PARedfish.
Moderators: bman, Chalk, Tom Keels
FALL FOR A RED
By Capt. Alex Crawford
Every year in September and October along the barrier island passes of the Florida Panhandle, giant red drum come to spawn. You have a legitimate opportunity of catching and releasing a 40 pound fish, just for the fun of it. Targeting bull reds is an exciting game, just call it the hunt for reds of October.
Professional guides along the Gulf coast find redfish to be a consistent target species all year, but fall is a special time to hook up a monster red that will torque your rotator cuffs. Want a big-time sporting challenge? Now is the time for you to break the Florida state redfish record of only 52 pounds. Or, while you are at it, go ahead and raise the bar and break the world record of 94 pounds.
POISSON ROUGE
Redfish, like many saltwater species, have many different colloquial names based on one’s geographical orientation. In Florida, everyone knows the fish as redfish or simply reds. Louisiana anglers refer to them as poisson rouge, in French, fish red. In North Carolina and Virginia, it’s red drum, while fishermen in South Carolina and Georgia call them spot-tail bass or just bass. No matter what you call them, call them a real thrill to catch and superb table fare.
HABITAT
On the Forgotten Coast of Northwest Florida, reds have an ideal habitat. They live year round in bays, rivers and creeks, having evolved the ability to tolerate fresh water. Reds are caught on shallow water flats, oyster bars and around jetties in Gulf passes. Large schools of reds may be observed offshore around reefs and rigs, where they are so numerous the water color turns a coppery red.
SPOT-TAIL
Depending upon the water in which they live, reds exhibit different colors. In tannin stained creeks they take on a dark copper coloration. Offshore fish are iridescent gray with snow-white bellies. Reds possess a unique ocellated spot just forward of their tails. Rarely will you catch one with no spot, but multiple spots are quite common.
In Florida, reds are basically a catch and release recreational fishery. Anglers are allowed one fish each day in a size slot of 18 to 27 inches overall length. This conservative bag limit is intended to protect the mature female spawners that are 3 to 6 years old and go around 10 pounds. Since there is no commercial market for reds and because recreational anglers release large females, redfish in Florida are a huge success story. In fact, in other Gulf states, like Louisiana, reds are so prolific, some anglers consider them a pest species.
BLACKENED REDFISH
In the mid eighties, the resource was decimated due to the fad craze for blackened redfish. Today, the fishery is healthy and growing stronger with more and improved stock enhancement programs. From Texas to Florida scientists have perfected some very proactive methods of raising redfish and other species in ponds. Hatcheries raise young fish, introduce them into appropriate habitat and track their success in the wild by sophisticated tagging techniques. The future for reds is bright. Our grandchildren will be able to enjoy the thrill of pumping and winding on a bull red or watching a slot fish eat a fly in skinny water.
Reds are not picky eaters and respond to a wide array of baits and artificial lures. Every serious redfish angler will have an assortment of artificials like jigs and gold spoons or flies that emulate crustaceans. Reds love crabs and shrimp. The very best live baits for fall run bull reds are huge live shrimp, blue crabs, hand-sized poggies, pinfish and croakers. Fresh dead baits that take their share of big reds include cut ladyfish, pigfish (grunts), quartered crabs and hardtails (small jacks). Bait availability is always an issue.
BECOME AN ANCHOR EXPERT
Fishing the barrier island passes in fall is a specialized pursuit. On a typical weekend day, many other boats will want to join your party. Currents rip at speeds up to 9 knots in and out of these inlets and anchoring can be problematic. Granite boulders that make up the jetties are unforgiving to the unknowing Captain who donates his expensive anchor to the rocks. If you look on your color sonar bottom machine, you will see the large boulders that extend out into the pass a considerable distance from the jetties that you can see. A hook that has aluminum or stainless tines that allow you to power off the anchor and bend the tines back into place is a good jetty or wreck anchor.
Since most passes have a navigable depth of 30 to 50 feet, you will need heavy chain and considerable anchor line to get a bite in current. Most scenarios will require anchoring on a sandy bottom in the pass. Depending on your boat’s size and the horizontal velocity of the water, you may need at least a 15 pound Danforth hook. Understand that commercial traffic like petrol barges and offshore shrimpers are restricted by their draft and vessels anchored in the deepest area of the pass must give way.
FISH WHERE FISH ARE!
That brings us to the number one secret of catching bragging-size red drum. It is cardinal fishing rule number one—fish where fish are! It’ a revelation! Twenty years ago I learned the secret from an old friend, Captain Fred Morrow in Jacksonville. Over the years Captain Fred has earned the reputation as being the best of the best redfish guides. Chartering Fred for a day of red fishing at the mouth of the St. Johns River and in the creeks northwest of this mighty river is an experience never forgotten. Including rat reds, 50 fish days have not been uncommon. Fred even uses a hand counter. And the gigantic spawners come to the river’s mouth to spawn in fall. What I learned so many moons ago was that huge fish stack up in super feeding highways. These highways are troughs on the bottom where bait washes in and fish swim more efficiently with less current. Spawning actually occurs at night in these areas with large drumming aggregations of males. Reds make the drumming noise with their air bladders to attract females. And the fish are hungry and noisy. You can actually hear the low, dull drumming noise. Reds are primarily bottom feeders. Their mouths are oriented downward with strong, crushing mandibles. Drop a large live shrimp or a blue crab claw appetizer into one of these feeding/spawning troughs and hang on for dear life. You will become connected to a run-away freight train. Resuscitate your trophy, deflate the swim bladder and give her a kiss of thanks for the memory.
Reds live 20 years or more. How do we know this? Well, reds have ear bones called otoliths that are thin, round transparent bones located above the eye. Fishery scientists have found that otoliths tell the fish’s age much the same way a tree’s age is determined by counting the concentric rings. In fact, a small cult craze exists for otolith necklaces and jewelry. One caveat here, please don’t carve on bull redfish heads. Your kids’ kids may catch these fish. The big ones are not good to eat and, in most states, are illegal to possess.
TACKLE UP
Stout tackle is appropriate for giant reds. The faster you fight the fish to the gunwale, the greater the likelihood that it will survive. Circle hooks sized from 8/0 to 12/0 work well depending on the size of your live bait. Heavy hooks impair the action of the bait and create a less than natural presentation. Fiberglass and graphite sticks in the 30 pound class will allow you to put pressure on a bulldog fish. Reels are a personal choice, but I suggest Shimano TLD 20’s or Spheros 14000 spinners. Drags should be preset and working smoothly. A quality stand up fighting belt will give you more leverage and advantage during a long fight. Be prepared to drop an anchor ball quickly, so you can follow a really big fish and return to your anchor. If a hot fish swims into another boat’s anchor line, you will cry for a while and the fish that broke off will get bigger and bigger that night after a few cold ones.
LOCATION, LOCATION
Around my small part of the big pond, there are a couple great spots to try for your personal best red in fall. On the western end of Saint George Island, try the Government Cut (Bob Sikes Cut). The fish will be there, but so will an entire fleet of recreational anglers playing bumper cars. The eastern end of SGI is another excellent choice and much less crowded. The East Pass separates SGI and Dog Island. Two specific areas are worth trying in the East Pass. First, there is a trough that runs parallel to the beach on the eastern end of SGI. Anchoring or drift fishing this hole on an outgoing tide may produce. Also, try starting a drift on the southwest corner of Dog Island close to the beach. Live pinfish would be a good choice. The sharks are usually gone with the cooler water temps. Just put the sticks in a rod holder and lock them in. When Ms. Red eats your pin, you will hear that sweet string music and the game in on. Have a light drag setting so as to not pull the hook on the first brute run. Some folks troll magnum lures for reds, but this is not a common technique in this area due to the low visibility.
By Capt. Alex Crawford
Every year in September and October along the barrier island passes of the Florida Panhandle, giant red drum come to spawn. You have a legitimate opportunity of catching and releasing a 40 pound fish, just for the fun of it. Targeting bull reds is an exciting game, just call it the hunt for reds of October.
Professional guides along the Gulf coast find redfish to be a consistent target species all year, but fall is a special time to hook up a monster red that will torque your rotator cuffs. Want a big-time sporting challenge? Now is the time for you to break the Florida state redfish record of only 52 pounds. Or, while you are at it, go ahead and raise the bar and break the world record of 94 pounds.
POISSON ROUGE
Redfish, like many saltwater species, have many different colloquial names based on one’s geographical orientation. In Florida, everyone knows the fish as redfish or simply reds. Louisiana anglers refer to them as poisson rouge, in French, fish red. In North Carolina and Virginia, it’s red drum, while fishermen in South Carolina and Georgia call them spot-tail bass or just bass. No matter what you call them, call them a real thrill to catch and superb table fare.
HABITAT
On the Forgotten Coast of Northwest Florida, reds have an ideal habitat. They live year round in bays, rivers and creeks, having evolved the ability to tolerate fresh water. Reds are caught on shallow water flats, oyster bars and around jetties in Gulf passes. Large schools of reds may be observed offshore around reefs and rigs, where they are so numerous the water color turns a coppery red.
SPOT-TAIL
Depending upon the water in which they live, reds exhibit different colors. In tannin stained creeks they take on a dark copper coloration. Offshore fish are iridescent gray with snow-white bellies. Reds possess a unique ocellated spot just forward of their tails. Rarely will you catch one with no spot, but multiple spots are quite common.
In Florida, reds are basically a catch and release recreational fishery. Anglers are allowed one fish each day in a size slot of 18 to 27 inches overall length. This conservative bag limit is intended to protect the mature female spawners that are 3 to 6 years old and go around 10 pounds. Since there is no commercial market for reds and because recreational anglers release large females, redfish in Florida are a huge success story. In fact, in other Gulf states, like Louisiana, reds are so prolific, some anglers consider them a pest species.
BLACKENED REDFISH
In the mid eighties, the resource was decimated due to the fad craze for blackened redfish. Today, the fishery is healthy and growing stronger with more and improved stock enhancement programs. From Texas to Florida scientists have perfected some very proactive methods of raising redfish and other species in ponds. Hatcheries raise young fish, introduce them into appropriate habitat and track their success in the wild by sophisticated tagging techniques. The future for reds is bright. Our grandchildren will be able to enjoy the thrill of pumping and winding on a bull red or watching a slot fish eat a fly in skinny water.
Reds are not picky eaters and respond to a wide array of baits and artificial lures. Every serious redfish angler will have an assortment of artificials like jigs and gold spoons or flies that emulate crustaceans. Reds love crabs and shrimp. The very best live baits for fall run bull reds are huge live shrimp, blue crabs, hand-sized poggies, pinfish and croakers. Fresh dead baits that take their share of big reds include cut ladyfish, pigfish (grunts), quartered crabs and hardtails (small jacks). Bait availability is always an issue.
BECOME AN ANCHOR EXPERT
Fishing the barrier island passes in fall is a specialized pursuit. On a typical weekend day, many other boats will want to join your party. Currents rip at speeds up to 9 knots in and out of these inlets and anchoring can be problematic. Granite boulders that make up the jetties are unforgiving to the unknowing Captain who donates his expensive anchor to the rocks. If you look on your color sonar bottom machine, you will see the large boulders that extend out into the pass a considerable distance from the jetties that you can see. A hook that has aluminum or stainless tines that allow you to power off the anchor and bend the tines back into place is a good jetty or wreck anchor.
Since most passes have a navigable depth of 30 to 50 feet, you will need heavy chain and considerable anchor line to get a bite in current. Most scenarios will require anchoring on a sandy bottom in the pass. Depending on your boat’s size and the horizontal velocity of the water, you may need at least a 15 pound Danforth hook. Understand that commercial traffic like petrol barges and offshore shrimpers are restricted by their draft and vessels anchored in the deepest area of the pass must give way.
FISH WHERE FISH ARE!
That brings us to the number one secret of catching bragging-size red drum. It is cardinal fishing rule number one—fish where fish are! It’ a revelation! Twenty years ago I learned the secret from an old friend, Captain Fred Morrow in Jacksonville. Over the years Captain Fred has earned the reputation as being the best of the best redfish guides. Chartering Fred for a day of red fishing at the mouth of the St. Johns River and in the creeks northwest of this mighty river is an experience never forgotten. Including rat reds, 50 fish days have not been uncommon. Fred even uses a hand counter. And the gigantic spawners come to the river’s mouth to spawn in fall. What I learned so many moons ago was that huge fish stack up in super feeding highways. These highways are troughs on the bottom where bait washes in and fish swim more efficiently with less current. Spawning actually occurs at night in these areas with large drumming aggregations of males. Reds make the drumming noise with their air bladders to attract females. And the fish are hungry and noisy. You can actually hear the low, dull drumming noise. Reds are primarily bottom feeders. Their mouths are oriented downward with strong, crushing mandibles. Drop a large live shrimp or a blue crab claw appetizer into one of these feeding/spawning troughs and hang on for dear life. You will become connected to a run-away freight train. Resuscitate your trophy, deflate the swim bladder and give her a kiss of thanks for the memory.
Reds live 20 years or more. How do we know this? Well, reds have ear bones called otoliths that are thin, round transparent bones located above the eye. Fishery scientists have found that otoliths tell the fish’s age much the same way a tree’s age is determined by counting the concentric rings. In fact, a small cult craze exists for otolith necklaces and jewelry. One caveat here, please don’t carve on bull redfish heads. Your kids’ kids may catch these fish. The big ones are not good to eat and, in most states, are illegal to possess.
TACKLE UP
Stout tackle is appropriate for giant reds. The faster you fight the fish to the gunwale, the greater the likelihood that it will survive. Circle hooks sized from 8/0 to 12/0 work well depending on the size of your live bait. Heavy hooks impair the action of the bait and create a less than natural presentation. Fiberglass and graphite sticks in the 30 pound class will allow you to put pressure on a bulldog fish. Reels are a personal choice, but I suggest Shimano TLD 20’s or Spheros 14000 spinners. Drags should be preset and working smoothly. A quality stand up fighting belt will give you more leverage and advantage during a long fight. Be prepared to drop an anchor ball quickly, so you can follow a really big fish and return to your anchor. If a hot fish swims into another boat’s anchor line, you will cry for a while and the fish that broke off will get bigger and bigger that night after a few cold ones.
LOCATION, LOCATION
Around my small part of the big pond, there are a couple great spots to try for your personal best red in fall. On the western end of Saint George Island, try the Government Cut (Bob Sikes Cut). The fish will be there, but so will an entire fleet of recreational anglers playing bumper cars. The eastern end of SGI is another excellent choice and much less crowded. The East Pass separates SGI and Dog Island. Two specific areas are worth trying in the East Pass. First, there is a trough that runs parallel to the beach on the eastern end of SGI. Anchoring or drift fishing this hole on an outgoing tide may produce. Also, try starting a drift on the southwest corner of Dog Island close to the beach. Live pinfish would be a good choice. The sharks are usually gone with the cooler water temps. Just put the sticks in a rod holder and lock them in. When Ms. Red eats your pin, you will hear that sweet string music and the game in on. Have a light drag setting so as to not pull the hook on the first brute run. Some folks troll magnum lures for reds, but this is not a common technique in this area due to the low visibility.
wevans, thats a good article by Capt Alex. 
sea-grits, I must confess that there is certainly a flavour of the infamous "lightchop" about your post.
Incidentally, I come from the "Garden of England", which is Kent, Newquay is in Cornwall, I also suspect that I have fished in Sikes Cut, more often than 90% of the population of Tallahassee.
sea-grits, I must confess that there is certainly a flavour of the infamous "lightchop" about your post.
Incidentally, I come from the "Garden of England", which is Kent, Newquay is in Cornwall, I also suspect that I have fished in Sikes Cut, more often than 90% of the population of Tallahassee.
-
CAPTAIN CHARLIE
- Site Sponsor
- Posts: 188
- Joined: November 5th, 2003, 10:41 pm
Saturday fishing
SEA GRITS....
I'll be fishing Saturday. I'llbe fishing alone as I don't have a charter to take out and my fishing buddies all have honey dos.
Looks like low tide early am, so Ill fish till mid to late afternoon.
I fish out of my house at Oyster Bay. If you wanna go give me a call.
Charlie
8931050
I'll be fishing Saturday. I'llbe fishing alone as I don't have a charter to take out and my fishing buddies all have honey dos.
Looks like low tide early am, so Ill fish till mid to late afternoon.
I fish out of my house at Oyster Bay. If you wanna go give me a call.
Charlie
8931050
FLAT BROKE CHARTERS (RETIRED)
VERY AFFORDABLE FLATS FISHING
U.S.C.G. MASTERS LISC. AUX. SAIL
850 893-1050 cell 212-0660
VERY AFFORDABLE FLATS FISHING
U.S.C.G. MASTERS LISC. AUX. SAIL
850 893-1050 cell 212-0660
-
BKTomblin Jr
- Posts: 388
- Joined: September 26th, 2004, 4:43 pm
- Location: Tallahassee
Welcome Aboard ! Im commin in to the "thread" alittle late. Alot of good information can be learned by keepin-up w/ BBFN (Big Bend Fishing Net) now that Ive given my plug for the team 
Im MAKO or (Ben) I havent been fishing salt water that long, but I LOVE-IT.....and Ive caught my share of Reds over the years. The fight is like no other (except maybe a Cobia 
) Live shrimp has turned over some nice fish for me, but ofcourse there are several different approaches.
My boats in for some repairs, but thats only temporary.... If your ever lookin to fish, drop me a line 850-877-8232 or cell 567-5343
"Tight lines & Good fishin"
Im MAKO or (Ben) I havent been fishing salt water that long, but I LOVE-IT.....and Ive caught my share of Reds over the years. The fight is like no other (except maybe a Cobia ) Live shrimp has turned over some nice fish for me, but ofcourse there are several different approaches. My boats in for some repairs, but thats only temporary.... If your ever lookin to fish, drop me a line 850-877-8232 or cell 567-5343
"Tight lines & Good fishin"
I'm a newcomer to the group here too.
I spend most of yesterday in east pass, and caught Nothin'! (excluding pesky ladyfish)
Didn't look like many people were doing well. Someone told me that the eclipse had the fish's eating schedules confused.
Anyway, back at it today (vacation this week) and Saturday.
I'm a newcomer to saltwater fishing as well, so I'm going to take some of the advice here and try to put it into practice today.
By the way, the biting flies were TERRIBLE on the east end of St. George. Spent the rest of the day trying to get them out of the boat.
Russ
I spend most of yesterday in east pass, and caught Nothin'! (excluding pesky ladyfish)
Didn't look like many people were doing well. Someone told me that the eclipse had the fish's eating schedules confused.
Anyway, back at it today (vacation this week) and Saturday.
I'm a newcomer to saltwater fishing as well, so I'm going to take some of the advice here and try to put it into practice today.
By the way, the biting flies were TERRIBLE on the east end of St. George. Spent the rest of the day trying to get them out of the boat.
Russ