Slow sinking fish shaped plugs ½-¼ ounce shallow-running gold, copper, or silver spoons A weedless spoon (in areas of heavy vegetation) Plastic worms (for redfish at the very bottom of water) When it comes to fishing lures, anything with green or orange shading works well—most fish food consists of these two magic colors.
Top sonar units: Humminbird, Simrad, Garmin Adjust the sonar unit’s color settings based on your preference. Take time to learn how your sonar unit operates before heading out to fish.
Ask a state agency if you need a license to fish at any of the brackish water systems you visit. Wear heavy brackish water gear since you might catch big redfish that put up a fight when you try to reel them in. Use: A 7 feet (2. 1 m) medium-heavy rod with a medium-heavy reel A 10–12 pounds (4. 5–5. 4 kg) test line 2–3 feet (0. 61–0. 91 m) of 20 pounds (9. 1 kg) test leader material
Catch redfish in coastal marsh grasses all year long. Remain silent since redfish on the hunt can be really hypersensitive. Avoid incoming or outgoing tides since redfish prefer not to feed during these times. Bring bait that redfish feed on during the time of the year you go out.
If you like “surf fishing” and the thrill of an accidental catch, visit the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico any time of the year. Even if most redfish might be smaller in the Gulf of Mexico, you may find more since the ones that migrate there tend to stay there for the rest of their lives.
Find packs of 3-5 fish when you watch the waters. Expect to catch multiple fish in a row if you use a “mullet ball” as bait. If you spot translucent blue tails in a beach break—or rolling wave—you’ve found some bull redfish.
Look for tails since redfish dig their noses into mud to feed. Fish the flood from mid-March to the end of November. Expect to get 10-15 high tides during each of these months. Add a weed guard to your fishing hook to target redfish instead of grass. Put a weighted eye on your leader, like a 20 pounds (9. 1 kg) flouro leader so you can catch redfish that are deep in the water. Some patches of spartina grass are short enough to walk through as you fish.
After they spawn in the Chesapeake, large numbers of redfish migrate to Cape Lookout for the winter. In Florida’s beaches, November to December is the most productive time for redfish. In the winter, you can typically find schools of 500-5,0000 redfish in Louisiana and Texas.
Visit the “Redfish Pass” in late summer or early fall for a really productive season. Rumor has it, you can even walk across the pass and step on the heads of redfish because there are so many of them!
