In the gulf from land you can catch
these Reds, but this is evening ,
night or morning thing. If you are
fishing during the day all I can say
is that it is better to be lucky, If
you are there early or late which is
the prime target time. Try casting
3/4 once weed-less spoons out from
the beach I like to add a length or
fish bites, I cut the fish bites
strip down to 4 inches and stick on
the hook of the spoon. cat out and
reel in trying to get the spoon to
come back in about a foot off the
bottom, I use the count method where
off the sand I figure to have about
6 feet of water so when the spoon
hits the water I count to five then
start reeling, and keep your rod tip
down, this is keep the spoon from
trying to swim up as you reel it
in. and a slow steady retrieve, I
will stop reeling two or three times
on my retrieve to let the Spoon
settle on the bottom. Once the spoon
is on the bottom I will just lift or
sharply jerk my rod tip to sort of
dance / slide the spoon across the
bottom then start reeling again.
Think bait jumping off the bottom to
escape a predator fish.
Now trolling for these big reds is
the same thing as trolling for
Grouper a lure which will dive at
least 30 feet, and trolling between
3 to 4 mph, what I look for is a
path between 2 reefs like Mary’s and
the power poles. I figure that the
fish would most likely head from one
food source to another So trolling
from one reef to the next always
seem right to me. Now I do this is
around 30 feet of water and the lure
says it goes 30 feet deep, You may
compensate by reeling in some line
to get the lure shallower or letting
line out to get deeper. Pink and
bright greens for one of the lures,
and the other purple dark and light
is key then if you get hit on the
darker color a couple time switch
the other lure over and visa/ versa.
Now getting into the Harbor just out
side of Jug creek shoals, this is a
bait thing, lure will work but it is
double tough to do it. I do a Lewis
& Clark on the sand bar when the
tide is very low so I can see where
the cuts in the bar are at, By this
I mean slight ditches if you will
where the water has cut a trough
across though the sand bar. this is
where the Reds will cross from the
Harbor to get back up on the flats.
They are going up on the flats to
find Shrimp or Pin-fish, But white
bait {hard scaled sardine} will work
the best right now. Get to the
trough at Low tide and get set up,
then be quiet like a hole in the
water. The reds as the tide comes up
will want to get up on the flat to
feed, cast your bait into the middle
of the trough and wait if you fish
them, they will come. I have seen
the huge bull reds wait for schools
of smaller mullet or lady fish to
try and leave the flats as the tide
is falling and just lay out side the
cut in the bar and ambush the fish
as they come out. So don’t get all
hung up on fishing the trough/cut
that you do not see a big school of
Reds right there. This is the reason
I try to keep the boat to one side
or the other of the opening So the
fish will try to move through the
cut. if your boat is setting right
where the reds are trying to get on
the flats, as you guess not good
stay off to the side and try not to
interfere with the fish as they
travel except to stick some as they
pass by,
How you rig up depends on the tide a
slow moving tide, I free line the
bait 20 pound braid with 25 pound
test floro leader, now if the fish
get closer to 40 inches go to 40 or
50 pound test leader, the #20 braid
should hold but it takes longer so
the thicker leader gives you more
time to land the fish. If the
currant from the tide is stronger or
if you have to cast farther to stay
out of the path of the fish I will
add a sinker about 30 inches up the
line from the hook. Split shot maybe
even a 1/2 to keep my bait in the
trough, If I am using a sinker I
switch from hooking the bait in the
head or mouth to hooking just above
the Anal opening. {Right over it’s
butt} this allows the bait to swim
better pulling against the hook &
line rather than pushing it.
I hope you find these schools of big
Bull Reds, if you can find some blue
crabs and cut them into bait chunks
that is candy, crack for big Red
fish. And don’t worry if the fish
breaks your Rod or pulls it out of
your hand, I have more to sell, Hang
on to your rod, have fun and best
fish wishes
Fishin Frank