During the winter months redfish will school up and spend much of their day on the shallow warmer waters of the flats. Finding these schools of fish is typically not difficult and once you find a school you will also find they generally stay in the same areas throughout the cold weather months. As you fish around these schools you will also begin to realize that many times these fish are in survival mode and not necessarily always in the eating and gorging mode. You may see porpoises come crashing in and wipe of many fish or you may just find fish that really do not care to eat anything you throw their way. Realizing the mode of these fish can help you to determine how to fish for them, but at the same time you also must realize your responsibility as a responsible sportsman. Repeated picking on the same school of fish will add to their already stressed condition. While you may be practicing catch and release there are still going to be a percentage of fish that just don’t make it. A few things you can do to help reduce this from happening include, but are certainly not limited to.
Use a heavier line of tackle than you typically do. While some people feel it is more sporting to target fish on ultra-light tackle, in this case it actually prolongs the fight and takes more out of the fish. If you use a heavier outfit you can get the fish to the boat quicker and release them quicker. Minimize the amount of handling as well. Getting the fish unhooked and back in the water as soon as possible gives them a greater chance of survival.
If you are using some type of live bait, try using circle hooks. Redfish do not bite their food like some of the toothier species out there. They generally grab the bait and send it back to the back of their mouths, where they crush and swallow their food. A gut hooked fish does not stand a good chance of survival in any situation.
Move around and locate several different schools that you can rotate around and not continually stress the same school of fish. Nature