Tactics for wary redfish

When looking for pressured redfish, let the lure do the work

The sheltered bays and shallow lagoons from Tampa to Ft. Myers provide excellent habitat for young red drum, the fish targeted by most tournament anglers.

But because of the large number of tannic rivers that empty into these estuaries, the water is often tea-colored, which makes it difficult to sight-cast to wary reds.

“This is not Louisiana, where if you can see `em, you can catch `em,” said Geoffrey Page of Venice, Fla., a pro angler on the Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. “Down here, if you see a fish, it isn’t the one you are going to catch.”

The red drum is an opportunistic feeder, and it will form into large schools, in part for protection, but also to help spook food sources, such as crabs and small fish, up from the protective shelter of the grass beds.

“In some areas, a school might be 15 to 20 fish,” Page said. “But down here, especially from July on, you can see schools of 100 to 200 fish. They are so big that from the boat, it might look like porpoises pushing up a wake.”

While large schools might look inviting, approaching one head-on will do little to help an angler hook up.

“I look at it like hunting for deer,” said Doug Hemmer, a St. Petersburg-based guide who also fishes the tournament trail. “You can cover a lot of territory and get nothing, or you can sit and wait and let the fish come to you.”

Hemmer regularly fishes the flats near Ft. DeSoto, a large network of mangrove-lined islands near the mouth of Tampa Bay, and has developed a sixth sense of where redfish schools may be on any given day.

“When I see a school moving along the shoreline, I position my boat ahead of it,” Hemmer said. “I let them swim right into my bait.”

Chasing a school, whether it be by poling or trolling motor, will do nothing but force the fish to disperse, according to Hemmer.

“When these fish get skittish like that, you have to be very careful,” he said. “If you spook them, you might just ruin your chances for the rest of the day.”

Page, who fishes just south of Hemmer in the Sarasota Bay area, encourages anglers to use the wind to their advantage.

“If you can, get upwind and let it push you toward the place where you want to fish,” he said. “You have to remember, these are really spooky fish.”

Page has found that during periods of high water, redfish will swim closer to the shoreline, which offers protection from predators and abundant food sources. When the water is low, the fish will be closer to the channel or drop-off, which affords some avenue of escape.

“Because these fish are wary, they will never be too far from deep water,” Page said. “I have found that most redfish never venture more than a quarter mile from what I call their `happy spot’ – the place where they feel safe.”

As a result, Page often spends a good deal of time “searching” for fish. This, however, doesn’t mean he runs all over the grass beds in his flats boat.

“I make a lot of long casts and cover as much territory as possible,” Page said. “A 7-foot, medium-action rod and 10-pound-test Power Pro line lets me get the jerkbait out there.”

A long cast serves two purposes. The first, and most obvious, is that it allows the bait to cover more ground, which will increase an angler’s chance of a strike. But the ability to cast a long distance will keep the angler away from a spooky red, which makes it more likely that the fish will take the bait.

“My advice is to always stay as far away from the fish as possible,” Page said. “The more room you give it, the better your chances.”

Page also believes in giving a fish a chance to eat. He uses D.O.A. and Mr. Twister soft jerkbaits with 1/8- or 1/16-ounce jigheads.

“I think the light jighead suspends the bait longer in the water column,” he said. “A light jighead also makes for a quieter entry.”

Ed Zyak of Jensen Beach, Fla., Page’s partner in the FLW Redfish Series, fishes Florida’s East Coast. There, conditions are often quite different from Page’s home waters.

The Indian River Lagoon, Florida’s longest estuary, is known internationally as one of the most productive redfish fisheries in the world. Anglers come from all over the globe to try to land one of the lagoon’s big bull reds on a fly rod, and the waterway has produced its share of IGFA records.

But the lagoon is notoriously shallow, as many a visiting boater has discovered, which makes the redfishing particularly challenging.

“You don’t want to see the fish here if they are spooky,” Zyak said. “If you can see the fish, you won’t catch them.”

Like Page, Zyak said the ability to cast a jerkbait a long distance is the key to success.

“I use braided line and a heavy jighead,” Zyak said. “I want to get it out there as far as possible.”

The trick to getting reds to eat is a “stealthy” approach.

“Whatever the zone, the approach is critical,” Zyak said. “If that means setting up a drift that allows the wind to take you in, you need to be quiet.”

Anglers might also consider downsizing and lengthening their leaders if the fish are proving particularly suspicious.

“Don’t think redfish can’t see the line,” Zyak said. “They can.”

In the end, what it all boils down to is consistency. Plan an attack and execute it down to the last detail.

“I tell people to treat every cast as if it were your last cast,” said Page, who, along with Zyak, is currently ranked fourth in the FLW Redfish Series East Division. “We have won tournaments making just one more cast.”