Eric with a redfish on fly fishing with me this past week.

This week we’re seeing red, lots of redfish that is, all three lagoon systems and even the beaches are producing good numbers of redfish. The next few months are typically the best when it comes to redfish. Normally, this is their spawning season and the fish can range anywhere from 20 inches to 20 plus pounds. When inshore fishing the best way to go about these fish is to fish around the mullet pods early in the morning with topwater plugs such as the Rapala Skitterwalk or Mirrolure Top Pup, a steady walk the dog style (side to side motion) usually works best.

As the sun rises and the bait fish start to diminish, switching to small paddle-tails and shrimp imitation lures like the Gulp shrimp work great. Rig these baits on a 1/8 oz. jig head and slowly bounce them off the bottom around docks, mangroves, or any kind of drop off and you’ll be sure to find a redfish or two. Chunk baits such as mullet, pinfish, and ladyfish work great as well! Fishing a hand size chunk around the bait pods can be deadly this time of year.

The beach can also be very good for redfish this time of year. A 1/4 oz. jig head either a strip of Fishbites or peeled shrimp bounced along the beach works great and can even get some attention from other species. If fishing around the jetties or inlets, a live mullet rigged with a 4/0 circle hook thru the nose attached to a 1/2 oz. egg sinker can get some nice fish as well!

Again, we are in spawning season and a lot of larger fish will be caught, handle these fish with great care and make sure they get a good strong release! Even if you catch a fish in the slot, try to let it go to fight another day!