back daily so you don’t miss the excitement of the upcoming announcements. 10/29/2018 1 Comment world series field now stands at 36!
(36 now confirmed – Just 12 teams to go!)
The inaugural Redfish World Series – “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin” – will take place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana September 26-29, 2019. Only 48 of the top redfish teams in the country, including several Legacy Teams from the past, will make the cut for this unique event. Never in the history of competitive redfish angling has a field of this magnitude been assembled and the team that comes out on top will truly be the Redfish World Champions. Our field of sponsors continues to grow as well. This week we welcome T-H Marine and Torch Eyewear. Visit their sites, thank 'em for helping to make the Redfish World Series a truly awesome event, and see what the buzz is all about with their product lines!, Thirty-three of the 48 teams have already been announced and the excitement to see which teams are joining this select group is growing daily. Fans, family, and sponsors across the country are holding their breath hoping that their favorite team will be chosen. The following three teams join the first 33 in their pursuit of the title of Redfish World Champion:
Congratulations to these teams and best of luck as we move forward with additional announcements coming weekly. Don’t see your favorite team yet? Check back daily so you don’t miss the excitement of the upcoming announcements. 10/23/2018 0 Comments World Series Field Grows to 33! October 23, 2018 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chalmette, LA Redfish World Series Announces Four More Teams (33 now confirmed – 15 more coming soon) The inaugural Redfish World Series – “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin” – will take place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana September 26-29, 2019. Only 48 of the top redfish teams in the country will make the cut for this unique event. Never in the history of competitive redfish angling has a field of this magnitude been assembled and the team that comes out on top will truly be the Redfish World Champions. Twenty nine of the 48 teams have already been announced and the excitement to see which teams are joining this select group is growing daily. Fans, family, and sponsors across the country are holding their breath hoping that their favorite team will be chosen. The following four teams join the first 29 in their pursuit of the title of Redfish World Champion:
Congratulations to these teams and best of luck as we move forward with additional announcements coming weekly. Don’t see your favorite team yet? Check back daily so you don’t miss the excitement of the upcoming announcements. 10/18/2018 0 Comments Four more teams join rws field FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Redfish World Series Announces Four More Teams St. Bernard Parish, LA - October 18, 2018 Twenty Nine teams are now confirmed for the inaugural Redfish World Series – “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin”. This World Class event will take place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana in September 2019. Only 48 of the top redfish teams in the country will make the cut for this unique event. Never in the history of competitive redfish angling has a field of this magnitude been assembled and the team that comes out on top will truly be the World Champions. Twenty five of the 48 teams have already been announced and the excitement to see which teams are joining this select group is growing daily. Fans, family, and sponsors across the country are holding their breath hoping that their favorite team will be chosen. The following four teams join the first 25 in their pursuit of the title of World Champion:
Congratulations to these teams and best of luck as we move forward with additional announcements coming weekly. Don’t see your favorite team yet? Check back daily so you don’t miss the excitement of the upcoming announcements.  “Where Champions are Born and Legends Begin” by Gritter Griffin The Redfish World Series is the ONLY redfish competition event in the world that brings together, by invitation only, the nation’s top redfish anglers for a fierce four-day competition to determine a true - Redfish World Champion The first ever World Championship competition will be held September 26-29, 2019 in the world-renowned capitol of redfish - St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Redfish World Series, LLC has reached a ten-year commitment with St. Bernard Parish to host this event. RWS, LLC is also working with the parish government to create a Redfish Festival specifically for the week of, and culminating in, the Redfish World Series. Similar festivals and events in the parish held in the same location over the past several years have attracted 90,000 to 120,000 attendees per event. This will be the biggest and most promoted event in parish history. The Redfish World Series is the most prestigious and unique redfishing event ever held. Envisioned, designed, developed, and produced specifically to showcase the premier redfish angling talent in the world along with the top tier of the industry in product design and function, the Redfish World Series is the new standard in competitive redfishing and promotion. Only 48 of the highest performing redfish teams in the country will be invited to compete in this annual event. They will be selected from across the spectrum of redfish competition tours and trails from North Carolina to Texas and every coastal area in between. These are the most consistently and highest performing teams from the Inshore Fishing Association, Rudy’s Pro Redfish Series, Florida Pro Redfish Series, Elite Redfish Series, Southern Redfish Cup Series, and America’s Redfish Cup. The RWS is also building fan and participation base for all these tours by designating specific events on each tour (beginning in 2019) that are immediate qualifiers for the following year’s World Championship. There are also invitees from a special cadre of veteran anglers that have been a part of the history, legacy, and growth of redfish competition. The anticipation of the release of the list of invitees for the first ever World Championship has every aspect of Social Media buzzing. There has never been a field of anglers with this scale of talent, competing in this type venue, for a goal of this magnitude. The Redfish World Series is setting an unparalleled precedent for numbers of impressions and sustained interest. First 24 Teams 2019 Only 48 teams will be invited to participate in the inaugural Redfish World Series taking place in St Bernard Parish Louisiana September 26-29, 2019. The following list is the first half of the field in random order. There is no preference, weight, or ranking assigned to the order of the list nor is there any bearing on being on the first list released versus the second. All the teams on this list have confirmed that they will be participating in the 2019 Redfish World Series. If you know some of these team members send them a congratulations note because these are the first teams that are going to have the opportunity to win the most prestigious tournament in competitive redfish history. The Champions of the Redfish World Series will receive an exclusive bronze redfish sculpture with a value in excess of $5000 each, a championship ring valued at $1500 each, and a check for a guaranteed $50,000 in cash! Their names will be engraved on a permanent plaque on yet another exclusive redfish sculpture that will be maintained in the St. Bernard Parish government office building lobby. There is only one first of anything and one of these 24 teams may very well be the first ever legitimate World Champions of competitive redfishing! Here are your first 24 teams:
Redfish World Series Format - 2019 Day 0 – Wednesday - Off the Water Day – no competitors or any of their equipment allowed on the water for any reason except repairs or maintenance with prior approval and accompanied by RWS staff or designee. There will be a White Tablecloth Captains Meeting early that evening and there may be “required attendance” events during the day as well. Day 1 – Thursday – All teams. Random order blastoff. Bag Limit: Two (2) slot redfish. Day 2 – Friday – All teams. Reverse order blastoff. Bag Limit: Three (3) slot redfish.
Day 3 – Saturday
Day 4 – Sunday
More Info:
 by Gritter Griffin Most of the content of this Part 1 comes from Dr. Franklin’s book but it is the message of destruction that is so vitally important. We are rapidly killing off an entire level of the food chain and when a gap like that occurs in a system so perfectly balanced, a widespread ecological disaster will certainly follow. Recreational and commercial fishermen know menhaden (pogies) are the best bait for almost all carnivores, but their numbers have been in serious decline since the mid-1800s. You may know menhaden by a different name — “pogies” — or you may have never heard of them at all. Pogies are small, bony, oily fish that many people will never encounter at the grocery store. Pogies are also a keystone species in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard and when they disappear, bad things start to happen: The ocean becomes murky, and algae blooms spread unchecked. Menhaden are filter feeders, the janitors of the Atlantic — they have always been around to clean up the mess. And now they’re not. H. Bruce Franklin, author of “The Most Important Fish in the Sea” notes that - “You won’t see menhaden in the fish market or supermarket seafood section but they are present in the flesh of other fish lying there in the ice.” “Northern New England was the scene of the largest menhaden fishery. During fall migration menhaden formed a school body with the vanguard reaching Cape Cod when the rear guard had not left Maine, 40 miles wide,” Franklin said. But today the numbers of adult fish are 13 percent of what they once were. In 1889, utilizing rather primitive methods, Rhode Island harvested 112 million pounds of menhaden. Three years ago the total was 10 million. Menhaden, Franklin said, are being decimated by a single company; Omega Protein, ground down (reduced) into oil and meal to be processed into hog and chicken feed, linoleum, cosmetics, lubricants, insecticide, paints, soap, and a multitude of other uses. “None of the uses of menhaden are necessary. The only reason this industry exists is because it’s a little cheaper than the alternatives,” commented Franklin. Omega Protein, originally the Zapata Corporation, was co-founded in 1953, Franklin noted with relish, by George H.W. Bush. “They’re converting billions of menhaden into industrial commodities,” Franklin said. “From 1860 to the present catching menhaden has been this nation’s largest fishery. Since the end of the Civil War more menhaden have been caught by weight and by number than all other fin fisheries put together.” One thousand fish can yield 18 gallons of oil. They’re fished fish purse seines. Spotter planes locate the school and it is soon surrounded and swallowed. “Each adult fish is only a pound but there are so many in the net it may now weigh as much as a blue whale,” Franklin said. Native Americans planted menhaden with corn and taught the colonists to plow them into their fields as fertilizer – which they did - by the millions! “They made larger scale agriculture possible,” Franklin ventured. Menhaden are filter feeders, they lack teeth, and churn through clouds of plankton in Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf Coast, and other estuaries. “Each adult fish can filter four gallons of water a minute,” noted Franklin. “Turn on any faucet or hose and try to get four gallons a minute out of it - you cannot.” In the mid 1800′s whaling ports were converted into menhaden ports. More than 100 processing factories were built. Over three hundred vessels were based in Maine alone. “In 1879 Maine was the first state to ban the menhaden reduction industry from their waters,” Franklin noted. ”“But it was too late. The menhaden were gone.” Only intermittently have they returned to waters north of Cape Cod, virtually disappearing from 1993-2004. Over time 11 other states followed the ban and the industry migrated down the coast landing in Virginia. People were recognizing their importance as food for bigger edible fish. “By forcing people to rethink the predator-prey relationship menhaden demanded a revolution in human thought,” Franklin said. But, after WWII the industry drafted surplus warships into the fight. “The weapons of war could now be hurled at huge offshore schools that had withstood three generations of efforts,” declared Franklin. The schools shrank in size as fish were harvested far offshore in their spawning grounds. “As the menhaden population crashed, smaller companies went bankrupt,” Franklin noted, and soon, it was Omega Protein that was left with their fleet of 61 ships and 31 planes. As a note of comparison, “By the 1930s the bay’s oyster population was one percent of what it was in the 1890s and today menhaden are headed for the same fate,” Franklin said. The bay’s catch for menhaden has been capped at 109,000 metric tons but the 2007 haul was just half that. “That’s a true crash and portends a catastrophe for the whole coast,” Franklin said. The New Jersey population has since rebounded but the fleet followed them north. Franklin would like to prevent that. “There is a bill in Congress to shut the menhaden fishery in federal waters,” reported Franklin. “Given a chance this wonderfully fecund fish could come back.” “The time has come, actually it came in 1882, for our government to get into the act,” he concluded. More to come, specifically about the Gulf Coast pogey fishery, in Part 2. 9/12/2018 0 Comments red october at cedar key by Chris Christian If there’s an easier place to catch reds in the fall, it would have to be a hatchery. Every time I launch at Cedar Key during the fall, I expect to see it. I don’t always, but when I do it still amazes me. Today I found what I was looking for not three miles from the ramp: a river of bronze flowing steadily across a crystalline, 4-foot-deep grassflat. The school of reds was at least 30 feet wide, 100 feet long and they were packed tight together. Sight fishing doesn’t get much easier than that. What makes scenes like this so common in this corner of Florida? Geography seems to play a big role. Cedar Key differs in this respect from other fishing holes in the Big Bend. It’s basically a huge point jutting from the shallow backwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. In some places, not even 2,000 yards separates 15-foot-plus Gulf water from a 2-foot flat. You don’t find that kind of terrain in many areas of the Big Bend, and it’s not much different than a long point on a freshwater lake. That makes it a magnet for a variety of gamefish species much of the year. October is my favorite time to visit Cedar Key. It’s when redfish gang up in large schools, often within five miles of the ramp. Once those reds settle in, they don’t leave the immediate area. They don’t have to. The entire Cedar Key area inside Seahorse Key is nothing more than one big grassflat, dotted with a few small keys, and interspersed with deeper holes and a maze of channels. On rising water, reds follow baitfish up onto the flats or to the oyster and spartina grass edges of the keys, but they don’t have to leave when the tide bottoms out. They just drop back to the nearest pothole or channel where they await the next flood tide. Anglers who time their arrival around the last two hours of the flood and the first two hours of the ebb tide will find reds shallow. They’ll be roaming right up to the grass lines and oyster mounds on many of the smaller keys, with Rattlesnake, Snake (the west side is best) and Deadman’s Keys, as well as the inside of McCrary Cove, being top spots to try. You don’t normally find large schools on these shorelines—it’s mostly singles and smaller pods—but there can be plenty of them. If it’s early and late in the day (or overcast) a topwater plug is often my first choice. Watching a 30-inch red assault a surface bait is worth the price of admission, and you also have an excellent chance of taking some big trout, which will be right up on the grasslines with the reds. Plastic-tail jigs are another top choice, with a combo of red/chartreuse being a proven producer. So, too, are the newer saltwater spinnerbaits, particularly ones with a safety-pin gold spinner over a soft-plastic jig. If the water is high and the fish are in the spartina, spinnerbaits are more weedless than a jig, and reds eat them just as well. A gold Johnson spoon is also effective, but if you’re working around oyster bars you can leave a lot of them on the bottom. A better bet over shell is a 1⁄2-ounce floating gold Rat-L-Trap. Veteran guide Jimmy Keith introduced me to this lure a decade ago and it has become a favorite of mine for reds around shallow oysters. This lure will run about two feet deep on a steady retrieve and has the same redfish-mesmerizing characteristics as the spoon, but it floats at rest. When oysters attack you can just throw some slack in the line and it will float free. Over extremely shallow oyster you can dig it down to just tick the top with a stop and go retrieve, and the reds love it. Pounding the banks is a good way to spend the top hours of the tide, especially during dim light periods, but you’ll be fishing for smaller groups of fish. If you want to stay up to your belt buckle in reds, you need to find the large roaming schools. The top spot for that is the big grassflat between the east side of Seahorse Key and the west side of Deadman’s Key. This is a big area, and during the 20 years I’ve been fishing it I seldom see more than a couple of boats out in the middle of it; most anglers stick around the shallows on Deadman or Seahorse Keys. But, that open flat can hold some massive schools of reds. Finding them can take a bit of time. If you’re running a flats skiff with a poling platform and a trolling motor on the bow, you’ve got the most efficient means to do it, since the trolling motor can cover a lot of water while the angler on the poling platform has excellent visibility. If you don’t see the big bronze flash of a couple hundred reds, then the “push” or the feeding splashes that school will make in shallow water should show. Once you find a school, you can stay with them for awhile. If you don’t charge into them, they’re going to continue to wander and feed. You can pick fish off the edges, and then go back to the school. If you do spook them, stick around the area, because they usually regroup fairly close to where they spooked. One of my favorite rigs in this situation is a rattling cork with an 18-inch leader sporting a 1⁄4-ounce plastic-tail jig. I can toss this a long way on a 7-foot spinning rod, lay it right in front of the school, and when they get to it, a couple of twitches virtually guarantees a hookup. If I’m really feeling sporty I’ll trail a 1⁄16-ounce jig behind a topwater plug. They’ll hit one or the other, and sometimes both, which can makes things real interesting. They’ll also whack jigs, spoons, topwater plugs, jerkbaits or just about anything else you’d care to throw. Reds stacked that tightly are very competitive. Anglers who opt for a fly rod don’t always have it that easy. If you approach fish cautiously you’ll earn a hookup, but the resulting close-range commotion may spook the school enough that it’ll take a long time for them to regroup. Veteran guide Jim Dupre found a solution to this problem. As he showed me over a decade ago, you don’t have to bring your angler to the school—you can just pull a pod of redfish off of the school and bring them to your angler. The procedure was simple: Take a 7-foot spinning rod spooled with light line (6- or 8-pound mono, or an even smaller diameter in braid), add a 1⁄2-ounce gold spoon without a hook, and toss it from a distance at any school of reds sighted. Reel the spoon at a smooth and steady pace, keeping it within a foot or so of the surface, and you can count on some reds trying to kill it. Since the spoon has no hook, about all they can do is bang at it—but they will follow it. You might have only three or four fish follow the spoon teaser, or maybe a dozen. Either way, every one of them is trying to kill that spoon and the angler on the “teasing rod” will feel every bump and bang. Keep the spoon within a foot or so of the surface so you can see the fish clearly. When that pod of fish gets within range of the fly rodder, just drop the rodtip, yank hard, and send the spoon flying over the boat. The end result is a pod of reds, close to the boat, fired up and looking to crush the first edible-size thing they see. A surface hair bug or popper is an eminently suitable substitute, although any streamer pattern will do. Dupre saved his spoons that had been through the wringer so many times that the hooks were shot, but any 1⁄2- to 3⁄4-ounce gold spoon should work if the hook is removed. And, his teasing technique was not limited to those schools he could see. There were times when surface chop made visibility so poor that the tactic du jour was to simply fling the spoon as far as you could in likely areas—and reel it steadily—and when you felt the bangs and taps of the reds you knew you had found a school. Just how big those fish will be, comes under the heading of “it depends.” On one of my recent trips I was into a school whose members all ran between 26 and 32 inches. They definitely school by size, and if you’re not happy with what you’ve found, go find a different school. There can be several roaming the flats at the same time. Given that some of the most productive areas are just minutes from the ramp, it’s not hard to see red at Cedar Key during the fall. Low Tide Works, Too! The most active reds in Cedar Key will be found on the flood tide, but with only two tides a day you can’t always count on catching it when the opportunity to fish arises. Getting there on a low tide doesn’t mean you can’t catch reds. You just have to shift tactics. Low water will drop the reds back to deeper holes until the next flood and there are a number of good areas within a mile, or less, of the flats they roam best on high water. The area immediately inside the northeast corner of Seahorse Key is riddled with deeper potholes, and Deadman’s Channel runs along the north side of Deadman’s Key, brushes the southern end of North Key, and extends well outward to the west. Both are right next to where the reds roam on high water and traditionally hold them on the bottom end of the tide. While lures usually get the nod on the flood tide, many prefer bait (live or cut) during low water, since the fish are not quite as active. Live finger mullet are great if you can find them, but many local experts catch plenty of reds on cut mullet chunks or strips or blue crab chunks. The Seahorse Key potholes are easy to fish. Pin a finger mullet (or a mullet strip or chunk) on a 1⁄4-ounce jighead and work each hole as you come to it. If it’s holding reds you’ll know fairly quickly. The channel is a much bigger area and I prefer to ease along it with the trolling motor, watching the depthfinder to stay right on the hardest drop, while dragging a jig/mullet behind me. Once the first red is hooked, I can drop the anchor and soak baits to get into the rest of the school. 8/31/2018 0 Comments surfing for bulls by Jerry LaBella
With the arrival of fall, a sort of wild hiatus occurs, and not just along the Gulf of Mexico, either. Frenzied surf anglers also pepper the shores from as far north along the East Coast from Delaware all the way down to Florida.It is here that the sandy seashores become a pincushion for sand spikes and 8 ft. surf rods, not to mention the miles of tire tread prints from various 4 X 4 vehicles. The key target for most of these pursuers is bull redfish (bull red drum). What makes this type of fishing appealing to many anglers is you don’t have to have a boat to tango with these brutes of the surf. With a minimal investment of a rod and reel, ice chest, and some items discussed later, an angler can have success otherwise limited to those with a boat. Accessibility is the key with this type of fishing, and it comes in many forms. You can fish off the beach, a bridge or jetties, or other structure if you have the proper equipment. Obviously, without a boat one would at least have to have a vehicle that would allow for the transporting of all the needed gear to the location of choice. Careful planning is important because this kind of angling is more often a waiting game. Therefore, to make it more pleasurable you need to bring all the needed amenities: lounge chairs, sun canopy, refreshments, radio, etc. There’s nothing real technical about this type of fishing, which basically involves casting a beefy piece of bait into the surf and waiting for a hookup. There’s no need, either, for any fancy working of the bait to enhance a strike. What will be important, nonetheless, is that you periodically check the bait to make sure you haven’t lost it and to keep it freshly changed about every 30 minutes or so, depending on bait type and how hungry bait thieves become. The saying that “the more, the better” is definitely a principle to follow when considering how many rods to use, but don’t put out more than can comfortably be handled. Use no more than two rods per person and try to place baits in as many directions as possible, leaving a comfortable distance between each. Likewise, when fishing from a pier or bridge you would want to fish both sides, giving consideration to other occupants. Then, after everything is setup, pay attention to where the strikes occur, and relocate the rest of the rods and reels undergoing less action to that vicinity. Once all the rods and reels have been cast out, the handles will have to be placed in a supporting device called a sand spike, or rod holder, which is driven and secured into the sand away from any lapping waves. This device may also be used wherever there’s a place with a railing or similar fixture (bridge rail, pier post, etc.) so that it can be taped or tie strapped securely to an up right. A sand spike can be purchased at most sporting good stories, but you can construct one very easily. All you need for a sand spike is a 4 foot length of 1 3/4 PVC from your local hardware store. With the use of a hacksaw, cut one end on a 30-45 degree angle and the other end square. Clean the rough edges by scraping them with a razor knife. The angled end is driven into the sand; the other end is for the rod handle to go into. To prevent loss of rod and reel you must make sure that the drag on spinning reels are set loose enough with bail closed. On bait casting reels, set them in free spool ratchet position, before placing them in the sand spike. After placement, test to see if they will remain secured in the spike by pulling out the line in front of the rod tip, simulating a fish strike. Adjust drag tension accordingly so that spike will not be pulled from the ground or fixture to which you attached it. The game of patience begins when all lines are out and you’re laid back sipping on a cold one, waiting to be pleasantly interrupted by the loud clamoring sound of your reel’s drag. When that happens, set the hook immediately and get the other lines out of the water. On bait casting reels put the reel into lock mode (fighting position); on spinning reels tighten the drag enough to set the hook and allow for the run. Despite popular theory, it’s not necessary to wait before setting the hook when catching bull redfish or black drum. These fish can engulf a fist-sized bait in one inhalation. If you wait a few seconds before setting the hook the fish may become gut-hooked, making it less likely to survive if you decide to release it. Fight the fish long enough so that it wears down, and don’t be overly concerned if there’s a lot of wave action. Keep the line taut and use the waves to your advantage by allowing the surf to bring the fish right on the beach. Once landed, keep it clear of the lapping waves or it may be sucked back out to sea. Fighting a bull redfish from a structure is an all together different challenge. Here drag tightening and rod manipulation can make a difference between landing or losing the fish. If a fish is headed for structure, such as piling legs, rocks, etc., and the present drag setting is unable to turn him, you may take a risk on tightening the drag more to head him off. However, if that’s unsuccessful, you might try the “gambling tactic” if you are wary of line breakage due to abrasion.Since fish fight and run at the sensation of resistance, put the reel in free spool or break the bail open, which ever is applicable, and hope it steers clear of the potential obstacle. Allow the fish a few seconds and resume the fight with your rod tip pointing to where you want it to head–hopefully out of cover. Fishing above the water from a pier or bridge presents a different challenge. Such places can make it difficult to landing the fish unless you have a bridge gaff handy. Remember, the longer the fish stays idle in the water, the more likely it’ll rest enough and rebound, possibly putting you back in the same situation you just got out of. Like the sand spike, the bridge gaff is also something you can make. This device allows you to gaff the fish and hoist it up to where you’re located. This piece of equipment is nothing more than a very large treble hook fastened to a 1 ft. long shock leader of 200 lb. mono with about 1 pound of egg sinkers directly above the treble hook eyelet. A 30-40 ft. length of 3/8 rope is then tied to this leader after making a closed loop with the use of barrel crimps. Landing a fish with the bridge gaff is relatively simple, if you have an assistant to direct the hook so that it gaffs the fish under the mouth area. Once the fish is gaffed, immediately place the reel setting in proper position to relieve any line tension (i.e. break bail, etc.) just in case the fish breaks free from the gaff it won’t snap your rod in two due to the fall. Tackle is critical when scuffling with these broad-shouldered surf-runners. It is therefore important to use at least 25 pound test mono line, but braided line in at least the 6/30 class will be a better choice, particularly where structure is eminent. A stiff surf rod of 8 or more feet in length, with a reel of no less than 200 yards capacity will be mandatory. This type of rod makes for longer casts and added leverage for maneuvering these heavy-duty redfish away from critical structure. A simple, effective leader to use is a fish-finder rig. This rig allows the fish to take line without feeling the resistance of the sinker. These are especially useful when fishing the surf since the line will basically stay where you cast it. A fish-finder rig consists of a 2-3 ft. length of 40 pound mono leader with an 8/0 hook on one end and a barrel swivel on the other. On the tag end of the fishing line slide a large snap swivel (eyelet end) up the line and place a pyramid sinker (at least 4 oz.) to the clip side of the swivel. Then tie the tag end of the fishing line to the leader at the barrel swivel. Depending on size of bait, current and waves, the sinker weight might need to be increased or decreased. Pyramid sinkers are the key here since they will dig into the sandy bottom and hold your line in position. When using this type of leader setup, some have been puzzled when casting heavy baits with too light a sinkers. What takes place is a short cast with the bait traveling way beyond the sinker location. If this happens, increase sinker weight to equal or more than the bait’s weight. This will allow the sinker and snap swivel assembly to remain nearer the leader section during the cast, preventing it from double backing and entangling itself. Many baits work well when going after bull reds; but make no mistake about it, fresh is best. Squid, mullet, pinfish, porgies, croaker all work well. But many veteran anglers choose whole or cracked crab because it is least prone to be taken by sharks, catfish, or picked clean by bait fish. Nevertheless, no matter which one you choose, one thing is for sure – when the surf’s red, the bull’s will be fed! 8/30/2018 0 Comments battle of bull run By Danno Wise One of the most anticipated annual occurrences along the Texas coast is the bull redfish run. Although the run can happen anytime between July and October, September is typically prime time for oversize red drum. It is during the ninth month that every day truly offers redfish aficionados the opportunity to catch a fish of a lifetime. Anglers looking to hook into bull reds can find them in three areas during September - beachfronts, passes and bay waters. However, the central figures in the unfolding drama of the bull red run are the Gulf passes. In order to consistently be successful pulling bull reds during the run, fishermen need to understand the underlying purpose for these passes and the reason the redfish are drawn there. For starters, as are many of nature's more glorious events, the bull red run is all about spawning. Bull reds, which are actually mature female red drum, move from the open Gulf, where they spend most of their time, close to shore and, specifically, close to Gulf passes that connect Texas' various bays to the Gulf of Mexico. Simultaneously, recently sexually matured male and female redfish begin to filter out of the bays, where they've spent their formative years, to the beachfront in order to congregate with the spawning stock. In this instance, the passes act as open doors for the redfish leaving the bays looking to start the second stage of their life in the Gulf waters. Once these two groups get a chance to mingle, the passes play yet another important role in this ritual. According to biologists, redfish actually drop their eggs along the beachfront and rely on tidal currents to sweep them through the passes and into the protected bay waters, where they newborn redfish will have a better chance of survival once hatched. These same bay waters will be home for the first few years of each red's life, until they mature to the point they, too, can join in the annual beachfront spawning ritual. Of course, unlike salmon, bull reds have no qualms about feeding during their spawning ritual. Therefore, anglers located schools of bulls have a very good chance to hook into them. The key is located the schools and presenting baits in the proper way. BAYS Redfish leaving the bays typically do so in fairly large groups. These fish start 'ganging up' during late summer, preparing for their trip to the open Gulf. Over the course of a couple months, each of these large groups will meander through the bay and toward the pass. Typically, these schools will follow some sort of defined boundary, such as a shoreline or channel edge while making their way to the open Gulf. Although these schools of freshly matured reds may be using deep channels as a road map to the spawning grounds, they will usually travel over the shallow shelves paralleling the deep channels. And, while these schools typically travel at good clip, they will stop and mill around while feeding. At times like these, anglers can wade to or stake out a boat within casting distance of a school and pluck fish from the perimeter without spooking the main school. When working a school of feeding reds, fly rodders are at a distinct advantage in that they can quietly present their offering to fish on the fringes without causing a fish-spooking splash. Conventional tackle fishermen are best served using spinning rigs and casting weightless or lightly-weighted lures to fish around the edges of the main pod. Cruising fish will also eat. However, they will rarely deviate far from their designated course. And, anglers need to toss something that gets their attention. BEACHFRONT When most anglers think of bull reds, images of surf fishing come to mind. Without a doubt, many big bulls are pulled from the beachfront suds each summer and fall. By and large, the majority of fish caught from shore are subdued by fishermen armed with heavy surf sticks loaded with natural baits such as cut mullet, skipjack, cracked crab or jumbo live shrimp. The primary reason for this is bull reds spend their time along the beachfront essentially cruising in big loops. In areas where the water clarity isn't good enough to allow fishermen to see approaching schools, laying out set baits only makes sense. However, from the mid-coast down, where beach-bound and boating anglers can both identify roving schools, lures and flies come into play. For fishermen with the ability to spot fish moving along the shoreline, holding fire until the fish are within range is the best bet. Boating anglers are, of course, at an advantage in that they are able to position themselves in front of moving schools - and stay with a school as it moves up and down the beachfront. Beachfront and jetty fishermen are more reliant on the kindness of schools willing to move within casting range. As schools approach, anglers should be at the ready. The biggest mistake in this scenario happens when fishermen misjudge the depth of the swimming school. Clear water tends to make fish appear closer to the surface than they actually are. Most often, even sighted fish are at least 4 feet below the surface. And, though this fish will readily eat, they won't stray far from their path to do so. Essentially, this means fishermen need to toss offerings that will quickly sink into the fish's line of sight. Fly rodders should use heavily weighted baitfish patterns paired with sinking lines. PASSES Whenever reds are found in passes during this time of year, they will be on the move. Therefore, anglers working inside passes should employ the same strategies as beachfront fishermen working along the beachfront. If the water is too muddy to see, set baits on the bottom and wait for passing schools. If the water is clear enough to sight fish, hold your fire until a school moves through. In either instance, fishermen are usually able to attack fish in passes with equal success whether they are in a boat or not. The reason for this is two-fold. One, passes are generally relatively narrow and fish usually follow the shoreline to some extent. Secondly, most major passes are lined with jetties, which provide excellent perches for bull red seekers. TACKLE While bull reds don't require extremely heavy tackle, anglers wanting a realistic shot at subduing one of these brutish drum should use a little beefier sticks than what are normally employed for bay use. Conventional tackle fishermen can typically get by with 7-foot medium to medium-heavy rods paired with a reel capable of handling 175 yards of 12 pound test. The exception to this would be surf fishermen, who need slightly longer rods fitted with reels capable of holding around 250 yards of line. Fly rodders should use 9 or 10 wt sticks paired with either intermediate or full sink lines. Whether fishing the bay, beachfront or in passes, anglers should know that every day they wet a hook during fall they have an excellent opportunity to land an over-size redfish. 8/7/2018 0 Comments Late Summer Redfish by Danno Wise There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that August is a summer month. However, the red hot redfish action that is generally associated with fall fishing actually begins in the weeks leading up to Labor Day. That means August through October is prime redfish time. And, this includes a variety of areas along the coast. In fact, late summer begins a period of angling excitement when fishermen tackle redfish of all sizes in a variety of venues, with a variety of techniques and using a variety of baits and lures. So, although we are only talking about a single species, the diverse places and ways to catch redfish this time of year means that anglers can literally do something different every single day of the month. Shallow flats and shorelines Contrary to popular belief, not all inshore fish are found deep during late summer. In fact, August is the time maturing reds in the back bays will begin ganging up and working their way down to the Gulf passes for their annual spawning ritual. And, as single become doubles, doubles become pods and pods become schools, they we be more and more common in shallow water – over skinny flats and along shorelines. Keeping with the theme of variety, shallow water fishermen are presented with a myriad of methods that can be productive on late summer reds. When found on the shallow flats, redfish can easily be taken with a variety of natural baits, such as shrimp, mullet, and crab. A variety of artificial lures, including topwaters, spoons and soft-plastic jigs, will also work – not to mention the streamers, attractors and poppers cast by fly fishermen. Regardless of what bait or lure is being thrown, there are a variety of ways to target redfish in shallow water this time of year. For natural bait fishermen, they most basic method is to anchor down and fish bait on the bottom, general in sandy potholes or along the edges of grass beds. A modified bottom fishing method that has developed in Deep South Texas is known as “humping.” The basic purpose of humping is to cover water while bottom fishing. This technique involves casting downwind of a drifting boat with a bottom rig, then reeling steadily, but just fast enough to keep slack out of the line as the boat drifts toward the location of the bait. Once the boat gets close to the bait, it is reeled in and recast. This method can also be used by wade fishermen walking toward their bait while reeling. A number of natural bait fishermen choose to freeline their baits instead of anchoring them to the bottom. This method can be used with live or dead bait, but is most commonly used with live shrimp, finger mullet or crab. It involves using either no weight or just enough weight to cause the bait to get below the water’s surface. Anglers then allow the bait to swim naturally around structures such as potholes while maintaining enough tautness in the line as to detect strikes. Another method of natural bait fishing pioneered on the shallow grass flats of South Texas is casting mullet strips. Essentially this involves hooking a mullet fillet on a 4/0 Kahle hook and retrieving it like a soft-plastic jerkbait. Popping corks and maulers can also be utilized on flats from 12 inches to 4 feet deep. The larger, oval and cupped faced models should be used in deeper, darker waters, while cigar shaped versions are better for shallower or clearer water. Both natural and artificial baits can be hung beneath corks and maulers. Good examples of lures and baits that can be effectively used beneath maulers and corks include live shrimp, finger mullet, pinfish, live crabs, artificial shrimp, soft-plastic jigs and lipless crankbaits. When fish are not sighted on flats, anglers should employ fan casting – casting at small angular increments in front of the boat drift or wading direction in order to effectively cover as much water as possible. This method can be employed by both artificial lure and natural bait fishermen. Another effective method to use when fish aren’t sighted is selective blind casting. This basically involves casting lures and baits to potholes, grass edges and other likely fish-holding structures. Anglers should also cast toward slicks, nervous water, active bait and any other sign of active fish. Of course, for many fishermen, there is only one satisfying manner in which to catch redfish in shallow water – sightcasting (this is what most people relate to fly fishermen, although long rodders can be productive both sight-casting and blind-casting). When sightcasting, anglers may see tailing fish or may see fish beneath the surface when visibility is good. Later in August, it is also possible to see entire “herds” – giant schools of redfish – working the flats. Which brings us to another point -- how to work a school on the shallow flats. It is critical to be able to work school efficiently to catch multiple fish from one school. To do this, anglers should first determine the direction in which the school is moving. Then, look for any “stragglers” that may not be tight against the main “herd.” Casting to fish that are not right next to other fish is the first preference. If the school is bunched tight, anglers should attempt to cast to fish that are at the near edge. Hooking fish on the edges allows anglers to “steer” the fish clear of the remaining school without spooking them. Jetties & passes Again, the annual redfish run starts in late summer and that means Gulf passes and the jetties that line them will be hot spots for both slot-size redfish as well as big “bull” reds. Of course, knowing redfish are found in Gulf passes this time of year and actually finding and catching them are two different things. In order to fully understand how to locate schools of bull redfish during the annual run, it is important to understand why they migrate to the beachfront each year. In short, bull redfish run has everything to do with the continuity of the species' life cycle – it is a spawning ritual that must be fulfilled every year. Redfish are unique among Texas inshore species in that they do not live, grow and die in the same body of water. Redfish are born in backwater estuaries and marshes. As they grow, they move out into bays and saltwater lakes, where they will spend the next few years of their lives. Once they reach sexual maturity - usually around 28 to 32 inches - they move into the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. They spend the remainder of their lives in these open, deep waters. But, each year they return to the Gulf passes to spawn, giving Texas inshore anglers a great opportunity to tangle with “oversize” reds. As is the case on the shallow flats, there are a variety of lures, baits and techniques that will account for redfish in Gulf passes and near jetties. Around the jetties and in passes, most reds are taken on natural baits such as mullet, jumbo live shrimp or crabs. Each of these baits can be fish on the bottom or, when fishing around jetties, freelined. However, artificial lures such as ½-ounce jigs, swimbaits, 1 oz spoons and lipless crankbaits will take their share of redfish near the rocks as well. Surf The beachfront is the most accessible of all redfish venues. And, every stretch of beach from Boca Chica to Sea Rim will be producing redfish during late summer. Again, variety is the operative word when talking about targeting redfish in the late summer surf. Both natural baits and artificial baits will produce fish in the surf. At times, anglers choose to combine the two. When pursuing bull reds, some fishermen opt to pin a big live bait - either mullet or shrimp - to the bottom and wait for a school to pass by. While waiting, they will often pass the time by throwing spoons, jigs, sinking plugs or topwater plugs into the first two guts. In areas such as Boca Chica, South Padre Island and Padre Island National Seashore, where the surf is clear enough to allow schools of redfish to be easily sighted, anglers pursue schools on foot, in boats or in vehicles and toss artificial lures to them. Heavily weighted, fast sinking jigs and swimbaits are the best choices for casting to cruising schools of beachfront bulls. As you can see, there is no reason to wait until October to get in on outstanding redfish action. After all, the legendary fall fishing for reds along the Texas coast actually begins in August. So, any anglers growing weary of fishing deep structure for schoolie specks during late summer can always sight-cast the shallow flats or probe the close beachfront or pass for redfish of all sizes.  Day 0 – Wednesday - Off the Water Day – no competitors or any of their equipment allowed on the water for any reason except repairs or maintenance with prior approval and accompanied by RWS staff or designee. There will be a White Tablecloth Captains Meeting early that evening and there may be “required attendance” events during the day as well.
Day 1 – Thursday – All teams. Random order blastoff. Bag Limit: Two (2) slot redfish. Day 2 – Friday – All teams. Reverse order blastoff. Bag Limit: Three (3) slot redfish.
Day 3 – Saturday
Day 4 – Sunday
8/6/2018 0 Comments killing fields 2 Ah yes, southern Louisiana! There’s nothing quite like it.
With 40% of the nation’s coastal wetlands it is the best place to catch fish and hunt critters of every description. It is indeed a true Sportsman’s Paradise. But for how long? For far too many decades the creel limits of Louisiana have been much more liberal than other coastal states. For far too long the annual killing rate of inshore fish has risen steadily. For far too long the pervasive sentiment has been “there’s just so many we can’t ever catch them all”. Perhaps several decades ago, before the splendor and natural beauty and bounty of Louisiana was discovered, these creel limits and thoughts made sense. They no longer do. Prior to the boom in recreational fishing, tournament fishing, and guided trips over the past 10-15 years there was little serious damage to the vast fishery of coastal Louisiana. The harvest was but a fraction of the total. It was an easy thing for it to remain self-sustaining. Perhaps it no longer can. I would submit to you that within the next ten years we will see a continued and significant decline in the numbers and quality of inshore species in Louisiana unless a reduction in creel limits and sensible management plans are enacted. More guides need to promote catch and release formats. The state needs to remove the ability of customers to keep the captains limit too. Louisiana is second only to Florida in recreational harvest and is second only to Alaska in commercial landings. Creel limits and fisheries management are not easy considerations for a state that realizes over $800 Million in total economic impact from recreational fishing alone. When the recreational number is added to the $2.4 Billion in total economic impact from commercial fishing it becomes a staggering $3.2 Billion-dollar discussion. Think on this a minute – four people who do not regularly fish book a guided trip for redfish and trout. They leave the dock at 0700 and are usually back before 1000 with 25 reds, 100 trout, and a smattering of black drum and sheepshead. These fish are cleaned, bagged and put on ice. The erstwhile anglers, after many smiling bragging-board pictures, haul their catch back home where a few of the fillets are actually consumed. But, the majority are consigned to the garbage dumps or used for pet food after they are freezer burned. It is unreasonable to expect that this quantity of fish will be properly maintained and eaten in an expeditious manner. It is, quite simply, a killing waste and it is hurting the entire ecosystem. Not convinced yet? Read on dear friend. In the coastal parishes of Louisiana there are 730 licensed guides. If these guides are making a living at their craft (and I assume they are) they will likely average 150 trips per year across the board. These trips will be to catch reds and trout. SO, let’s average four clients per boat X 150 trips X 730 guides X 5 redfish per angler and captain = 150 X 730 X 25 = 2,737,500 dead redfish. And the trout harvest is worse, much worse 150 X 730 X 125 = 13,687,500 dead trout (This is the maximum potential. I am aware that limits of trout are not always fulfilled every day.) But wait, there’s more. There were 260,000 Resident and Non-resident saltwater licenses sold in LA in 2017. Some more simple math reveals additional terrifying numbers. Let’s say that the average number of fishing trips for recreational anglers is 20 and that on 15 of those trips they fulfilled their creel limits of trout and reds. 260,000 X 15 X 5 = 19,500,000 redfish in danger of demise. And the number of trout is exponentially worse with a potential downside of over 390,000,000 trout removed from the fishery. And that is if the average number of annual trips by these anglers is 15! It is likely much higher than that. When combined, the potential annual recreational and guided impact is a stunning 22.2 Million redfish and 403.5 Million trout in Louisiana alone. These numbers do not include the allowed commercial quota for resale. Now, before you all get the tar and feathers and gallows rope ready for Ol’ Gritter I would ask you to reflect a little on your fishing experience over the past 10 years and give serious thought to the numbers and quality of fish you saw and caught then and now. I can honestly tell you that I have not spoken to a single individual, guide or otherwise, that has said the fishing was better now than it was 10 years ago. In fact, there is an almost universal sentiment that it is significantly worse. Perhaps you will consider why it is so very unusual to catch a speckled trout over 2-3 pounds in LA. Seems pretty simple to me that if we are killing several hundred million 12-inch trout every year that it becomes a foregone conclusion that larger fish would be a much rarer commodity. The issue is that Louisiana has been discovered. And the influx of anglers to this amazing paradise is not going to slow anytime soon. In fact, all trending analyses predict a continued upward swing in numbers as more and more people discover the simple joys of a few days on the water. Thus, my thought that a reduction in the creel limits and a more sensible size restriction would benefit the entire fishery making it much more sustainable while not affecting the bottom line economic impact at all. I have fastened my armor and prepared for the onslaught……..begin! Contact gritter@redfishconnection.com 8/5/2018 0 Comments Killing Fields 1 Over many millennia Mother Nature created some of the most unusual, unique, and diversified ecosystems the planet has ever seen. One of the most successful and spectacular of these areas was in the southern part of the North American Continent that would later become known as Louisiana. A vast area of marsh and land interspersed with beautiful woodlands, waterways, lakes, bayous, and grasslands all nestled right up to the vast ocean known as the Gulf of Mexico. Pristine and perfectly balanced, this wonder of nature existed in harmony for thousands of years. Enter -humans. At first it was not a big deal. The master predator known as Homo Sapiens lived a life that was in harmony with nature as well and the impact on the existing environment was nominal. Enter – Civilization. The perfection and bounty that was southern Louisiana was rapidly and voraciously pillaged and destroyed. First by Big Sugar and quickly followed by Big Oil, Big Gas, and Big Shipping. In the name of “progress” these entities were allowed to continuously and, perhaps irreversibly, destroy one of the wonders on the world in the name of $$$$!! Untold numbers of politicians and land managers of this incredible resource made their very substantial living and built significant personal wealth from the fees, bribes, and kickbacks paid by corporations to allow them to skirt rules and become literal scofflaws at regulations. They promulgated a culture of resource rape unparalleled in the history of the entire coast. Pipeline canals were blazed throughout the marshlands running willy-nilly over the entire area until it looked like a veritable roadmap of straight intersecting lines. These straight-line canals and waterways created a diversion of existing water flow patterns and allowed rapid water flow and swift destruction of the coastlines of these fragile areas. Gates, fences, posts, wellheads, fittings, wrecks, pipes, lines, hardware, drums, and detritus of every description was simply abandoned in the marsh because it was cheaper to do so than to clean it up. Vast quantities of poisonous waste products were simply thrown overboard or jettisoned from construction sites and machinery to contaminate and kill local wildlife. No heed was paid to the enormous destruction caused by these companies and individuals because “progress” and financial happiness was everywhere. Except, at the level of the natural inhabitants of the marshlands where there was only anguish and death on an unimaginable scale. And when, finally, some of the havoc was brought to light, there was a petulant and half-hearted effort at a “clean up”. An effort that was, and is, a standing joke. It is nearly impossible to run a boat for any length of time in the marshes of south Louisiana without hitting some piece of discarded junk from the heyday of canal and well construction. And I cannot understand why it is still allowed. Unmarked wellheads, gates, fences, pipes, buoys, sunken debris, wrecks, barges - all of these are the responsibility of the companies that put them there and they should be held accountable for cleaning them up. Additionally, because of this raping of the marshlands that was known as dredging, well-building, canal cutting, and pipe laying, the places where there was solid land previously utilized for homes, growing crops and grazing cattle have been rapidly disappearing. So, the people that owned these lands now claim the water above it and wish to restrict the use of said water as though it were their personal lawn. Barriers, gates, chains, pipes, ropes, and more – including surveillance equipment – are being utilized to selfishly maintain control over their “lawns”. Yet, the only group popularly, and loudly, singled out as “destructive” is the recreational and competitive anglers of the region. For some reason, boaters running freely across open, navigable waterways are being despised as the culprits for all the land and coastal ecosystem devastation. When the reality is that it is the very companies that paid these landowners, politicians, and regulators billions of dollars to allow themselves the destructive latitude to create the Gordian Knot it has become. Landowners vs Anglers. The outcome is a foregone conclusion, and no one really wins anything. Except for the companies responsible for it all that foment the angst between these two parties thereby staying in the shadows and safe from exposure of their misdeeds. I would submit to you that there is a better solution. These same influential landowners would be much better served to join forces with the angling community and like-minded politicians thereby utilizing their financial, lobbying, political strength, and resources to force the companies actually responsible for the loss of their land to clean up their despicable mess and restore the marsh to some semblance of normalcy. This would be an extraordinary coalition that could force an unprecedented effort to mandate a massive cleanup of this ecosystem that has been so battered and abused by those that profited from their malfeasance. I watch with interest. Contact gritter@redfishconnection.com 8/4/2018 0 Comments what's in a word Words are funny critters. Sometimes they are solid, definitive, and bold. Other times they are shady, weak, and fickle. But words are how we communicate with each other in speech, reading, and writing. SO, how do we keep up with this conundrum that words sometimes create?
We DEFINE them. We give words specific definitions, so everyone knows exactly what each word means – right? Wrong. Often words have many different meanings depending on the context of their use, so it is extremely important to understand exactly how a word was used in relation to the other words around it to really know what it means. Fickle? Absolutely. Difficult? Sometimes. Necessary? Undeniably. Now I say all that to say this – the topic of “burning” shorelines with boats, specifically “tower” boats is a subject of great interest to a lot of people. And, frankly, it should be a topic of interest to a lot more people than it is. If you are a competitive angler, it should be in the very forefront of your mind along with a plan to DO something about it. I have stated the obvious here before and I’ll repeat it again – if we don’t police our own ranks and hold the culprits responsible for their actions it will be done for us and it will be done in a way that suits the fancy of bureaucrats who may not even know which end of a rod to hold on to. This issue has become a hot button with people who don’t know a redfish from a mullet. The reason for that is that it is not being touted and decried as an “illegal” way to find and/or catch fish. No, it is on the chopping block because it is causing irreparable harm to the ecosystems of the marshes and estuaries of our coastal regions. And THAT, dear friends, is something a whole lot of people care about. I can clearly remember 10-15 or more years ago when I was trolling along through back ponds and flats in Louisiana looking for reds and they would literally come up to the boat and swim right along with me making happy grunts all the way. I have had, on many occasions, redfish come right up to the spinning prop of my trolling motor to see if it was something to eat. I have sat my boat in one spot and caught reds without making a cast. I would simply have a few feet of line out and go “dobbing” for reds by just letting the lure straight down in front of them as they cavorted around my boat. So, tell me – when was the last time you saw redfish acting like that? Many of you will have to say ‘never’ because you came to game after the changes were wrought. Some of you have only come to the game in the last 2-4 years and you may never see that kind of behavior. And it is we, my friends, it is WE who have done this. And it must be WE who correct it. With those thoughts on our mind let us look a couple of words. Let’s examine “burning” and “tower”. Most of the rhetoric I have heard and read has centered around the word “how” – as in, “How do we stop people from doing this?” or “How do we define burning?” I am about to help you with that. But first let’s see if we can define a “tower” boat. Top drive? Dual helm? Six feet? Ten feet? Flat bottom? Vee hull? Shallow draft? Deep draft? Specific make? Model? The more people you ask, the more complex - and obscure - the definition becomes. Well, ok then, let’s have a go at “burning” shorelines? Fast? Slow? Ten feet off the bank? Twenty yards off the bank? Using a TRP? Standard lower unit? Can ONLY done by “tower” boats? Can be done by ANY style boat? What exactly IS this thing called “burning” to locate fish. Same result. The more people you ask, the more complex – and obscure - the definition becomes. Now we get to the meat of the matter – How do we define “burning” so we can make a rule to stop it. This also brings us to an interesting quandary because the more we try to define “burning” in this context, the more complex the definition becomes and the more vague and obtuse its meaning. In fact, the only thing you can honestly say about the practice is that it is a method of using a boat under power, usually on plane, to cover large areas of water with the express purpose of locating fish. Aha! Now we have something to work with because purpose means intent. And, there is no question in anyone’s mind that they did or did not perform an action with the purpose, the “intent”, of locating fish. Each one of you knows, in your own mind, what “burning” is. SO, if you do it you simply cannot hide from that intent and it will sink your boat on a polygraph because you WILL fail the question. You see, your intent to perform an action is a powerful thing and it cannot be diluted or refined. It is INTENT, it is in your mind, it is a part of your conscious will, and you simply cannot subjugate that intent when asked about a specific action. Now, and without a specific written definition, we can hold people accountable for their actions by indicating that the purpose and the intent are illegal in tournament activity including ALL prefishing activities. I would submit to you, whether you agree with my little word trial or not, that you CANNOT defeat a polygraph if a question is phrased about an “action with intent”. All that needs to happen now is for EVERY angling competition, tour, and trail to insert a rule making it illegal to utilize a boat (any boat), on plane (yes, you know what that means too), with the intent and for the specific purpose of locating fish. Ya’ll chew on that bone for a bit. I have some fishing to do. Contact gritter@redfishconnection.com  by Sam Hudson (This article first appeared in Sport Fishing Magazine May 2014 www.sportfishing.com )
Travel time’s not an issue when targeting the most popular coastal game fish in the Southeast — they’re always in your backyard. The red drum, widespread in its range, doesn’t care about structure, water depth or clarity, as long as there’s plenty of food available. That’s not to say reds don’t adjust to environmental factors, just that they thrive in so many conditions. I learned just how adaptable redfish are when I hiked a trail along Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Scouting among the overgrown mangroves, I spotted redfish tailing in a mosquito ditch not more than 5 feet wide. The drum favored the mud-bottom canal instead of lush grass flats refreshed regularly with tidal movements on the other side of the berm. Still, these redfish — the biggest in the area — chose a 1- to 2-foot-deep trough, even with access to the lagoon via drainage culverts at high tide. I had to cast to them, among the spider webs and branches, even if I didn’t understand what they were doing there. When I convinced a big red to bite, the maze of mangroves I crisscrossed to land and leader the fish was ridiculous, but it was completely worth it. From the Chesapeake Bay to Texas, anglers have abundant opportunities to catch red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, commonly called redfish, bull red, puppy drum or spot-tail bass. Redfish of all sizes inhabit brackish creeks, marshes, grass flats, mangroves, oyster beds, bridges, passes and beaches of the Southeastern states. Pick the structure that fits your favorite style of fishing. Or target new waters that have gone unexplored. I interviewed local captains from different spot-tail epicenters to highlight fishing strategies for five unique habitats that attract redfish. 1. Jetty Juggernauts: Fishing Inlets and Passes One of the most dangerous places to cast a line in Texas is also the fishiest. Trophy redfish hang around sudsy jetties year-round, taking advantage of tidal flow like a conveyor belt delivering food. “Strong tidal currents at the jetties create waves as current floods and ebbs in and out of the bay,” says Capt. Brad Stanford, of Pirate of the Bay Charters in Rockport. “If seas are running 2 to 3 feet offshore, and you have a very strong outgoing tide, the waves could be even bigger at the mouth of the Port Aransas jetties. Pay close attention to your surroundings as you fish the rocks to minimize risk.” Late summer into early fall is when the bulls start showing regularly around jetties, increasing in numbers through fall and early winter during annual spawning runs. That’s the best time of year to catch the big boys, says Stanford. Use your depth finder to mark drop-offs near the jetty. “My best spots tend to drop off from 8 to 30 feet,” he says. “The strong current washes bait across the shallows over deeper sections, where big reds wait to ambush baitfish.” For big reds, live baits like mullet, croakers and mud minnows are the top presentation. “In early fall, mullet congregate around the jetties for their spawn, coinciding with the bull reds running. Typically, a 4- to 8-inch mullet works, but it’s a trade-off. The bigger the bait, the bigger the redfish, but you’re a lot less likely to catch much else with the bigger bait.” Artificial-lure anglers attack the jetty differently. “Cast to smaller reds early in the mornings along the rocks,” says Stanford. “Waves and current can make it hard to see at times along the jetty. When you can’t spot the reds, cast suspending lures such as Corkys (now Paul Brown’s Original Series, part of MirrOlure’s lineup) and Rat-L-Traps,” the guide advises. 2. Bar Hopping: Casting Along the Beaches Good luck finding a spot more consistent for bull reds than Dixey Bar, a man-made mound that lines the ship channel entering Alabama’s Mobile Bay. Located off the point where Fort Morgan stands, the lengthy bar and nearby Dauphin Island beaches are a mecca for oversize red drum. “The bar’s as shallow as a couple of feet, and sometimes you can see the reds schooling on top,” says Capt Kevin Olmstead, of Point Clear Fishing Adventures in Mobile Bay. “That makes for truly exciting fishing. I usually fish the drop from 7 to 16 feet with 20- to 30-pound gear during an outgoing tide.” Fall and early winter, when bunches of bait are flushed out of the bay, is a prime time to fish, even though all year can be productive. Light north winds seem to bring the fish to the top to feed, says Capt. Barnie White, a charter captain and tournament fisherman from Brewton, Alabama, and member of the White Fishing Team. “These fish will push a ‘mullet ball’ to the surface, and when they get into that mode, double and triple hookups are not uncommon,” says White. “Watching those big fish blow up on a Badonk-A-Donk [a surface lure by Bomber] is a blast. The big reds on the beaches usually target mullet, so a popping cork with a soft plastic offers another option.” Reds range in depths up to 30 feet deep — watch for birds and for blowups at the surface. The bulls also cruise in the surf, right along the breaks. The translucent blue tail always gives them away. Fishing from a boat with a strong trolling motor is effective. “Most of the time they are in small packs of three to five fish,” says White. “They’re not spooky but are moving fast, and it takes a good eye and quick reactions to stay ahead of the fish for a cast.” 3. Silent Stalkers: Sight-Fishing the Grass Flats Tails, you win, when fishing at Flamingo in Florida’s Everglades National Park. “Reds tail in singles and schools,” says Capt. Jason Sullivan, of Rising Tide Charters, who fishes park waters regularly. “They will push big head wakes too. I have seen them in schools of 10 to 150, both tailing and cruising.” Local knowledge is necessary to navigate the shallow flats, pole-and-troll zones, and shoal areas that make up northern Florida Bay. “If you spend enough time poling the flats and paying attention to the tides, you can definitely catch redfish on your own,” he says. “Where I fish on the flats, it takes a very shallow-draft skiff.” The best areas are based directly on the tide. Some spots are better on the falling tide, and some are better during incoming. “I really want clean water when I’m looking for reds,” he says. “The right depth is when my skiff drags a little when I am poling.” Sight-fishing for reds on the flats is the technique du jour in the Glades, but blind-casting in potholes or around islands is successful too. Tackle up with a 7-foot, medium-light rod and a 3,000-size reel spooled with 10-pound braid. For pothole fishing, Sullivan throws the popular hard-bodies Rapala SkitterWalk redfish lure or a ¼-ounce spoon. The top lure for sight-fishing is a soft bait rigged weedless on a worm hook. When reds are tailing, throw it past the fish and reel it to their nose. If the fish are cruising, cast in front of them along their forward path. “It’s hard to beat poling up to a fish, making a presentation, and watching the bite,” admits Sullivan. “The other day my angler cast at a fish, and the red sucked down the Gulp! shrimp like a trout sipping a dry fly.” 4. On the Hunt: Working Spartina Grass on the Flood Tide Flood-tide redfishing is all about timing. Occurring just eight months out of the year in South Carolina, and only about 10 to 15 days each month, high waters allow red drum to explore mud and flats that are usually dry. “Your tide logbook is your best friend,” says Capt. Owen Plair, who runs charters out of Bay Street Outfitters in Beaufort, South Carolina. Plair capitalizes on the Low Country phenomenon each year, targeting the short-stalked spartina flats. Peak tides cover mud flats that grow spartina grass, allowing redfish to target otherwise unmolested numbers of fiddler crabs. April through November represent the optimum months, says Plair. After that, water temperatures drop below 65 degrees, signaling fiddler crabs to burrow into the mud. “It’s a four-hour window of opportunity,” he says. “The key time to fish a flat is two hours before and two hours after. You want to spot fish as they’re first moving onto the flat from feeder creeks — that’s when these reds feed most aggressively. Fish can pop up anywhere on the flat, which makes this trip almost like a hunting expedition.” With their noses in the mud and tails wagging in the air, flood-tide redfish are a hard-hitting bunch. Cast gold spoons or scented artificial baits rigged on a weighted weedless hook. “I use a Berkley Gulp! Peeler Crab with a chartreuse tail because the tail mimics a shrimp lighting up in the grass,” says Plair. Use a 4- to 6-foot section of 30-pound fluoro leader. Presentation is key to catching flood-tide reds — you want to make sure your bait is in a fish’s vision. “Once you spot a tailing fish, you want to cast your artificial about 5 feet in front of the fish and 4 feet past it,” says Plair. “This will give an angler the opportunity to adjust the bait to the path of the fish. Slowly move the bait along the bottom like a crab or grass shrimp; a slight twitch with the rod tip is all you need to get an aggressive strike.” 5. Marsh Madness: Chasing Pond Pumpkins over Mud Bottom From Venice, Louisiana, to the Biloxi Marsh, Capt. Greg Dini, Jr., of Fly Water Expeditions, can’t think of a better landscape to sight-fish for giant redfish. There’s a reason the countless acres of wild marshland and mud bottom is often referred to as the Land of the Giants. Fishing out of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes, Dini never has to fish the same waters two days in a row. “Keeper redfish are always around because of our light fishing pressure,” he says. “In the summertime, we’re fishing for reds up to 15 pounds. From mid-August to February, we see 20-pound fish up to 30 pounds on average. Conditions pending, it can be great year-round.” Dini guides mostly fly anglers to the pond pumpkins but recommends 15- to 20-pound tackle for spin anglers, including 7-foot rods that cast jigs and topwaters precisely. Around the marsh, reds get their moniker from vivid-orange coloring on their sides in the backwater creeks and ponds in which they’re caught. “The reds will be over mud, oyster, sand and even some grass,” Dini says. “Always watch where you’re running the boat because there are obstacles leftover from storms.” If the reds are near baitfish or sitting motionless, throw poppers. Free swimmers at the surface, floating “high and happy,” make easy targets. When reds are moving with purpose, cast baits out in front to make sure they see them. Sometimes redfish will be in water so skinny that their back sticks out. Still, those fish readily eat well-placed soft plastics. Marshes closest to the open Gulf of Mexico see fresh numbers of redfish moving in from deep water. The only downside to this fishery is reds’ sensitivity to weather changes, Dini says, since they might head back offshore as quickly as they came. Play the weather window right, and eager Louisiana redfish will leave your arms and hands sore but begging for more. 7/15/2018 0 Comments summer redfish in virginiaby Grant Alvis Redfish, Puppy Drum, Spot Tails, Pups or Reds. Whatever you call them one thing remains the same, everyone loves to catch them! Once Mid-April arrives the thought on many of Virginia’s inshore anglers minds is catching these hard fighting fish. Redfish arrive in the Chesapeake in the Spring each year and head south out of the Bay in late Fall to early Winter with a few fish hanging around in the marshes and inlets all year long. My favorite way to target these fish is on a fly rod but I will cover that in another post. For now, I will be touching on some of my most effective ways to target redfish on spinning and casting gear. First, you need to know where to start looking. Redfish prefer to cruise the shallow flats and marshes in search of crabs, shrimp, finger mullet, bunker, mud minnows and whatever else they can get their mouth on. Most of the first few miles of Virginias tidal rivers (where they meet the bay) will hold Reds, but it’s not rare for Reds to be caught well up river. Bass fishermen often catch a few each year in the Chickahominy River just off of the James. I wouldn’t recommend going looking for them this far inland though. My favorite places to fish for them is in the salt marshes around Mobjack Bay. Mobjack is known for having a massive population of Redfish throughout the season and it would be pretty hard to pound the grass lines in any random area and not catch at least one. Mobjack is a large area but it can be easy to rule out areas to look for these fish. Yes, drum love grass flats, and Mobjack is full of them…(miles and miles of them). I prefer to look for the flats that are close to a channel edge. I have found over the years that I seem to catch more and larger Reds around a flat with quick access to deeper water, especially on a falling tide. As the tide drops they can forage for food easily on the flat and if they get scared or the water drops too low they can retreat to the channel and wait out the low water. Although it is not rare to see reds practically belly crawling through inches of water munching on crabs. Sometimes you are in a location that has nothing but 3-5 foot deep grass flats. No problem, there are Redfish there too. The easiest way to locate them in these areas is to look for the sand pockets in the grass. The drum use these grass pockets as ambush points where they sit and wait for bait to swim over the grass and be exposed. In a location like this you basically must hop from one pocket to the next and it can be frustrating but very rewarding as well. In all these situations I prefer a falling tide, but fish can be caught on an incoming tide as well. Now that you know where to look, you probably want to know what to throw. The good news is Reds aren’t too picky. They will take a variety of baits from soft plastics of many styles and colors to modified saltwater spinnerbaits and buzzbaits to hardbaits such as MirroLures and Bomber’s Badonkadonk. Redfish aren’t shy about topwater either, even though it can be hilarious watching them head butt a bait 3 or 4 times before finally getting hooked. I will talk about each bait in the way that I find it most appropriately used. Searching: When you arrive in a new location, you should first be thinking about covering some water, a good bait to do this with would be a swimbait like a Salt Water Assassin 4” paddle tail or a Gulp Alive 4” Pogy. I prefer to put the SWA on a 3/0, 1/8oz. keel weighted swimbait hook if there is a lot of grass for a more weedless presentation. I put the Pogy on a Jig head when I am fishing grass lines and channel edges. With both of these baits I do a combination of a swim and hop retrieve. I like to swim the bait 3-5 feet or so and them allow it to hop on the bottom for about the same distance and then repeat. This is a medium speed retrieve and Reds love it! Another good bait for searching for Reds is the very popular Redfish Magic Spinnerbaits. I cast these long distances and cover area on the flats, either slow roll them or speed it up, but I have found that a steady retrieve with only a very few pops thrown in tends to work wonders. For these baits I prefer to use a 6’6” or 7’0” medium action rod with a fast tip and a 2500 size reel spooled with 10-15lb. braid with a 10-15 pound fluorocarbon leader. The fast tip allows for a more sensitive feel because a lot of the strikes are not bone crushingly hard. Some strikes can be a simple sip and just feel like weight on the end of the line. Fishing Feeder Creeks: A lot of the bays and rivers Reds tend to inhabit have many feeder creeks coming into them with many being wide enough to paddle into and fish both sides comfortably. These creeks are always best on high tide due to how shallow they tend to be. In these areas I really enjoy fishing a popping cork. A popping cork is a cupped cork that slides up and down a wire. I buy the Billy Bay Clacking Popping Corks which have two brass beads that produce a little louder sound. The cork is tied to the main line and a leader is tied below about 16-24” in length depending on the depth of the water (you don’t want your bait to be on the bottom). Tie a light jig head to the leader and slide on your favorite soft plastic. I like to use a Gulp 3” Swimming Mullet or Shrimp. If the water holds a lot of Croakers, Bluefish, or other bait stealers I like to use the Z-Man ShrimpZ with Pro-Cure scent. The Pro-Cure is just as strong of a scent but the Z- Man baits have elastic plastic, so they can handle the abuse. Once the cork is rigged, I prefer to cast it tight against the grass and let it sit for a few seconds, then pop the cork 2 or 3 times then let it sit for a few seconds again. However you like to retrieve the cork I STRONGLY recommend you keep a rhythm with it. Fish can hone in on a sound a lot better when it is repetitive. Only after you have a small strike do you stop the cadence and add just a slight pop. This can trigger the fish to engulf the bait. I like to use a 7’0” Med Heavy Spinning Rod with a very fast action and a 2500 size reel spooled with 20lb. braid. I opt for the Med Heavy because of the extra backbone needed to set a popping cork. Since the cork is cupped and under the water when you set the hook, that produces a lot of drag and thus requires a little bit more backbone. This bait basically must be thrown on a spinning rod because of how it flies through the air, it topples end over end and pulls line unevenly, basically making it impossible for you throw it on a bait caster without backlashing. Another very successful bait for these creeks is a Gulp Shrimp on a jig head dragged on the bottom. In the very small creeks sometimes a cork can be too much commotion and a softer slower retrieve can be better. Basically, fish the shrimp as if you were fishing a shakey head for Bass with a slow drag and a hop here and there. Grass Flats: Since there is so much floating and loose grass in these areas, I tend to throw a weedless Swimbait or Jerkshad. I like a 7’0” medium spinning rod with a fast action and a 2500 size reel with 15 lb braid. I use a 10-14 pound fluorocarbon leader and I tend to swim lures more across grass just to keep it above the grass and just barely clipping the tops. This allows the bait to barely move some grass around and catch the attention of any fish nearby. Be prepared, the hits when on grass flats can be vicious! This is because there are so many places for the bait to hide, they don’t want it to get away. They will often practically rip the rod out of your hand. Oyster Bars and Rip Rap: Reds tend to congregate around oyster bars and rocks throughout the tides due to the amount of food. Not just oysters and crabs, these locations offer protection for many species of baitfish and the Reds like to patrol them. This is where I pull out the larger baits. These locations tend to hold mullet and Bunker. Due to these being two of the largest baits the Reds eat in the bay, I like to throw larger hardbaits like Mirrorlures or Paul Browns. I throw them on a 7’0 Medium casting rod with a moderate action with 20 lb braid and a long 12 lb fluorocarbon leader. The moderate action of the rod allows me to not over-work the bait and with the treble hooks it helps not to tear them out of the fish’s mouth as they headshake. I like to slow retrieve them after letting them sink with a heartbeat thumping retrieve. Most of the hits will be brutal and will be on the fall in between pops. Docks: Redfish love structure for everything from protection to an ambush point and docks offer them just that. I usually only use two baits when fishing docks - the popping cork around the edges to try and pull fish out and a Gulp Swimming Mullet on a jig head pitched under the dock and slowly pulled out to imitate an escaping baitfish. Be sure to bump up a rod size to be able to pull these fish out of the structure because they will try their hardest to turn tail and get into the dock and as soon as your braid rubs the barnacles, you will be broken off. Topwater: Occasionally I am lucky enough to stumble upon a school of Reds chasing bait. In this case I am going to take advantage and catch them on the most fun way possible – TOPWATER! I like to throw either a Mirromullet or a Zara Spook Junior. These are both walking baits which tend to be a retrieve that Reds just can’t resist. I like to throw these on the same set-up as my MirroLures, a moderate action casting rod to allow me not to over work the bait. Also that moderate action allows you not to rip the hooks out of their mouth in the hookset. Cast the bait about 5-10 feet in front of the fish as they swim along and work it across the school. You will get blown up on then wait until you feel weight - then set. Whatever you do, DO NOT set the hook before you feel the weight of the fish because chances are the fish doesn’t have it completely in its mouth. So, as you can see, these fish can be in a bunch of different places, they have a very diverse diet and they can be spread out. This doesn’t mean they are hard to catch. It just might take some time to get your bearings and figure these fish out. I hope I have been able to give you a good foundation to start your search. In my opinion of all the summer species that flood the bay, the Redfish are by far the most rewarding. The effort you put in will directly affect the output. These fish are eager to please, and I can assure you as soon as you get one on your line, you will catch the Redfish Fever like many Virginia anglers do! //www.facebook.com/PeelinDragExtremeFishing/ 7/14/2018 0 Comments redfish in the laguna madreby Brian Irwin
Visiting Arroyo City, Texas, feels like you’re at the end of the earth. The small hamlet rests at the terminus of Texas Farm to Market Road 2925, and is adjacent the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. There is no gas station in town. The only option for supplies or booze lies in a few shops, which serve up all you need sprinkled with an occasional attitude as prickly as the pear cactuses that line the road. Signs like “HIPPIES USE BACKDOOR” [sic] and “NO CHANGE, NO EXCEPTIONS” dangle from weather-beaten shingles or from rickety cash registers. When I made my $3.50 purchase, the cashier shot me a bristly look and said, “Four dollars. Unless you have change, we round up.” While some of Arroyo’s denizens might have a barb or two under their capes, overall they are a very pleasant bunch. With a boat on every other lawn, many of them are in Arroyo City for the same reason I am—to fish the adjacent Lower Laguna Madre, a lagoon of staggering proportions that holds what is arguably the most expansive white sand redfish flat on the planet. Other Gulf states offer stellar redfishing indeed, but the unique environment, breadth of species, and amount of vast terrain make the Lower Laguna a redfishery that is without peer. Ben Paschal is a confident guide. A mere 26 years old, he is my pipeline to the reds, his specialty on the flats of the Lower Laguna Madre, Spanish for “Mother Lagoon.” The sole fly-fishing-only guide who actually lives in town, he’s cut his teeth on the waters of Alaska and Patagonia, but these days, guiding exclusively in his home state, Paschal pursues all things redfish. The Lower Laguna Madre is a 6-mile-wide, 50-mile-long estuary with an average depth of 3.6 feet. It’s flanked to the east by South Padre Island, most reputable as a bastion for misbehavior during Spring Break season. But on the Laguna there’s no MTV fanfare nor raucous partiers, rather a slice of raw wilderness that stands in ironic contrast to the aforementioned. The western border of the Lower Laguna Madre is largely comprised of wilderness. The Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge stretches for scores of miles along this border, fading into a string of private ranches like the King Ranch, which is almost three quarters of a million acres of brush country, wandering javelinas, and swirling shorebirds. Paschal and I were on the flats by sunrise each morning. Roseate spoonbills, giant herons, and swooping ospreys flirted with the coastline or hovered over clumps of vulnerable baitfish. Mullet occasionally rocketed out of the water, fleeing from hungry reds, black drum, and the occasional monster spotted seatrout. Everything is just a little bigger in Texas than elsewhere, and the trout are no exception. Trout in the 2-foot range aren’t uncommon, but getting them to eat is difficult, arguably as challenging as landing permit on fly. The Lower Laguna Madre is home to the “big girls” and holds the Texas state record on fly: 15 pounds and 37 inches. The Lower Laguna Madre is a salty place, more so than the ocean. As one of only a half dozen hypersaline lagoons in the world, it’s considerably more saline than the open sea. There’s a paucity of inflowing fresh water, and this fact leads to the estuary’s designation as a negative estuary, one where seawater flows into the lagoon to water it down, rather than the opposite. Its shallow depth and arid shorelines promote brisk evaporation. The eastern half of the lagoon consists of Bahamian-style hard sand flats with little vegetation. The western half is more verdant, the floor cloaked with fragile seagrass. Over 80 percent of all the seagrass in Texas resides in the Laguna Madre system, which is comprised of the Lower Laguna Madre and the neighboring, and similarly sized, Upper Laguna Madre. Red Drum The evening of my arrival we hit the sand in search of reds. The sun was setting and the birds were clustering over pods of tailing reds. I’d never caught a redfish before, nor even seen one, but was awestruck at their positions and behavior. They were clustered in a pod of a dozen or so, their tails waving in the wind as they churned up the bottom and burrowed for dinner. A pack of gulls hovered overhead, gliding in classic opportunistic fashion. I cast to the pod, stripped, and came up empty. The second cast I laid down with a gentler forward stroke. As my line unfurled and the fly popped over my terminal loop, my line came tight—and shot off into the sky. I’d hooked a gull. But the fish were still there. Paschal, with calm collectedness, passed me another rod and said, “I’ll deal with the bird. They’re not spooked yet. Get a red.” As he cut the bird free, unharmed, I led the fish less generously this time. My frame of reference was bonefishing, and although these fish are anything but easy, you don’t lead them with quite the distance. With a cast and a strip I again came tight, this time with a redfish. My loaner line twanged as it ripped toward the horizon. The skunk was washed away. I pulled yet another red out of the same pod and landed a third before we retired to my rental house, one Paschal sublets on the cheap. It’s a nice place, with fish lights on the dock to allow for seatrout plucking over cold beers. It sits on the shore of the Arroyo Colorado River, a few minutes’ ride upstream from the Laguna, and only one house down from the entrance of the wildlife refuge. While this is a remote, quiet town, my neighbors were celebrating someone’s quinceañera, a traditional Hispanic celebration of coming of age, akin to a bar mitzvah. My housekeeper had left a sheet of fresh enchiladas and tostadas on my table. And so I nibbled, sipping a Modelo beer under the dock lights, with the sound of authentic cultural music in the background. In front of me, moths swarmed. Baby tarpon rolled in the river. And the anticipation of the next day was rife within me. In the morning we were on the water at first light. The wind was up, and on it sailed sheets of various birds. They piled onto small islands in the Laguna, picking at insects or dissecting mullet they’d caught. Despite 20 mph winds, we were able to feed a few reds, some nice ones in the 28-inch range. They ate discriminatively, and like other flats species, required patience, as only a small percentage of your shots would be successful. We got more than 30 shots a day, and by midafternoon most of them were on the hard sand flats of the eastern Laguna. Arroyo Colorado The sun was high and the water tepid as I released a nice redfish, which is the colloquial term for red drum. They’re named that because when they become excited, or spawn, they belch a baritone noise that thumps like the sound of its namesake instrument. As I dipped the fish back into its home water I contemplated the fact that this broad pan of a lagoon has very little water exchange. There are few inflowing fresh water sources, a primary one being the Arroyo Colorado. The Laguna is bordered on the east by the Padre Island National Seashore; its namesake is purportedly the largest barrier island in the world. Only a few land cuts through these islands allow seawater to exchange with the lagoon’s water, and so the health of rivers like the Arroyo Colorado largely determines the health of the water in the Lower Laguna. And they both are at risk. In 2001, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department studied the fauna of the Arroyo Colorado, collecting over 23,000 vertebrates. They found that in the upper reaches of the Arroyo Colorado, the concentration of fish was alarmingly lower than the lower river. According to Mark Lingo, the department’s Lower Laguna Madre Leader, “…water quality may be an issue in the upper portion of the study area.” He cited low oxygen content as a primary factor in restricting the population of fauna in this area. “Major increases in the amount of phosphorus entering a watershed can cause rapid increases in algal growth rates that can lead to the formation of algal bloom,” stated Lingo. Phosphorus levels rise as a result of agricultural runoff, as it’s contained in fertilizers, which are frequently used on the region’s citrus groves and other farming plots. The resultant algae blooms consume oxygen and threaten the river, and subsequently the lagoon’s, fish population. As a major fish nursery for the Laguna Madre’s trout stock, and a water supply for the reds that spawn near the river’s mouth, this ecosystem was once on the tenuous brink of irreparable injury. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has implemented a water protection program in response to threats to the river. A long-term project, the goal is to achieve decreased pollution of the waterway through a series of partnerships with landowners, habitat restoration, and implementation of projects “intended to reduce storm water runoff, reduce sediment load and reduce the volume and velocity of the flow of the runoff in drainage ditches and the Arroyo Colorado.” And although much has been done, the project has far from completed full preservation of the river. Today the Arroyo Colorado and the downstream lagoon still remain at significant risk. According to Lisa Wheeler at the TCEQ, despite valiant efforts, “An increase in the level of dissolved oxygen in the tidal portion of the Arroyo Colorado has been observed since the WPP was finalized in 2007.” The Laguna Madre is an exceptionally unique area. It’s a region thick with wildlife, finned and otherwise. From the birds that throng the fragile islands that spot the lagoon, to the reds and trout that thrive beneath the surface, it’s a true wilderness treasure. Unspoiled and unvarnished, the Madre is unlike any other coastal waterway in the United States. And once it’s altered, it may never return to the pristine state it quietly boasts today. When I loaded my rod to fire my last cast of my last day on the Lower Laguna Madre, I double-hauled a short bit of line to pierce the wind, and placed the fly inches in front of a single cruising redfish. Two quick strips and the creature spun on a dime, ate, and yanked my line deep toward the sunset, my backing arcing in the wind like the twine on a flown kite. I pulled the fish to my feet, unhooked the fly from its mouth, and lowered it to aerate its gills. As I slid it back into the water, it released a single drum. As if singing its song, or perhaps making a plea to return to the clear water where it lives and spawns, the subtle drumbeat faded into the wind. The fish swam off toward the mouth of the Arroyo Colorado River. And when she arrives there, and if the water is adequately saturated with soothing oxygen, her progeny will survive to later roam the sand flats. And perhaps someday they will, if I’m lucky, again find my fly. *All photos by Brian Irwin Local Contacts Capt. Ben Paschal Laguna Madre Outfitters lagunamadreoutfitters.com (214) 704-3158 Capt. Troy Nowiczewski Texas Backcountry Fishing txbackcountry.com (713) 818-9563 Capt. Eric Glass The South Texas Fly Fishing Co. captainericglass.com (956) 434-1422 6/25/2018 0 Comments georgia (redfish) on my mindby Ron Brooks
Redfish, red drum, puppy drum, red bass, channel bass, or spottail bass, whatever you call them, these coastal marauders spell plenty of great year round fishing for the Georgia angler savvy enough to follow their habits. Spottails are members of the drum family, a family name that comes from the drumming sounds they make with their air bladders. Many people don’t know that the spotted seatrout is also a member of this family. Red drum can be found along the entire Georgia coast, from the St. Mary’s River to the Savannah River and everywhere in between. But exactly where along the coast they will be and how you fish for them is dependent on what time of year you fish. Reds follow a definite cycle during breeding, brooding and growing. Knowledge of this life cycle coupled with a like knowledge of the Georgia coastal geography can help you catch fish all year long. The entire coast of Georgia is comprised of salt marshes divided by hundreds of small creeks, rivers, shallow mud flats, and oyster bars. Protecting these marshes are the barrier islands. Often as high as thirty feet above sea level, these barrier islands were created by thousands of years of sand-pounding surf building up the beaches. Jekyll, St. Simons, Sapelo and the many other barrier islands offer this marsh protection. To understand the life cycle of this fish, you must understand that red drum don’t reach sexual maturity until they are at least five years old. They will be from twenty-seven to thirty inches in length and weigh over fifteen pounds at this stage in their life. Many people think that the red drum needs brackish or freshwater in which to breed. While they do need this backwater, it is not for breeding, but for brooding. From July through September, large fish migrate offshore out of the cuts and inlets to breed. Large females may spawn several times during these months, broadcasting several million eggs into the water for the accompanying males to fertilize. Huge schools of drum have been sighted offshore just under the water surface by surveillance aircraft during these breeding periods. This large-schooling habit during the breeding season, and relative ease of detection have made them easy targets for commercial net boats in the past, causing devastation to future populations. Life begins for a red drum well off the coast where the eggs hatch from August through October. The hatchings begin to grow immediately, and larval stages of the fish can be found in and around the beaches near cuts through the barrier islands. Tidal currents take the growing larvae far back into the marsh creeks and rivers. For the first winter of life, they will remain in the marsh, relatively protected from predator fish. The following spring and summer they will make their way to the lower reaches of the rivers and sounds. At this stage of life and for the next three to four years, the red drum will remain within these estuarine waters, feeding mainly on shrimp and crabs, and growing to maturity. It is during this period in their life that the majority of fish are caught by hook and line. Mature fish over fifteen pounds will make their way out of the sounds, through the cuts, and into the ocean waters. There they form large schools of adult fish. These facts explain why the largest red drum caught each year are ocean going, generally caught by a surf fisherman. They also explain why so many small fish are found back in the tidal creeks and estuaries. Given all this great information, let’s see how we can use it to catch more fish throughout the year. FALL Fall fishing for red drum can be some of the most productive fishing, particularly for the larger brood fish. The breeding cycle has been completed and large fish are roaming the surf looking for food. Huge schools of baitfish, including mullet and menhaden are found migrating south along the beaches to escape the coming cold weather. Bluefish schools will be right with the baitfish, gorging themselves at every chance as they turn the water to a froth. Pay attention to the bluefish, because not only are they fun to catch, they are accompanied by big red drum. It is not uncommon for a drum to chase and eat baitfish, but in relatively deep water, the drum have a harder time catching the baitfish. Drum are primarily bottom feeders, able to move from side to side quickly in pursuit of prey. But baitfish in deeper water can move vertically, something the drum has trouble doing. What the big drum have learned to do is follow the bluefish and look for the leftovers. Pieces of baitfish cut up by the sharp teeth of the blues drift to the bottom where the big reds are scavenging. This is the time of year to have some good, fresh, cut bait on the bottom. From the beach, cast well beyond the baitfish so your bait can reach the bottom without getting nailed by a bluefish. Slowly move your bait back toward the beach so that it is on the bottom below the baitfish, and wait for the bite. Often the strike with this type of fishing is a vicious one, followed by a long, strong run. Dont be surprised if you pick up a few nice flounder with this method, because they have developed the same symbiotic relationship with the bluefish. On one recent trip to the north end of Jekyll Islands shore, flounder were seen beaching themselves to escape the overzealous feeding frenzy of the bluefish! Surf anglers were gleefully picking up four and five pound flounder as fast as they could! Fall fishing in the creeks and rivers means staying closer to the sounds and away from the backwaters. Last year’s brood will have made the move from the creeks to the bay and sound waters. Look for oyster bars, hard bottom, and anywhere the current cuts around a point or island. These are natural areas for the drum to congregate, and they can easily be caught on shrimp, small crabs, mud minnows, or artificial baits. Float a live shrimp just off the bottom with the current and let the bait move through the point or cut. Remember, the smaller fish need to be released, so handle them with care. Look for any of the beaches of the barrier islands to use this surf fishing method. Reds will be on all of them that have baitfish migrating cross them. WINTER Winter can be the most difficult time to find red drum, but they can be caught when you locate them. The smaller brood fish spending their first winter in the creeks are particularly susceptible to temperature extremes. Sudden cold fronts can kill small fish if they do not move to warmer water quickly. Look for fish during the middle of the day, in shallow water that is being warmed by the sun. Often an entire school comprised of hundreds of fish can be found in one shallow sound. And it is literally possible to catch every single fish. So, again, take care of your catch and practice an easy release. Lower reaches of the Ogeechee, Canoochee, Altamaha, and St. Marys Rivers all have creeks and feeder creeks that will hold fish during the middle of the day. Creek mouths that empty into a sound, and deep water cuts in the larger sounds leading to the ocean will hold the larger fish. Anchor in the deep water cut and fish the edge where it comes up to shallow water. These fish seldom run the middle of a cut. They will move with the tide along the edge of a cut, more often than not in a single file line that can total over a hundred fish. Fish right on the bottom using blue crabs for bait. Small ones with a shell diameter no more than two inches can be used whole. Larger ones need to be halved or quartered. Bring a landing net, because fish in these cuts can reach fifty pounds! Not many anglers make it out on a cold winter day, so you can have the entire sound to yourself! St Andrews, St.Simons, Altamaha, Doboy, Sapelo, St. Catherines, Ossabow, and Wassaw Sounds all have some deep-water channels and cuts that will hold fish during the winter. SPRING By spring, the water has warmed and brood fish have reached ten to twelve inches in length. Back in the creeks and marshes, these fish can be caught in the same places day after day on an outgoing tide. They have learned to move with the tide to the deeper creek waters to avoid being stranded in a shallow pool. This habit has them passing the same cut or point, and moving in the same channels tide after tide. When the tide changes and begins to rise, they will again move back into the creeks. Schools of red drum will generally segregate by size. When you begin catching small fish, you can be assured that the entire school will look like they came out of the same mold. So if you are looking for larger fish, you will need to find a different school, perhaps in a different creek. Try this. At dead low tide, locate a creek you can navigate, and identify the surrounding bottom structure that is out of the water. Make notes on channels, oyster bars and cuts. If you know where you can take your boat on a high tide without fear of being left high and dry on the low tide, you can successfully navigate the creeks and find the fish. The creek you locate with this method needs to be “alive”. That is, it needs to show signs of baitfish and other activity. These signs are a sure bet that the junior red drum will be moving in that particular creek. Creeks with pure mud bottoms that end up on pure mud flats and that have no signs of shellfish or baitfish can be eliminated, because the drum simply will not be there. Look for the oyster bars and hard shell bottoms. Fish the areas where small feeder creeks empty into larger creeks. Start at the head of a larger creek, and as the tide falls, move out with it, fishing each feeder creek along the way. In this situation, use a quarter ounce jig head tipped with a tail hooked live shrimp, or a lip hooked mud minnow. Cast up into the feeder creek, and work the jig back with the tidal flow just off the bottom. An occasional flounder adds variety and great table topping to this method! Try the waters of the St Marys, Altamaha, and Savannah River basins to find the deeper creeks. Don’t be afraid to ask at local bait shops which creeks are navigable at low tide. The larger red drum are still out on the deep cuts to the ocean, preparing to make the move offshore for breeding. The same winter bottom fishing techniques will work here until the weather warms. At that point, the fish will begin moving offshore to breed. SUMMER Summertime fishing for red drum means following the baitfish. Just as seatrout school and follow baitfish with the movement of the tides, so do the red drum. You won’t catch as many fish over 27 inches during the summer months inshore, because those fish have matured to breeding status and will be offshore doing their biological duties. Fish up to fifteen pounds can be caught in the sounds and creeks that hold bait. They will move with the tide and can be caught on an outgoing tide. Use the same quarter ounce jig heads with shrimp or mud minnows, casting up into the feeder creeks. Deeper channel fish can still be caught bottom fishing in the sounds, but most of the fish are following food into the creeks and rivers. Live shrimp under a float will work well where you have a deep outside bend in a creek. As the drum move out with the tide, they stay in the deeper water because that is where most of the tidal flow occurs. Put the shrimp just off the bottom under the float, and let it drift with the tide. Expect some seatrout mixed in with drum when using with this method. For artificial lures, try a swim tail grub on a jig head. Pinks and reds are the best colors, imitating shrimp. In shallow water, red drum will occasionally hit a top water plug, like a Dalton Special. Streamers are the ticket for taking drum on fly in these conditions. Just make sure you strip fast enough to keep the fly moving naturally with the tidal current. Just about any creek going through any marsh area from Saint Marys to Savannah has the potential to hold fish. The key is finding the tidal flows that are carrying bait. The fish will be right behind and under the bait. Summer is usually the time we experience more rain than any other time of year. Younger fish in the headwaters of the creeks are vulnerable to severe salinity changes, and heavy freshwater runoff from rain can hurt the population. Red drum can truly be caught at any time of the year. They are relatively easy to catch, and we have lots of anglers fishing for them, more very year. If we are to continue to have replenishable stocks of red drum for future years, we must pay strict attention to the conservation efforts that the Georgia DNR Coastal Resources Division has put in place. The fact that these fish don’t reach breeding maturity until five years of age means that we must make sure we return to the water unharmed the majority of the smaller fish we catch. According to John Pafford, Biologist in charge of inshore finfish research with the DNR Coastal Resources Division, over two million red drum have been harvested in Georgia waters over the past ten years by recreational anglers. Recent samplings of large red drum reflect the low numbers of juvenile fish that are reaching reproductive size. Most of the adults sampled were between twelve and twenty-five years of age. In fact, the ideal sampling would show most fish in the four to twelve year age bracket. The lack of fish in this lower bracket means that we may be harvesting too many fish before they reach breeding potential. So, it’s up to us. While we have a tremendous red drum fishery and we prohibit harvest of breeder fish over twenty-seven inches in length, we need to be very careful with the smaller fish we catch. Take your five fish limit, and enjoy the catch and release resource. But be sure to carefully handle the smaller fish when you release them. And if it’s table fare you are after, consider practicing catch and release on the red drum while you keep the few seatrout and flounder that are always mixed in with them. It will help preserve the resource for future generations. 6/21/2018 0 Comments summer redfishby Capt. Erick Despirt - Reel Cranking Charters
One of the great things about redfish -- other than the fact they taste great, put up an amazing fight and are beautiful looking fish -- is that you can find them year round in good numbers and size. Of course there are times that are better than others; when they are in bigger numbers and are larger. The summer can be a tough time of the year to catch fish but its one of my favorite times to fish for redfish. The first thing to watch for is the tide. Specifically, for high tides that are two feet or higher. This allows the reds to get up under the mangroves where they are more protected, out of the heat, and have a large abundance of ambush points. The high water allows the fish to get deep into the mangroves. This can make those deep-seated fish difficult to get to the edge to eat bait. The best way to get these fish to come out from this hiding place is all about the bait. This leads me to the second key to getting redfish out from under the mangroves. My bait of choice is dead pinfish, though cut mullet and ladyfish will also work, but I prefer pinfish. The size of the bait can vary; if you have large pinfish, simply cut them into strips. If only small palm size bait or smaller are available, cut the tail off , put a slit in its side and crush the head. The key is getting the scent as far under the mangroves as possible to the waiting fish. Bloody and smelly bait is a must in this scenario. When fishing with clients or speaking at seminars about beating the bushes, I am frequently asked how I pick spots to cast to and how close the bait need to be. This is not a simple task. Some of it comes from time on the water and a lot of trial and error. Let me answer the question of how close does the bait need to be, which will lead me into how to pick a place to cast to. The bait needs to be as absolutely as close as you can get it or under the mangroves. The closer to the fish you can get the bait the better your results will be. Even when you're getting as close to the bushes as possible you are still depending on the scent of the bait to draw them to what you are offering, so when working a mangrove edge, I look for places that have cuts, openings that allow me to cast, or in most cases spots where I can skip baits deep into. I also like the mangroves to come in and out and have points and creek mouths. I find these much more productive then simple straight shorelines. Something that I have noticed over the years of fishing this way is that -- more often than not -- as long as the tide is moving it doesn't matter what the conditions are. I have hammered them in all kinds of weather; windy, sunny, high pressure, low pressure and no wind. It doesn't seem to matter. Now don't misunderstand there are still days that are far better than others but it is much different than when they are on the open flat. Last but not least there is the tackle selection. I say this depends entirely on you and your skill level. If you are looking for a bit of a challenge then go light, but if you don't deal with losing fish well, then heavier tackle will be a better fit. I use seven-foot medium action St Croix Avids with 3000 Daiwa Ballistics. For line and leader I am throwing 10 pound test Fins PRT and 20 pound test Seaguar fluorocarbon with a 1/0 Trokar hook. Your tackle selection is entirely up to you. There is no right or wrong, per say, but I recommend something that you can cast accurately. Be sure to bring plenty of hooks cause if you're not hooking the bushes you're not fishing close enough! More great fishing info at - www.theonlinefisherman.com 5/31/2018 0 Comments what's in a word by Gritter Griffin
Words are funny critters. Sometimes they are solid, definitive, and bold. Other times they are shady, weak, and fickle. But words are how we communicate with each other in speech, reading, and writing. SO, how do we keep up with this conundrum that words sometimes create? We DEFINE them. We give words specific definitions, so everyone knows exactly what each word means – right? Wrong. Often words have many different meanings depending on the context of their use, so it is extremely important to understand exactly how a word was used in relation to the other words around it to really know what it means. Fickle? Absolutely. Difficult? Sometimes. Necessary? Undeniably. Now I say all that to say this – the topic of “burning” shorelines with boats, specifically “tower” boats is a subject of great interest to a lot of people. And, frankly, it should be a topic of interest to a lot more people than it is. If you are a competitive angler, it should be in the very forefront of your mind along with a plan to DO something about it. I have stated the obvious here before and I’ll repeat it again – if we don’t police our own ranks and hold the culprits responsible for their actions it will be done for us and it will be done in a way that suits the fancy of bureaucrats who may not even know which end of a rod to hold on to. This issue has become a hot button with people who don’t know a redfish from a mullet. The reason for that is that it is not being touted and decried as an “illegal” way to find and/or catch fish. No, it is on the chopping block because it is causing irreparable harm to the ecosystems of the marshes and estuaries of our coastal regions. And THAT, dear friends, is something a whole lot of people care about. I can clearly remember 10-15 or more years ago when I was trolling along through back ponds and flats in Louisiana looking for reds and they would literally come up to the boat and swim right along with me making happy grunts all the way. I have had, on many occasions, redfish come right up to the spinning prop of my trolling motor to see if it was something to eat. I have sat my boat in one spot and caught reds without making a cast. I would simply have a few feet of line out and go “dobbing” for reds by just letting the lure straight down in front of them as they cavorted around my boat. So, tell me – when was the last time you saw redfish acting like that? Many of you will have to say ‘never’ because you came to game after the changes were wrought. Some of you have only come to the game in the last 2-4 years and you may never see that kind of behavior. And it is we, my friends, it is WE who have done this. And it must be WE who correct it. With these thoughts on our mind let us look at couple of words. Let’s examine “burning” and “tower”. Most of the rhetoric I have heard and read has centered around the word “how” – as in, “How do we stop people from doing this?” or “How do we define burning?” I am about to help you with that. But first let’s see if we can define a “tower” boat. Top drive? Dual helm? Six feet? Ten feet? Flat bottom? Vee hull? Shallow draft? Deep draft? Specific make? Model? The more people you ask, the more complex - and obscure - the definition becomes. Well, ok then, let’s have a go at “burning” shorelines? Fast? Slow? Ten feet off the bank? Twenty yards off the bank? Using a TRP? Standard lower unit? Can ONLY done by “tower” boats? Can be done by ANY style boat? What exactly IS this thing called “burning” to locate fish. Same result. The more people you ask, the more complex – and obscure - the definition becomes. Now we get to the meat of the matter – How do we define “burning” so we can make a rule to stop it. This also brings us to an interesting quandary because the more we try to define “burning” in this context, the more complex the definition becomes and the more vague and obtuse its meaning. In fact, the only thing you can honestly say about the practice is that it is a method of using a boat under power, usually on plane, to cover large areas of water with the express purpose of locating fish. Aha! Now we have something to work with because purpose means intent. And, there is no question in anyone’s mind that they did or did not perform an action with the purpose, the “intent”, of locating fish. Each one of you knows, in your own mind, what “burning” is. SO, if you do it you simply cannot hide from that intent and it will sink your boat on a polygraph because you WILL fail the question. You see, your intent to perform an action is a powerful thing and it cannot be diluted or refined. It is INTENT, it is in your mind, it is a part of your conscious will, and you simply cannot subjugate that intent when asked about a specific action. Now, and without a specific written definition, we can hold people accountable for their actions by indicating that the purpose and the intent are illegal in tournament activity including ALL prefishing activities. I would submit to you, whether you agree with my little word trial or not, that you CANNOT defeat a polygraph if a question is phrased about an “action with intent”. All that needs to happen now is for EVERY angling competition, tour, and trail to insert a rule making it illegal to utilize a boat (any boat), on plane (yes, you know what that means too), with the intent and for the specific purpose of locating fish. Ya’ll chew on that bone for a bit. I have some fishing to do. Contact gritter@redfishconnection.com 5/30/2018 0 Comments burning bridges by Gritter Griffin
Long, long ago on waters far. far away a middle-aged outdoorsman named Gritter Griffin was introduced to the world of competitive redfishing. He had never seen a redfish much less been compelled to fish for them. And, in the beginning, he was pretty terrible at it. He simply didn’t know what he didn’t know. BUT – Ol’ Gritter is an intelligent fella and was already pretty well known in his home state of Alabama as one of the best deer and turkey hunters in the state. Hell, once he even took a deer from a ground stalk with a hand thrown spear. He was also cursed with a highly competitive nature and a don’t quit attitude. He set about learning everything he could about the redfish. He knew that if he could learn the critter’s life cycle - where it mated, ate, swam, traveled, slept, rested, and the “why’s” of all those – that he could always find them and catch them. Over many years I traveled with the ever-changing pack of renegades that called themselves redfish anglers. It was a different breed of competitive angler – singular, independent, a little rough around the edges -but loyal, dependable, and fiercely competitive. These coastal boys could hold their own with anybody, anywhere. And I became one of them. My independent nature led me to compete in the truly old school manner of searching for and finding the fish completely on my own. I eschewed partnering with anyone because that would, in my mind, blunt any success I might have. I wanted to be solely responsible for everything that happened to me on the water and in competition, good and bad. I was almost always “in the mix” but never quite reached that pinnacle of success called winning. A perennial top 10, top 20 guy, I was uncompromising in my belief that I would one day achieve that difficult task of winning. But I would do it my way. I watched as groups of anglers teamed up to take advantage of their numbers and ability to cover more water in a shorter period of time. I watched as winning became the all-consuming mantra of many of these competitors. I watched as the prize purses continued to rise. I watched as organizations rose up to take advantage of the frenzy and make money off the backs of this rough and ready crowd. I watched as America slowly took notice of this new brand of fishing and companies began to realize that there was a new arena to market their goods and services. And, I watched as ethics gave way to ego and cheating to gain an advantage became rampant. The ways that unethical people have devised to cheat in a tournament are truly legion. Forcing weights down fish throats, trimming tails, injecting water into fish bodies, penning fish in cages, penning fish in tiny lagoons with blocked entrances, forcing mullet and/or shrimp down fish gullets, having allies hand off fish out on the water, non-competitors blocking entrances to small bays, and more, much more. There is no limit to the devious methods to which unethical anglers will stoop for that moment of false glory when all will regale them as the “Winner”. I watched as the equipment changed too. The gear, lures, and boats all became more specialized to specifically target redfish. Enter the tower boat. The advent of pursuing redfish from a tower on a boat specifically designed to go into, and run in, extremely shallow waters was probably the most significant event in the history of competitive redfishing. This type of boat and equipment allowed anglers to cover vast areas of water in a very short time by simply running the boat along the shorelines – burning banks – looking for numbers of the right size redfish. The ability to find, and then catch, quality redfish was magnified hundreds of times over the “old school” way of researching, methodically planning, and slowly working your way through a system of water. Tower boat captains were soon winning nine out of every ten events. The tower boat became the very lifeblood of competitive redfishing. It may also soon become the death knell. Not so much the boat itself. Boats don’t pilot themselves. Boats have no intent. A boat is an inanimate object that requires human intellect to perform its duties. It is those humans that have pushed the envelope too far. A boat, tower or not, is just another tool in the arsenal of the competitive angler. How it is used is the source of a growing consensus of concern and an increasing volume of outcries that the boat itself be banned from the marshlands and fragile estuaries of the coast. There is growing concern by those in charge of maintaining the integrity of the coastal waters and lands that the practice of running shallow draft boats very close to shorelines is damaging to the already fragile ecosystem. There is a growing voice condemning the practice of using tower boats to find fish in this manner. And, there is a growing voice to simply ban redfish competition altogether as a means of controlling the havoc. I have noted many changes in the sport over the past twenty years but one of the most significant differences I have noted has been in the “dock talk” over the past two years. Dock talk comprises everything from weather patterns, to fish patterns, to bait selection, to outboard motors, to the sly little white lies we all tell to throw our competitors the wrong bone. But, a disturbing pattern has emerged. Nearly 100% of the dock talk (and stage talk) over the past two years has now centered on the fish being “spooky” and “skittish” and “won’t eat anything”. Redfish have exhibited more and more avoidance behavior around boats. Is this because the fish have repeatedly, and continually, been run over by legions of bank burning boats? “Land” owners that control the marsh are suddenly, and seriously, up in arms over anglers running boats on their “property”. Is this because of the practice of burning? Legislative action has even become a part of the controversy. Is this, too, because of the practice of burning? There will come a time, and it is rapidly arriving, when these controversies will come to a head, decisions will be made, and consequences imposed. The end game is upon us. There is a solution. But we must act. We must make the right decisions - and stand by those decisions -before others do it for us Before redfish tournaments are banned from the marshlands, before every relationship we have built over twenty years is forever changed, we should electively ban bank burning from competitive redfishing. Not the boats – the practice. Contact gritter@redfishconnection.com |
CategoriesArchives
October 2018
|
RSS Feed
Redfish Connection
The most comprehensive, entertaining, and instructional redfish information in the world.
Contact Us
