advice locating redfish please!!

[coreypnich]

Hey fellas, I have been having a hard time locating reds. I know I should be fishing the creek mouths but I'm a little confused on this. Do you fish right in the mouth of the creek or away from the mouth out on the grass flats. What's a depth I should be looking for? And last question, should I fish into the creek or just go from creek mouth to creek mouth? Thanks for any advice!

[fishinfool]

A good basic strategy is to treat Redfish like largemouth bass. They will be found in similar areas, (grasslines, structure, etc...) and take similar lures.

[SHOWBOAT]

Do you fish right in the mouth of the creek or away from the mouth out on the grass flats.

yes. They move multiple times per day. On a high tide more push back into creeks. At the turn of the low they may stage at the mouth. Sometimes they just graze the flats. Grab a noisy topwater and spoon. Cover territory and look for bait or movement. Saw 3 schools of over 50 fish last weekend and they were all willing to eat topwaters.

[Williamsdad]

Brian, any wearing yellow tags?

[SHOWBOAT]

no tags, but one school was close to a 27.5" trout that won me $400

[Williamsdad]

Sweet! Knowing all that, surprised you didn't take redfish, winner didn't seem that big.

[SHOWBOAT]

Only allowed to be 26" in the bbswc. We caught probably 20 fish all between 22-24"

[big bend gyrene]

Coreypnich, might help a bit to share which general area you are fishing.

If below Tallahassee, west of St. Marks versus east of St. Marks changes the answers I would give just a bit.

Some of my favorite spots west of the lighthouse are grassy points, funnel areas between grass beds, deeper holes, etc.

East of the lighthouse I catch almost all of my redfish against hard structure, primarily spots with oyster bars and surrounding hard bottom, and not all of those spots run into the grass-line shore/creeks/river mouths, though many do. Few of my favorite ones are the ones I've found farthest from shore, though don't read into it that they necessarily are deep. Some are a ways out but still show on low tides, and as for how shallow the fish will hit, have caught them pulling gold spoons within a few feet of exposed oyster MANY times.

Fishinfool's advice to treat them like bass is spot on. Much like bass, they like structure (very likely due to the crabs and small fish the structure draws) when they have it readily available.

[coreypnich]

Thanks to all who have replied! I should have specified I fish mainly out of steinhatchee. Treating them like bass should really help since that's what I grew up catching.

[countrycorners]

Pay some attention to time of day! Those charts with the squiggly lines showing when the fish like to eat have some value!

[zload]

Thanks to all who have replied! I should have specified I fish mainly out of steinhatchee. Treating them like bass should really help since that's what I grew up catching.

You might look over a chart of the area and note any areas marked "rocky" especially if there is a creek mouth in the general area. Just be prepared to damage props and lower units