redfish

Triple header of catch and release redfish from this week!

Rain, rain, rain. This week the afternoon summer time storms have lived up to their reputation. Fortunately, the water levels have come up slightly and the redfish have been very active! This week almost any mangrove shoreline with small finger mullet had consistent action, from good numbers of redfish and the occasional sea trout.

Fortunately, the water seems to have stayed fairly nice with very little algae bloom issues; now, it’s still early, but things are looking up. With the cleaner water the go to baits of choice have been gulp shrimp and jerkshads rigged weedless. With the amount of drift algae and caulerpa algae — which is the bright green or red tumble weed looking grass like algae — present, it’s been a little harder to work a soft plastic with an exposed hook. Also a variety of cut baits such as mullet, ladyfish and pinfish have been working well, too, especially after the morning bite seems to have slowed and wind blown shorelines have definitely been producing the best especially on these brutally hot days.

Again, I cannot encourage everyone enough to please catch and release in our lagoon systems. Utilize more sustainable resources for food such as options in the ocean and inlets, or even your local seafood market. All in all, it will lead to better fishing and it’s one step towards a thriving lagoon system.