I am a saltwater newbie but fervently want to be able to catch some serious inshore reds. I have come across a difficulty though, I can find reds in the large, open, shallow areas at low tide that have oyster patches scattered around. Many of the reds are grouped up (5-100 per group) but I just can’t seem to find out how to get these fish to bite! After casting into an area for a while, I will paddle through it and spook hundreds and hundreds of reds.
I have worked jigs, DOA shrimp, dead shrimp, dead mullet.
Are these fish simply not feeding? Because most of the time there are shrimp and or mullet jumping from the water sporadically but the schools are not really all that active.
Any tips or insight is greatly welcome. I am fishing from a vibe sea ghost kayak.
Seems very early for them to be schooling up, especially in numbers of 100, but totally possible. I’ve seen a couple of pods (5-10) fish that crushed anything put in front of them. They should be hungriest right now all through November. They usually shut off like this in the winter. Try a lighter presentation like a Zman shrimp or or Minnow on a flutter hook. Also, i only say this because you said you are new to saltwater angling (and I’m kind of suspicious of your schooling description) they may not be redfish you are seeing, but big mullet. They are numerous on the flats right now and may seem like redfish by their large splashes. If its a school of redfish you are seeing, you will know for sure.
Fish tremble at the sound of my name.
Some times those fish just are not gonna feed. Sometimes they will be on it like a hobo on a ham sammich. Keep at it. Good thing is, you know where they live.
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
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I had the same thing yesterday. I was being stealthy in my kayak at low tide and was surrounded by reds. I couldn’t get one to even look at what I was throwing. It was baffling. I’m going to try again today at low tide. I know where they are at least!
what redfish4 said. if youre getting within 20 feet to a school of humps wandering aimlessly but uniformly in a general area, id say more likely youre looking at horse mullet right now. if you get close enough to spook them and you can’t see individual bigger fish explode away in a single direction but instead just see the group take off for a few yards and settle back down, then thats big mullet, at least according to what i saw over and over last weekend on a higher sand flat. i saw 4-8 reds over a couple hours in 4-6 inches water, and they weren’t schooled, although they were swimming in the same general area. whenever i casted, i was casting at one fish or in the area of two fish that i could see. unfortunately they didnt want a brand new drum beater or a spoon fly. when i was walking out and started seeing the mullet schools, i figured i should have been using a bait fish pattern.
I never really figured they could have been mullet. In those areas they are jumping out of the water so i figured they were trying to escape the reds. Regardless, I’ll throw those plastics and see what happens. Thanks for the replies
I figured them out yesterday. I caught 3 in a couple hours. If i could have stayed longer I would have caught more but it was my last day of vacation here so I only had time for a quick trip. Soft plastics worked slow is the ticket and pink is the color. I tried everything else and couldn’t even get a look. DOA shrimp and also a SUMKINA swimbait in pink with red/white flecks crawled slowly on the bottom did the trick.
quote:
Originally posted by MidTennFisher
I figured them out yesterday. I caught 3 in a couple hours. If i could have stayed longer I would have caught more but it was my last day of vacation here so I only had time for a quick trip. Soft plastics worked slow is the ticket and pink is the color. I tried everything else and couldn’t even get a look. DOA shrimp and also a SUMKINA swimbait in pink with red/white flecks crawled slowly on the bottom did the trick.
Right on! Glad you got on them, and thanks for the details, pink and slow.