Ancient Greeks believed the sun god Helios, offspring of Hyperion and Theia, crossed the heavens every day in a burning chariot. With our modern sensibilities, we snicker and guffaw at our simple-minded forebears for ascribing deity status to a sky-crossing orb of flame. Oh, the naivety!

Actually, a significant cohort exists among south Louisiana anglers who rival the early Grecians in their love, worship and adoration for the almighty Helios. These are the guys who push their boats and motors to the absolute limits to access glorified mud puddles deep in the Louisiana marsh, places that seem inaccessible and entirely too shallow to support any fish bigger than a bluegill.

But somehow, these backwaters — colloquially referred to as “duck ponds” — are exactly where thick-bodied redfish want to be, engaging in a Sisyphean quest to fill their bottomless bellies. The duck ponds are an all-you-can-eat buffet of crabs, shrimp, killifish and finger mullet, and the reds push into them in numbers from one to hundreds and absolutely terrorize the local baitfish population.

Sight Fishing for Louisiana’s Redfish

In these backwater ponds, which are often filtered by submerged aquatic vegetation, water clarity can range from gin-clear to tannic, and the redfish in them glow like stop signs — but only when the sun’s out. In fact, under a cloudless sky, the fish are so easy to spot, shallow-water anglers won’t even make a blind cast. I mean, what’s the point? They’ll simply pole around in the really shallow stuff or use a trolling motor in water that’s deep enough for it, and scan the water through polarized sunglasses, searching for the fish. Baits dangle patiently at the ends of rods, eagerly awaiting the moment a fish is spotted and they can fulfill their purpose.

Accurate casts are absolutely critical, and placement depends entirely on the demeanor and angle of the fish. Generally, an angler wants to cast past the red at a trajectory that will allow the lure to be retrieved a couple feet ahead of the fish. On some days, it’s best to drop the lure when the fish first sees it, and on others, bites are triggered when the angler plays keep away with the lure. Bites are intense, as the clear water allows every aspect of the take to be witnessed — the charging at the bait, the flaring of the gills and the vanishing of the lure as it’s sucked, along with the water around it, into the gaping maw of a hungry redfish.

Then the fights are the ultimate in intensity. Hook a redfish in a deep bayou, and it will head immediately for the bottom, trying to pull you, your rod and your boat down with it. But in the shallows, that’s not an option, so the fish strips as much line as it can on its first run, and then circles the boat like a distance runner on an Olympic track. That’s especially true with fish that locals call “overs” — redfish that stretch beyond the 27-inch maximum size limit.

Oversize Redfish in the Marsh

Biologists say that’s right around the size that redfish mature sexually and get the urge to move out to the Gulf to spawn. But many are late-bloomers that seem stuck in perpetual adolescence and refuse to put on their big-boy pants. Sometimes fish up to 35 inches are encountered in the ponds.

Regardless of size, these shallow, clear-water fish are the prettiest seen anywhere. Like chameleons, their skin changes color to suit their environment. Deep-water or dirty-water reds will be silver in color, with dark-bronze or brown backs, but in the shallows, the fish are bright orange, with the rich color often extending all the way around their normally white bellies.

This trait obviously gives them some camouflage advantage when targeting prey, but it completely betrays them when they themselves are the prey. Even Ray Charles could spot them. But only when the sun’s out. On cloudy days, the fish are nearly impossible to see, and lots of blind casts are necessary for success. It’s still fun and productive, but there’s nothing like casting to a fish you see and watching it suck in a lure. That’s why shallow-water redfish anglers are strict adherents to a religion, and Helios is their god.

The post Sight Fishing Louisiana’s Duck Ponds appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

I eyed a spot at the southwestern tip of the Cameron, Louisiana, jetties and made a cast. My lipless crankbait hit the water.

As the lure sank, I began my normal seven-count before making the first pull. I stopped at three. It felt as if the lure had hit a rock and got stuck, so I set the hook — just in case.

The rod immediately doubled over, the drag screamed, and for the next 15 minutes, a super-sized redfish put my muscles and tackle to the test.

Catching redfish is fun. Catching big redfish is really fun. And one of the best ways to do that in early fall is with crankbaits at jetties.

Gearing Up for Fishing Crankbaits

Endless varieties of crankbaits flood the market, especially for bass fishing, but the most effective crankbaits for redfish are lipless.

As the name implies, these lures feature no protruding lip, a characteristic that allows this kind of bait to be fished at specific depths. Lipless versions can be more versatile because the angler essentially controls the fishing depth.

Rat-L-Trap has long led the industry, but my favorite is the Super Pogy by Bomber Saltwater Grade. It comes with a high-pitch rattle that I’ve found effective. Other options include the Nobondo Lipless Crankbait, Nomad Design Madscad and Biospawn Rattle Bot.

Best colors include chrome, white/black, chrome/pink, and bronze. I use a casting reel rigged with a 30-pound green P-line braid tied directly to the lure because I fish in dingy water. In clear water, add a 36-inch fluorocarbon leader if needed.

I like a medium-heavy action, 7 1/2-foot rod but have a particular preference for its composition. I learned about this while fishing over the years with four-time Bassmaster Classic champion and living legend Rick Clunn.

Super-sensitive rods actually work against you when fishing with crankbaits, Clunn told me. A fish actually pushes the lure in pursuit; if you’re fishing a super-sensitive (graphite/composite) rod, you’ll set the hook before the fish actually has the lure.

Clunn collaborated with Wright & McGill a few years back to create the S-Glass Series of rods that incorporate traditional fiberglass technology with a modern flare. I use these rods for crankbaits and have had serious success everywhere from the Mississippi River near Venice, La., to the Cameron jetties.

With glass rods, I have had far more hookups than misses because I can’t feel the bite until the fish takes the lure. You’ll find numerous fiberglass crankbait rods on the market, and they can make a massive difference in the pursuit of redfish.

Location and Technique

Around the jetties, start fishing near the boat cuts [Ed’s note: Texas jetties feature breaks in the rock wall about halfway out that allow small boats through] to take advantage of reds foraging on baitfish moving between the channel and Gulf side of the jetty rocks. “You get shrimp, shad and crabs pushing through, and the reds will move in and feed,” says veteran jetty angler Bill Killian.

Anchor up-current of the cut and work the lure against the flow. “Throw it out toward the cut, let it sink a few seconds, and then reel it in as fast as you can. The pressure of the current will allow the rattles to work really well,” he says.

Also look for jetty reds in the deep holes usually found around the southern tip of the rocks and northward about 50 yards. At these spots, the current wraps around the jetty structure and carves out large holes. Reds congregate around large boulders that have fallen off the main wall into these holes.

Read Next: More Redfish Fishing Tips

Throw out the crankbait, let it sink to the level of the rocks, and rip it. I pull a few feet and then reel a couple of cranks. Repeat that three or four times and recast. The reds usually hit just after the first pull and sometimes on the fall.

While it might sound counterintuitive, if you see dolphins feeding in the area, that’s a fortunate sign.

In my logbook, I’ve noted dolphins feeding in the vicinity every time I’ve caught lots of bull reds. The times we had fewer fish, I saw no dolphins feeding. The presence of dolphins often indicates menhaden, a primary forage species for big reds.

Releasing for the Future

As everything from algae blooms to bycatch in the menhaden fishery puts pressure on redfish populations, catch-and-release becomes increasingly important — particularly for the big, breeding-size reds that inhabit jetty systems.

Scientists say the discard mortality rate for all sizes of redfish averages around 8 percent, though the type of terminal tackle used plays a major role. In general, lures deep-hook fewer fish than J-hooked natural baits.

In fact, one fish Killian caught at a nearshore gas platform off the Sabine Pass, which I tagged for Texas Sea Grant, made a reappearance three weeks later two miles away at the Sabine jetties. As the super fat bull redfish surfaced, Killian netted it. We quickly noticed a tag covered with slime.

I removed the growth, and my heart raced as I realized the tag said Sea Grant.

After examining our data, we realized it was the same fish Killian caught a few weeks before. It taught me firsthand that releasing big fish pays off, and I will carry that and deep respect for these bulls with me for the rest of my life.

The post Fishing Crankbaits for Gulf Jetty Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Even as Capt. Lori Hall wrapped the anchor line around a cleat, I cast across a canal a short run from the boat ramp at Simmons Park in Ruskin, Florida. As my Yo-Zuri 3D inshore twitchbait touched down about a foot from the grassy bank, in inches-deep water, I quickly began a jerk-pause retrieve to keep it off the bottom. About three jerks into it, something smashed the lure, and a small snook sailed out of the water. Hardly a trophy, but still, a pretty nice payoff for the first cast of that fall day.

Hall, who runs Ladyfish Charters in Tampa Bay, fishes from Apollo Beach to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. She had promised we’d find willing snook on the low flood tide, and so we did. That was our main quarry of the morning, and we caught a bunch. The twitchbait proved a hot ticket for quite a few snook—and many missed strikes—while live pilchards (more properly known as scaled sardines) also accounted for plenty of action. Hall’s generous live chumming near the boat certainly didn’t hurt.

Fishing Spots in Tampa Bay

A bit farther south from where we fished is the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, also a great spot for snook. I’ve fished there successfully with angler Jose Chavez, a fishing industry vet, where we caught snook in the virtually hidden openings of creeks and bays.

“That’s one of my favorite areas to fish,” agrees retired guide Capt. Ray Markham, out of St. Petersburg. “The habitat in Terra Ceia has been relatively untouched by development and the encroachment of people, with lush mangroves and oyster bars in the clean water,” Markham says.

With winds light, we switched during the afternoon from fishing mangrove-rimmed bays and canals to drifting grass flats in the open bay in 3 or 4 feet of water. The turtle grass offered a welcome change from many areas of the beleaguered Indian River Lagoon on the east side of the state that I was used to. When it comes to water quality and habitat, Tampa Bay has really cleaned up its act over the past. But Tampa Bay waters do face new water quality issues, as do many parts of Florida.

Over a couple of days, we fished only a small ­portion of Tampa Bay; I felt we could have spent many days doing so and not have begun to explore even that limited area. In fact, Tampa Bay is Florida’s largest open-water estuary, covering more than 400 square miles. The main shipping channel is a busy place, since Tampa is one of the 10 largest ports in the nation. Fortunately, we remained far from that sort of traffic.

Tarpon Fishing Tampa Bay

The high flooding tide meant good conditions, and while Hall often finds redfish ­readily available over these flats, we didn’t locate them that afternoon. But from her high vantage point standing at the Blue Wave’s second station, Hall did spot a big bonnethead shark cruising the ­shallows, in its typical zigzag fashion, just off the bow.

“Bonnethead, 10 o’clock!” she called out, and my daughter, Rachel, visiting from Virginia, dropped a pilchard just ahead of the fish, about 40 feet out. It looked like the shark would pass nearby but keep moving on when it suddenly turned 90 degrees and pounced on its newfound prize. The circle hook bit where it was supposed to, and the fish offered a real test for a tiny Daiwa with 10-pound braid and St. Croix Legend XTreme Inshore rod, making repeated runs around the boat.

Chavez focuses much of his attention on snook in the lower bay, particularly during outgoing tides, when he works mangrove points, oyster bars, docks and potholes. “Snook basically set up on prime ambush points where there’s a good current,” he says. Find places where water has to funnel through a choke point on an ebb tide, and “you can expect snook to be there waiting for an easy meal.”

Read Next: Tarpon Fishing Tips

As much fun as snook are, Hall—who has been fishing Tampa Bay since the mid-’80s—cites tarpon as her favorite of all the bay’s many gamefish species. And she’s caught some monsters, including “the greatest catch of my life, a 214-pound tarpon.” Once in a while, Murphy takes a nap, as on that day when ESPN happened to be on board filming a show and caught it all.

For tarpon, Markham’s a summertime guy. While even then it can be hit or miss, the action can also be “insane—especially when you see pods of fish coming right at the boat,” he says. “Big-game fishing in the shallows.” Then, he focuses on days around new and full moons when big tides flush crabs and shrimp out of the bays. Similarly, Chavez likes May and June for tarpon, when they might move in by the thousands, he says.

Fishing All Year Long in Tampa Bay

And while Markham is also a snook devotee, he says: “In the fall, I love fishing reds. They can be big and, like bulldogs, they just don’t give up. When the water temperature in the bay drops to between 72 and 78 degrees, with oxygen levels strong, that’s prime topwater time.”

Of course, jacks of various sizes patrol the bay, and when they’re on the attack, can be a blast. They gave us some good battles on our second day out with Hall. Somewhat less likely, a nice flounder surprised one angler. Not many Tampa Bay fishermen target flounder, mostly catching them incidentally, but they’re here. “Find good sand-and-shell or grassy habitat with channels and potholes in moving water, and you’re likely to find flounder much of the year,” Markham says.

With so much variety when it comes to ­gamefish species, the bay offers worthwhile action in all seasons. Chavez does indeed fish it year-round but says winter’s his preferred season. That’s when he really likes fishing the negative low tides, “especially during the start of the incoming. That really narrows down the places where the fish can be, and you get to transition up the flat to mangrove shorelines with them as the tide comes in.” Chavez acknowledges that conditions in the dead of winter are often cold and breezy, “but the fishing’s great, and it’s uncrowded because most people don’t want to deal with the discomfort. It really is my favorite time of year.”

Catching Two Redfish at the Same Time

These productive waters harbor many surprises, and Markham recounts his most indelible Tampa Bay memory: “One morning I was fishing a small cove within lower Tampa Bay using ultralight spinning tackle with 6-pound Ande tournament monofilament and a tandem-rigged jig. As I gazed down the shoreline, I saw what looked like a school of huge jack crevalle racing up the shore, eating everything in its path. Mullet were flying, schools of glass minnows were showering, and everything was getting devoured. I waited until the school came just within casting range and made a throw ahead of the lead fish.

“Instantly I was hooked up, and my 70-yard spool of line disappeared at a quick rate. I started the outboard to give chase and get back line. As I did, I got close enough to see that I hadn’t hooked a jack crevalle but a big redfish that looked to be at least 34 inches. When it saw the boat, it bolted back toward the school.

“As I followed it to regain line, the fish caught up to the school, and I felt a big thump on the line. Instantly the fish was ripping off drag again, and then the line went limp and I cranked hard, ­realizing the fish was running toward the boat.

“That’s when I saw that I now had two fish on my line—and the second fish was even larger. But the tandem rig soon parted, and I was left with only one fish—the larger one. I fought it for another 15 minutes or so before I finally subdued it, taking a measurement before I released her. She was a 46-incher with a massive girth. She bottomed out both scales on my boat, so I don’t know the weight, but to this day it remains the biggest redfish I have ever landed, and on 6-pound ­tournament mono at that!”

Planning A Fishing Trip to Lower Tampa Bay

Who: We fished with Capt. Lori Hall, Ladyfish Charters (ladyfish​charters.com, 813-967-5032). Good knowledge, good rig, good gear; easy to recommend. Special kudos to Hall for her people skills—her patience and great sense of humor make her an exceptional guide for families who want to fish the bay.

Where: We stayed on Anna Maria Island, which guards the yawning entrance to Tampa Bay at its southern end, due west of Bradenton. There, we spent several days and nights at Waterline Resort (waterlineresort.com) in one of its Island Suites, and were thoroughly impressed. The suite was provisioned more like a luxury home than a vacation unit, and the kitchen had everything we could possibly want or need. Comfortable and quiet, the suite made us regret having to leave. Also, the resort staff raised “cheery” to a whole new level I hadn’t seen; if these folks don’t truly love their jobs, they’re world-class actors.

More: The Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area has much to offer for extended trips or larger groups. You can explore it all online at visittampabay.com and visit ­stpeteclearwater.com.

The post Fish Tampa Bay for Inshore Action appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Leave the micro-skiff at home and keep the light-tackle outfits in the garage. If you want to catch bull redfish, think deep water and make sure to bring out the big guns.

The differences between adult and puppy red drum are so vast, you might as well treat the two like different animals. You’ll need to if you want to catch bull reds. Adult redfish lose their endearing adolescent spots, replaced with armor for scales and a caricature mouth only a carp could love. Their demeanor is bullish, using current and mass to fight down-and-dirty. And their meat turns from refined to tough, mirroring their aggressive mentality.

Bull redfish are the “big uglies” TV football commentators always talk about. Although “big ugly” is truly a nickname for a different drum — the black drum. Want to know how to catch these red drum? Conquering them requires sound technique, strength, specialized tactics and a keen eye. Learn how some of the best bull-beaters in the biz stay on top of their game.

Where to Catch Bull Redfish

Bull redfish inhabit waters from Chesapeake Bay through the Gulf of Mexico, making this illustrious species readily available to huge numbers of anglers. Their pervasiveness is outstanding but requires anglers to understand local population habits.

In the Chesapeake, May through September is the optimal time to target big reds in nearshore waters. Giant reds school up in spring outside Hatteras and Ocracoke inlets before moving into Pamlico Sound for the summer spawning season. In fall, those same reds leave en masse and stay along the beaches until water temperatures plummet, pushing them offshore for winter. The Cape Lookout fall run lasts into December and sometimes all through a mild winter.

In Florida, northeast bull redfish start spawning in deeper sections of the St. Johns River during the first big moon in August. In the Gulf, Tampa anglers head to deeper waters near Fort Desoto, off St. Pete, next to the Skyway Bridge and near Egmont Key in fall and early spring. Florida Panhandle action starts right around Halloween and lasts all the way to February, with the most productive time in November and December near the beaches. These large schools of redfish can even be found off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, and range from 500 to 5,000 fish.

Your fishing location will dictate the season to fish, but once you’ve figured out when, and a general where, the task turns to locating the red drum schools.

Find the Hot Spot for Bull Redfish

Locating bull redfish can be difficult, so consider every tool in your arsenal.

“Sometimes I’ll look for indicator species such as cownose rays to lead me to schools of redfish,” says Capt. Tyler Nonn, of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. “After the fish move out of their early-season patterns, anglers can bottomfish outside the inlets, shoals and ledges in up to 50 feet of water.”

Concentrations of menhaden near drop-offs and ledges of a shoal are a good sign to look for on your bottom machine, especially at the mouth of the Chesapeake. Later in the year, fish can be marked on bottom machines under and around schools of small bluefish or spinner sharks.

“Red drum have a very unique ­signature, much like amberjack,” says Capt. Brian Horsley, of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. “They will show on your bottom machine as layers, and sometimes they’ll mark diagonally. Deep reds are difficult to target; most anglers actually find them while fishing for something else.”

I had my first run-in with Panama City Beach bull redsyears ago during a paddle-craft media event. Only a few of us had ever fished off the beaches in kayaks, and we were content to target red snapper and groupers with metal flutter jigs. After gathering over good marks on the bottom machine, we dropped down quickly to see what was there. To our surprise, all three of us soon landed 20-plus-pound red drum. That’s when I learned that if you can find the reds bunched up, they’ll eat just about anything.

Redfish in the Panhandle and Tampa areas start to show in strong numbers only when the water temperatures hit the mid-60s, says Capt. John Rivers, who’s fished both areas extensively but now guides in Tampa.

“One easy way to find bull reds is to look for birds diving on the large schools of baitfish that the redfish have pushed to the surface,” says Rivers. “Another way is to have a reliable bottom machine with side imaging that can mark fish when there’s no surface activity.”

In Jacksonville, Capt. Kirk Waltz searches the mouth of the St. Johns River as far upriver as EverBank Field (home of the Jaguars) downtown.

“I begin my search by watching the bottom recorder for distinct breaks on the edges of deep water adjacent to the shipping channel,” says Waltz. “These bottom-contour changes look almost like offshore ledges but can also be sloping drops from deep to shallow water.”

Waltz believes the reds use ledges to block current to conserve energy but also to provide ambush spots as bait washes overhead. Most of these spots are from 29 to 46 feet deep.

Best Lures and Baits for Bull Redfish

Your redfish tackle can make all the difference. The closest thing to a guaranteed bite, especially after locating fish, is to bait with fresh bunker or blue crab on the bottom. Terminal tackle is a simple three-way swivel system — the same rig many anglers use to bottomfish offshore — using 60- to 80-pound ­fluorocarbon, a 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook and a loop to interchange bank sinkers from 6 to 10 ounces.

“I like fresh blue crabs, mullet, pogies or ladyfish chunks,” says Waltz. “Chumming can be very effective. I like to find a spot and deploy four rods using two different baits to see what their preference is. A good soak of 15 to 30 minutes is preferred to allow the scent track to feed back in a light current.”

For the best redfish lures, captains Horsley and Rivers both prefer bucktails ranging from 1 to 8 ounces. “When they are schooled up, they are not too smart and will eat just about anything in their face,” jokes Horsley. Rivers dresses his bucktails with plastics. “I’ll use a 1½-ounce Spro bucktail jig in white, pink or chartreuse with a 4-inch soft-plastic tail,” he says. “Some guys use a plain 1-ounce jig rigged with a 7-inch curly tail.”

What’s the best bull redfish rod and reel? A 7-foot heavy-action rod paired with a 6,000-plus-class spinning reel, spooled with 50-plus-pound braid, is a great setup for any situation in which an angler will encounter bull redfish. Nonn prefers Shimano reels with PowerPro braid, while Waltz uses Penn reels with Berkley braid.

“If the fish are finicky and won’t touch jigs or dead bait, cast out a live bait rigged on a 3/0 circle hook and 40-pound fluoro,” says Rivers. “The [minimalistic] rig catches fish when nothing else will around Tampa Bay.”

Topwater Lures for Bull Redfish

When conditions are right, large schools of reds will hang at the surface in deep water. Each captain I spoke with encountered this behavior, so it’s not location specific.

“When an angler finds an aggregation on top, it’s best to pick off fish from outskirts of the school and try to keep the boat away to avoid putting them down,” says Capt. Tyler Nonn. “Doubles and triples are real possibilities.”

Nonn will cast large soft plastics, such as Hogy Lures, while Horsley and Rivers prefer to work loud surface poppers. “As long as the birds aren’t diving around the large schools, it’s a blast to watch reds fight over and try to smash your plug,” says Rivers.

One sign that bull redfish are around but not necessarily at the surface is the presence of mud balls.

“Reds are famous for attacking schools of bait on the bottom during the spring, and are easily detected by the huge muds under the bait pods,” says Capt. Kirk Waltz. “Catch a few baits from the edges of these schools, and flip them back into the mud balls for quick hookups.”

The post Fishing for Bull Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Although Capt. Shane York is a regular at his local gym, at least a portion of his body-builder’s physique can be attributed to an annual run of bull redfish at an expansive bay near his favorite south Louisiana port. Every year in the late summer stretching through the fall, mature reds invade the flats in the lower Barataria Basin, and absolutely engorge themselves on bait stocks that must be seen to be believed. York is always there to greet them, armed with soft-plastic paddle tails under corks.

“You can throw whatever you want, and they’ll hit it, but that cork makes it pretty much a guarantee,” he said.

York has been kind enough to invite me to experience the bull-red blitz the last two seasons. Last year, we left predawn out of Myrtle Grove Marina, and caught them until neither of us could bear the thought of reeling in another fish. That was at 8 a.m. All the reds were pushing 40 inches.

“The smallest bull we’ve caught out here so far this year was 35 inches,” York said that morning.

Two years ago, I absolutely wrecked my biceps reeling in bull after bull, including my personal best, a 44-inch fish. Although mature redfish conduct their spawning duties in deep passes along the coast, that’s not where York finds the fish when they’re in feeding mode. He hunts for extensive flats of uniform 3- to 4-foot depths that hold bait, and when he finds one, success is almost assured, regardless of water clarity.

“We catch them out here in absolute chocolate milk,” he said.

The run coincides with the migration of white shrimp leaving Louisiana’s marshes this time of year. York releases every bull he catches, but if you were to cut open one’s belly, it would be jammed full.

Bull Red Drum Eat Speckled Trout

“You would find a lot of shrimp, but you’d also find some speckled trout,” he said. “They feast on those little speckled trout.”

In fact, the trout are such a significant part of the bull reds’ diet that York knows he’s in the right area when aggressive specks and white trout are the first to yank down his cork. Many of the specks are under Louisiana’s 13-inch minimum size limit, but some are solid keepers. York doesn’t mind putting those in the box if his clients want to take some fish home.

Often, diving seagulls give away the location of productive flats, so York said it pays to always be observant. He had just recently discovered the flat that produced so many fish for us last year.

“We were fishing one area, and we were moving to another area,” he said. “As we were driving across the flat, we saw two huge blowups right next to the boat. We stopped, put the Power-Pole down, made two casts and immediately doubled up.”

York’s favorite color lure is black with a chartreuse tail, but he also has success with white and straight chartreuse. He will be putting all those colors to use for the next few months. Once the fish show up in late July or early August, they stick around for a while.

“They’ll be out here really good through October or November, but you’ll still have some stretching into December,” he said.

By then, York will surely look even more ripped.

The post Louisiana’s Late Summer Redfish Blitz appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Red drum is a highly sought-after species up and down the Mid-Atlantic seaboard. Many anglers have formed a special bond with redfish in large part because of their willingness to take a baited hook, artificial lure, or fly. Throughout their range, the strong fight of a redfish keeps anglers’ hearts pumping and adrenaline flowing.

Luckily, anglers in North Carolina have access to some of the largest red drum in the world. In August and September, mature “old drum” come inshore to spawn at the mouth of the Pamlico and Neuse rivers before moving off Outer Banks beaches where they can be targeted in October and November. People from all over the country travel to isolated destinations like Cedar Island, Swan Quarter, Ocracoke and Cape Lookout to try to catch and release a “citation” fish. North Carolina’s Saltwater Fishing Tournament, also known as the Citation Program, recognizes exceptional catches of North Carolina’s most popular sport fish. A citation red drum must measure at least 40 inches. The all-tackle world record, a 94-pound, 2-ounce giant, was landed in Cape Hatteras back in 1984.

Historically most old drum were caught by bait fishermen using large pieces of fresh cut mullet or menhaden late in the evening or at night. Anglers can also have success catching huge redfish during the day using a variety of different artificial lures. As the fishery has evolved, it has led to increased fishing pressure and sometimes very finicky fish. Capt. Mitchel Blake, of FishIBX Charters, grew up fishing the area over the past several decades and has seen the changes.

Where to Find Reds

Pamlico Sound is a large body of water with lots of depth transitions and different bottom compositions. There are no real hot spots — what was good yesterday may well be dead water today. Capt. Blake reminds anglers that the fish are always on the move, and they are significantly impacted by boat traffic. Some studies have shown that drum travel more than 25 miles a day, advancing along submerged edges and ledges in different depth ranges searching for bait and preparing to spawn.  

Successful anglers get on the water early to locate them when they are feeding in 2 to 4 feet of water. Sometimes it is obvious, as reds move a lot of water when they are feeding aggressively. Search for pushes and wakes as you move into skinny water; busting mullet and shrimp popping in the shallows are also good indicators of feeding drum in the area. As the day moves on, especially in areas where there is a lot of boat activity, reds tend to move into deeper water. But they can still be found feeding on large schools of menhaden at the surface. It’s the subtle things Capt. Blake sees that keep him on the fish as he slowly dissects the river each day, not the run-and-gun style so prevalent in the age of social media and Internet reports. 

As you approach an area that seems to have the right conditions, stealth is critical to success. Blake’s biggest piece of advice is to slow down and pay attention to the surroundings. Shut off the big motor early, before you push into the zone, and use the trolling motor as sparingly as possible to hold your position. If possible, use the wind to push you within casting range. Don’t just zoom from spot to spot, as you might be running over the fish while you stare at your phone or navigation screen. Things tend to materialize fast, so you want to be ready with several rods rigged with a couple of different offerings.  

Reviving Red Drum After the Fight

For artificials lures, there are several options that work well. I prefer to fish topwater lures, as I can make repetitive long casts with a big surface popper. Walk-the-dog-style lures work well, too. Both choices make great search baits, as they are designed to imitate the sounds of struggling baitfish. When a fish hears the commotion on the surface, they tend to rise and look for an easy meal. Having a big 50-pound redfish explode on a surface lure is about as exciting as it gets. Large popping-cork rigs work well, too, especially if fish seem skittish or are hesitant to eat a surface plug.

We need to do everything we can to care for these fish, as they are the breeding stock for the entire population. Be mindful and use appropriate tackle to land fish quickly, so they do not exhaust themselves during the fight. Tagging data is clear; red drum survive well when released if they are handled properly. Many fish I catch are released without bringing them into the boat, but I admit I love to hold them in my arms for a photo. When landing a fish, never reach into or attempt to support the fish by the gill plate or mouth. Hold them horizontally and support the weight of the fish evenly as you cradle it like a baby in your arms. Have your camera ready beforehand. Enjoy the moment you have with the fish, but return it to the water as quickly as possible.

Spend time reviving the fish after a hard-fought battle. That means forcing water over its gills by inching the boat forward. If fishing in moving water, the water does the work for you, so hold that redfish face-first into the current. Moving a redfish forward and backward in the water doesn’t help much — no matter what the TV shows say. Watching a red drum regain its strength and kick away is rewarding, almost as much as tricking them into biting your topwater.

The post Keys to Catching Carolina’s Red Drum appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

On a rising tide, the remaining brown shrimp and growing white shrimp that fuel the Louisiana marsh ecosystem are scattered throughout the skinny-water marsh ponds, enjoying the hours of relative peace and quiet that accompany high water levels. To be sure, some get picked off by marauding hordes of redfish that scavenge around every grass bed, searching for any living morsel that might provide an appetizer before the entree really arrives.

That happens when the tide turns. As water levels begin to fall, tides stack the hapless shrimp on the conveyor belt of death, dragging them from back waters to the bigger lakes and bays. Redfish know this, of course, so they camp out at marsh drains, and let the food come to them. This puts the fish in an aggressive, feeding frame of mind, and makes them particularly susceptible to lures you’d find in the tackle box of a guy hoping to win the Bassmaster Classic.

One of my favorites is a Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 crankbait, a lure that’s obnoxiously loud and has more action than a salsa dancer. That’s what I had tied on during a trip in July that began just three hours before the sun would cross the western horizon. I intentionally started late, partially to avoid the suffocating heat but mostly because that’s when the tide was falling. While working the shoreline of a large marsh lake, I came upon a drain that was dumping gorgeous water from a pond choked with hydrilla and coontail. It certainly looked like a place that might hold a feeding redfish or two.

Not all my casts are perfect, but this one was, landing just at the opening of the drain. I wouldn’t have to wait long to see if any feeding reds were there. I don’t think I got two full cranks on the reel before something clobbered the hard-plastic bait and I instinctively set the hook. The water erupted in a froth of copper-tinted foam as a 27-inch redfish became enraged at the baitfish that seemed to have otherworldly power. The fish thrashed its head back and forth, and in the process managed to dislodge the hooks from its gaping maw.

The lure flew through the air, reentering the water about 5 feet away. I was disappointed at having lost the fish but, as always, impressed by the power and tenacity of these trophic marsh dwellers. Then something crazy happened. Apparently super annoyed that its easy meal had gotten away without providing a little corner of contentment in its belly, the redfish charged at the bait and absolutely obliterated it while it was resting motionless on the surface. I again set the hook, and this time, the fish wouldn’t get so lucky. It would never again get to swim where it wanted without a yellow tag near its dorsal fin.

Would the ubiquitous soft-plastic paddletail have elicited the same reaction from this redfish? Who knows? But it’s not for novelty that my favorite redfish lures this time of year would work equally well on a cypress-peppered flat of an impoundment. Redfish just can’t seem to resist them.

In addition to the crankbaits, I also regularly throw a gold-bladed spinnerbait teamed with a ¹⁄₄-ounce jighead and soft-plastic paddletail as well as a ribbed worm fished Texas-rigged below a ¹⁄₄-ounce tungsten bullet weight. The crankbait is my go-to in waters devoid of submerged aquatic vegetation or where there’s a hard edge to the grass that the fish use as a shoreline. When the grass is scattered, I’m more likely to reach for the spinnerbait, and in areas with drop-offs and ledges, the worm is hard to beat.

All are proving particularly effective this year. After a few meager seasons, the spawn of 2021 was especially robust, and those fish are all now in the 18- to 22-inch range. The marshes are absolutely crawling with redfish.

The post Bass Fishing for Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Given a choice, most offshore and inshore anglers would fish live bait for everything, from seatrout and sailfish to tarpon and tuna. But sometimes, fishermen deliberately choose dead bait, and not just when they run out of liveys or during a dead-bait-only tournament. Dead ballyhoo, menhaden, mullet and bonito, as well as strips and chunks of those baitfish, can at times actually be more effective than live bait.

A dead bait can be deployed exactly where and how it needs to be fished, whereas a live bait can swim out of the target zone or tangle another line. In addition, the scent of a fresh dead bait can prove more attractive to predators than the nervousness of a live bait. Some predators also prefer an easy meal over chasing a live bait.

The Dead Bait Tarpon Rig

“A tarpon may be a silver king, but he’s still a scavenger,” says Capt. Greg Hildreth of St. Simons Island, Georgia, who almost always puts out some dead baits on the bottom when he’s fishing for poons. Hildreth (georgiacharter​­fishing​.com) uses dead Atlantic menhaden, more commonly known as pogies, and fishes in water depths from 8 to 25 feet. “I’ll fish four or five rods, some with live bait, some with dead,” Hildreth says. “I’ll fish at least two live baits on top and dead baits on or close to the bottom.”

Hildreth castnets his live pogies the morning of a tarpon trip and puts some of the baits on ice. He hooks a dead pogy through the eyes on an 8/0 Gamakatsu circle hook. Hildreth says the large hook size works because of coastal Georgia’s poor water clarity.

“I figure bigger is better, just for the simple fact that I can put a lot of pressure on these fish, and get them to the boat fast and released,” he explains, adding that he uses scissors to cut off the pogy’s tail. “That keeps it from spinning in the ­current and puts scent in the water.”

He fishes Penn International reels, spooled with 80-pound braided line, and attaches 4 feet of 120- to 150-pound monofilament leader to the main line with a 150-pound snap snivel. Hildreth adds a quarter-ounce egg sinker to the leader to fish the pogy midwater. If he wants the bait on the bottom, he’ll use a 1½- to 2-ounce lead. To keep the sinker from sliding too far, he crimps a sleeve 2½ feet above the hook. At the terminal end of the leader, he ties on the hook with an improved clinch knot, which “gives the hook what it needs to set when it’s in the rod holder.”

Targeting Red Drum with Dead Bait

Hildreth also fishes dead pogies on the same 8/0 inline circle hook for bull redfish. His tackle includes Penn Spinfisher 7500 reels and Penn Carnage rods. He rigs a 4- or 5-ounce pyramid sinker 4 inches above the hook to prevent the big reds—which typically range from 18 to 30 pounds—from inhaling the bait too deeply.

He crimps the sinker in place on a 150-pound monofilament leader that is 3 to 3½ feet long. The heavy leader doesn’t spook the fish, and makes it easy for Hildreth to take a double-wrap and lift the fish into the boat.

Chunks of mullet or whiting also catch redfish, and Hildreth sometimes uses the remnants of legal-size trout that he’s filleted. “When I’m speckled trout fishing, if I know I’m going to fish for bull redfish in a day or so, I’ll keep the carcasses of the trout, the head being the best bait. Anything that smells nasty and fishy, they’ll eat,” he says. “If it’s a small trout, 14 to 15 inches (14 inches is Georgia’s legal minimum), I’ll go right through the eye sockets with the hook. If it’s a bigger trout, I’ll go from the ­bottom lip to the top lip.”

Trolling Bonito Strips

Capt. Abie Raymond trolls bonito strips for bonito, kingfish, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and dolphin out of Miami Beach, Florida. To prepare his baits, he ­fillets a bonito and removes most of the meat with a knife blade, until the ­fillet is ⅛ inches thick. That allows the hook to penetrate a fish’s mouth more efficiently.

He cuts the fillet with the blade angled to produce a beveled edge, which is hydrodynamic, yielding a strip that resembles a thin baitfish. Raymond squares off one end—which will serve as the top of the strip—and pokes a hole in it with the knife. He sprinkles kosher salt over the strips to remove water from them and toughen them up, then places them in a zip-closure plastic bag.

To fish them, Raymond uses Penn International 16 reels spooled with 20-pound line. The leader setup starts with 4 to 6 feet of 50-pound ­fluorocarbon. He ties a perfection loop at one end and clips it into a snap swivel. The terminal end of the leader features a flashy, reverse-feather Mylar Sea Witch—his favorite colors are pink-and-blue and blue-and-white—above a Mustad 7/0 J hook tied to the leader with a six‑turn improved clinch knot.

Raymond inserts a 4-inch piece of Monel wire through the hook eye, wraps it below the eye three times, and then threads it back through the eye. He runs the Monel through the hole at the top of the strip so the meat side of the strip runs along the shank of the hook. He then wraps the wire below the tag end of the clinch knot to secure the strip, and pokes the hook point through the ­center of the strip.

“That’s our favorite dead bait to work with [from June through September],” Raymond says. “We’ll put out two of those strip baits on our outriggers 80 to 120 feet behind the boat, along with a lure like a Billy Bait or Dolphin Jr. We stagger them: A 20-foot feather, a 40-foot feather, an 80-foot strip and a 100-foot strip would be our typical four-bait spread.”

Raymond favors trolling bonito strips over ballyhoo because strips last longer and can be cut to resemble a 4-, 6- or 8-inch flying fish, its wings imitated by the Sea Witch. “Another huge ­advantage of a strip over a ballyhoo is if a sailfish grabs a ballyhoo and rips off the tail, you’re done. A bonito strip, he’ll just grab it and grab it. It might stretch and get longer, and the meat might come off, but the skin’s still there swimming and looking beautiful,” he says.

Dead ballyhoo, of course, still remain a popular trolling bait, especially for dolphin. Raymond rigs skirted ballyhoo on a Mustad 3417 7/0 J hook tied to a 15-foot, 50-pound monofilament wind-on leader on a 20-pound spinning outfit. “You fish it like a strip, 80 to 120 feet behind an outboard boat, 60 to 100 feet behind an inboard boat,” Raymond says. “You want to troll at 6 to 6½ knots.”

Whether they’re dead or alive, fresh natural baits—rigged meticulously and fished properly—­consistently produce for anglers whether offshore on the troll or nearshore on the bottom. Use each option to your advantage. Dead bait might be old-school, but it never goes out of style.

The post Fishing Dead Bait: Old-School Theories and Updated Techniques appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The razzle-dazzle of a slurping, clacking popping cork might seem off-putting at first, but its effectiveness and dominance as a fish catcher is indisputable. While particularly effective and popular in Gulf Coast states, the technique has followers in the Carolinas and beyond.

My baptism into popping corks occurred on my first-ever trip to the toe of the Boot State. Fishing the turbid open bays close to the Gulf, anglers in our boat caught oversize redfish hand over fist until we begged for mercy. What was the best rig for redfish that day? A flashy cork, about 4 feet of leader and a jig-and-bait combo. A topwater plug or “tight-lined” soft plastic did not attract the same interest from the bull redfish we were targeting.

Ever since, I’ve been hooked on corks in off-colored water, paired either with natural baits or lures. It’s my go to redfish rig, and sometimes the popping-cork rig is the only presentation a redfish or speckled seatrout will hit. The main draw of the popping cork is an attention-getting clacking or clicking sound created by beads hitting a foam cork along a metal through-wire. Second, when a cork is jerked by the rod tip, the lure or bait presentation jumps off the bottom like a fleeing bait. A weight attached to the bottom of the cork adds casting distance and stability; swivels at the top and bottom of the wire serve as line ties for the main line and leader. The sound mimics fleeing shrimp, crabs, baitfish or even other game fish attacking prey. Some models of corks also throw a disturbance splash.

When and Where to Use Popping Corks

Popping corks are prime to use when water conditions are choppy or turbid, with the best depths from 2 to 6 feet. “If you tie a leader much longer than 6 feet, then casting is difficult with 7- to 7½-foot rods,” says Capt. Ray Markham, of St. Petersburg, Florida. Use light leader material, such as 15- to 20-pound fluorocarbon, in clear water, but bump up to heavier leader in specific situations.

“You can use 20- to 50-pound leader, no problem, with a popping cork, especially in dark-colored water,” says Capt. Richard Stoughton, of Charleston, South Carolina. “I’ve even used 80-pound around structure like docks with success. I tie long leaders in spring and shorter leaders in fall, mostly because fish move into deeper waters in the spring.”

Anglers on the boat should cast ­different-colored corks so they can pick out their own float in a crowd. Markham prefers to throw less-noisy corks when fish are skittish.

“Where I fish, there isn’t much boat traffic, but the more traffic, the spookier the fish and the less noise I want from my cork,” he says. “Mostly we catch trout and redfish, but incidental catches include bluefish, snook, Spanish mackerel, snapper, grouper, cobia and others.”

Stoughton prefers to use corks because of the motion of lure imparted by the cork — if done correctly, when a cork is twitched or popped the lure will jump in a vertical motion. When an angler stops popping the cork, the artificial shrimp, jig or live bait will settle back to the bottom. He prefers to impart a double-pop action so the lure jumps twice and then falls.

“Often, I’ll add an egg sinker below the cork on the leader,” says Stoughton. “Pass the leader through the egg sinker twice so a loop wraps around the weight and holds it in place. Don’t let the egg sinker slide too close to the shrimp or jig because it will affect action negatively. Split shot can fall off the leader when a seatrout shakes its head near the boat.”

Some captains will tie their braided main line directly to the top swivel; others add a trace of leader material first. “I use braided lines on my rods, but tying directly to the top swivel of the cork can cause tangling issues,” says Markham. “Instead, tie a short piece of 30-pound fluorocarbon or some other stiff leader that stands away from the cork.”

Popular cork makers include Bomber, Cajun Thunder, Comal Tackle, D.O.A., H&H Lure Co., Red Alert, Four Horsemen and plenty of others. Soft lures to tie below the cork include artificial shrimp from D.O.A., Berkley Powerbait, LiveTarget, Berkley Gulp!, Savage Gear and Z-Man lures. Also, soft plastics pinned to a jig head are popular. But watch out: Sometimes trout or redfish will attack the cork itself. Try casting out a topwater in those situations for exciting surface strikes.

Using Popping Corks With Live Baits

Capt. Jeff Poe, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, ties on a specific type of cork for those customers who want to use live baits, such as shrimp, crabs or fish. “We use spinning tackle with football-shaped weighted corks that have beads on either end,” says Poe. “Their weight makes it easier for our clients to cast farther. Whoever casts farthest wins with the most bites, usually.” The average depth in Calcasieu Lake, where he fishes, is 6 feet, so a cork works anywhere in the lake.

“The deepest water where I’ve ever caught fish with a cork is about 35 feet,” says Poe. “That was around an oil platform in the Gulf. I’ll try a cork anytime I feel I’m around fish but we’re not getting the amount of bites I expect. Corks are a great way to catch fish in dirty water, as the noise attracts and the float suspends your bait in the strike zone.”

Poe strays away from corks in strong current because in those conditions fish hold tight to the bottom. He also won’t tie on a cork near large schools “because as soon as a fish eats your bait and pulls your cork under, other fish will attempt to eat your cork.”

Comparing Different Styles of Popping Corks

Anglers will notice a host of different-style corks available from a number of makers, with the most common styles shaped like an egg, a cigar or an ice-cream cone with the point bitten off. Each foam cork is different in how it’s built, so personal preference goes a long way in deciding how much you’re willing to pay, what style of cork you want, what type of beads you want, and through-wire ­material stiffness and durability. Here’s how some manufacturers describe their corks:

Bomber Paradise Popper

Bomber says: “The Bomber Paradise Popper’s wire is titanium. It springs back to shape. I have seen these corks with the paint and part of the cork gone, and they still produce fish. All of the other components are plastic or brass. The Popper is tested not to break at less than 70 pounds of pressure, and many don’t break until under more than 90 to 100 pounds.”

D.O.A. Popper Clacker

D.O.A. Lures says: “Between the cigar, oval and popper D.O.A. Clacker corks, some make less noise and have a different pitch in the sound they create. The popper style is louder and deeper in tone but also produces a big splash when worked aggressively. Due to the internal weight, the popper is durable and gets less wire bend than do other styles of D.O.A. corks.”

Red Alert Speckanater

Red Alert Lures says: “There are two unique features about my popping corks. One, the beads used are hematite, which creates a very distinct pitch like a shrimp slapping its tail. Steel inserts in the foam cork also contribute to the sound. Two, the through-wire is rated at 250 pounds but not rigid, with 100-pound swivels at the ends for a longer‑lasting cork.”

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In south Texas’ glassy inshore waters, Capt. Brian Barrera of South Padre Island targets redfish, seatrout and even snook using jig heads and soft baits on light leaders. He catches spooky fish in the clear waters — but to do so, he has to ­downsize his tackle.

“Sight-fishing in 8 inches of water, I have to drop down from 20- to 10-pound braid to make longer casts,” says Barrera. “Jig heads must be ⅛ to 1⁄16 ounces. Four- to 6-inch finger mullet require smaller hooks, too. Don’t use a swivel to connect braid to leader; instead use a line-to-leader knot.”

Because fish are often on edge in his local waters, Barrera prefers to fish greener, off-color waters around his local sand flats. He’s also meticulous about not crowding the fish he’s targeting. “I really try to limit boat noise,” he points out. “You want your casts to be as long as possible to reach undisturbed fish.”

For Barrera, a switch to lighter tackle is a vital strategy for increased hookups. Other top captains along coastal shores employ similar tactics. Consider the scenarios below, each one describing a dramatically different fishery. The captains I interviewed all trim down their tackle differently for success. Chances are you can utilize some of the same techniques the next time you downsize.

Late-Season Tuna Fishing

Albacore are sized favorably to ­succumb to light tackle in the Pacific Northwest. “During the early season on the West Coast [starting in mid-June], albacore tuna tend to be very naive and susceptible to fast-trolled ­surface lures,” says Capt. Mark Coleman, of All Rivers & Saltwater Charters in Westport, Washington.

For anglers, it’s easy fishing for the tasty tuna just two hours off the Washington coast. But as the season progresses, these fish move off the troll gear and prefer live baits on a dead-boat drift. Most of the anchovies used as bait are small in stature, measuring just 4 to 6 inches.

“I have found that by downsizing our trolling lures and cutting our trolling speed in half, we can bring back the excellent trolling action we experience in the early season,” says Coleman.

But why troll when the action’s wide-open on live bait? Well, many times, longfins aren’t feeding at the surface, and that makes them hard to find. “Along with a few other indicators, trolling hookups help us locate the fish,” he explains. “Downsizing your leader from 30- to 20-pound and decreasing your hook size from a No. 1 to 4 make a big difference.”

Fishing Docklights at Night

In South Florida, nighttime anglers in skiffs position down-current of docks outfitted with LEDs. The tiny shrimp, baitfish and plankton clouds attracted to the halos of light tempt game fish such as snook, speckled seatrout and redfish. Because the baits are so small, lobbing a big plug or live bait up-current near the dock is an awful strategy. Often the water is clear, too, so casting bait or lures too large, or getting a boat too close to the structure, spooks that prize ­swimming along the shadow line.

Fly-anglers favor casting baitfish imitators, such as white Clouser flies on 6- and 8-weight outfits. Personally, I remember many nights fishing with friends and doing pretty well on spin tackle; still, nearby boats ­casting fly tackle ate our lunch. The only instances we could match fly tackle fish-for-fish occurred when snook targeted our D.O.A, Z-Man or Gulp! shrimp tied to 20-pound fluorocarbon leader.

Bait size matters at night for ­stripers, too.

“We call it fire in the water,” says Capt. Jay Cianciolo, of Laura-Jay Sportfishing Charters in Sandwich, Massachusetts. When there’s lots of phosphorus and other nutrients in the water, increased numbers of dinoflagellates turn on the light show of bioluminescence to evade predators.

“That’s when I drop down to small ‘pencil’ eels,” he says. “Big eels leave trails in the water, which I believe might push stripers off the feed. [In these circumstances] small eels always get bit better.”

Spinning Tackle for the Win

Cobia are great light-line adversaries, and not enough anglers take advantage of the unique species on scaled-back tackle. The visual fishery across southeastern and mid-Atlantic waters makes a ling’s aggressive bite and fight all the more exciting to light-tackle anglers.

“I know many captains who use ­levelwinds like Shimano TLDs, Avets, Accurates and many others,” says Capt. Brandon Long, of Long Overdue Charters in Charleston, South Carolina. “But over the past couple of years I’ve gone lighter and started having much more fun with cobia.”

Long fishes the brown bombers ­using 4,000- to 6,000-size spinning reels paired with medium-light rods. You don’t want the 4,000 in your hand when an 80-pounder pops up boatside, but for fish in the 15- to 50-pound class, it’s ideal.

“Lighter tackle makes it much easier to cast, present to and feed these fish with smaller plastics and hard baits,” says Long. “I fish 4- to 9-inch Z-Man Jerk ShadZ, smaller subsurface hard baits, and ½- to 3-ounce bucktails rigged with trailers.”

When Long downsizes his reels, he upgrades his drag washers. He also spools his reels with 20- to 30-pound braided line to guarantee sufficient line capacity, terminating with 50- or 60-pound mono leader.

“Felt drag washers will get ­destroyed by fish if not greased properly,” Long points out. “To avoid this issue, I replace all my drag washers with carbon washers from companies such as Carbontex; the strength and heat diffusion these washers handle produce much smoother fights.”

Fish the Docks During the Day

Targeting tarpon and snook in the Brownsville ship channel and basin, Capt. Brian Barrera focuses on the deep sections of channel, along dock structure, and on freshwater runoff channels called resacas. Instead of trolling heavy gear around the jetties (a preferred tactic in the area), Barrera uses home-crafted soft baits to cast deep into the legs of docks.

The bait consists of a ⅛-ounce Tungsten bullet weight atop a 2/0 to 5/0 octopus 4x circle hook. A jerkbait holds to the circle hook with a screw lock or hitchhiker.

“Those tarpon come out from the docks in the morning, but go back into the pilings when the sun’s up,” says Barrera. “I cast far back under the docks and use 20- to 30-pound fluoro leader to get them to bite during the day.”

Play the Odds

Capt. Jay Cianciolo can’t help but gamble. Live-baiting for trophy bluefin tuna far off the coast, he sometimes marks fish on the sounder when he can’t buy a bite.

“That’s when I’ll gamble,” says Cianciolo. “I’ll drop down to 130 fluorocarbon leader and an 8/0 circle hook.” That might not seem like light tackle, but large bluefins often necessitate 11/0 hooks and 180-plus-pound leader. “Usually, I’ll start getting bites then,” he says, “even though I definitely don’t land them all.”

The gambit is worthwhile for Cianciolo, especially when line-shy fish require lighter leaders. You don’t have to take the same risks with light tackle, and plenty of opportunities are available for anglers to downsize their gear and still maintain high landing percentages. So whether fishing inshore, nearshore or far offshore, consider dropping some of that tackle weight — it might just turn into your most productive trip of the season.

The post When to Downsize Your Tackle appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.