I wanted some insight from some of you more experienced anglers…
Say I’m in a spot that is producing multiple juvenile Reds. Are there bigger ones down there as well? Or are the larger ones hanging out somewhere else by themselves? I love catching the little guys, don’t get me wrong, but would love to know that I’m on top of some slobs, or not…
Anyone got underwater vision and feel like giving me some of your knowledge?
j
Have wondered the same thing before, in my experience, which is VERY limited when it comes to Reds, the smaller ones tend to hang out in schools together. If I’m catching small ones in a certain spot, that seems to be all I will get there. That’s been my observation. I’m sure someone with a lot more Red fishing experience then myself will chime in, a lot of very talented Red fishermen on here.
Russ B.
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Cant say that ive ever had this happen before, but today i was fishing a dock and caught a 14" red which was promptly followed by a 31" brute from the other side of the same dock.
while gigging, you will see a school of reds from 12" to 30" all together.
.
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
i concur with Russ. i think the 1yr olds are the size class that stay most schooled up through the hot months.
probably not as much as trout, but they do segregate by size (year class) to some degree. those 12-15" fish will still school with the top slot and bigger at times for sure… but during the hotter months when they seem to “spread out” more, i often catch 20-30 rats and never see a fish over 2 years old. in this case, i usually move once i catch on to the trend.
however, fish under 28" or so (less than 3-5yrs old) are most likely not reproductively active, and are all considered juveniles or subadults
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/species/reddrum.html
I like to fish artificials mostly. My buddy uses live bait exclusively. He’ll be catching more fish, but I catch the biggest fish on artificials. He’ll be catching 12" to 15" fish and I’ll throw a jig, spinner bait, chatter bait in the same area and get slammed. It’s happened numerous times and with both Trout and Reds. Just a thought for you to try.
A friend and I caught six yesterday all were 22 to 26 pounds. If the tail spot(s) were not different I would have thought we caught the same fish. I think for the most part, a school is a group of similarly sized fish. Sellsfish is right that they will school with larger/smaller fish, but I think they school in similar sizes.
fish deeper…and up bait size.
xHCFCx
Here’s my 10 cents, my 2 cents is free
They are all mixed on the N. Edisto flats right now. When you’re on em, you are just as likely to catch a 13 incher as you are a 31 incher. Big slots are hard to come by right now. That year class got hurt by the cold winters of 2010-2011.
fished edisto on saturday… 13", then 27", then 28", then 26", then 13" again, then 29", then broke off a 30" plus at the boat
all in the same spot in less than an hour. we also caught a slotty in there as well so they were mixed up in that spot at least
“mr keys”
If you have a good hole stay with it the big boys feed on the same baits at the same spots and will be by soon!
Thanks for all of the input guys! Kind of what I was thinking, but just wanted to hear some others’ opinion/experience.
j
Bigger baits!