Redfishing 6-11

[Tailn'Jax 0]

Well, its the dreaded time of the year. Tiny shrimp and dirty water are here, and the reds are feeding. Getting them to eat a fly is a different story though. I got out Saturday morning early. I found some reds cruising the banks on high outgoing water. I didn't get a shot at any of these fish, I either spooked them or they were moving too fast. As soon as the oysters began to show I found a couple of nice reds dumping out of a small creek. I got an awesome shot at the first one, he ate it immediately, and I screwed the hookset. That happened too many times that morning, and I ended up missing 4 more before I finally caught one dink...

I was on fish all morning, and around noon I found a bunch of nice fish crushing shrimp in a small cove on the edge of an exposed mudflat. I missed a couple of these fish as well, but finally stuck a respectable 22" red before departing. All fish came on the marsh demon...

this picture illustrates just how dirty the water was.

 

I pulled out around 1pm and headed to the beach. I ended up finding a substantial number of fish. The change of venue did not change my luck though, and I ended up missing several out there as well. I ended the day with another dink, but saw some great fish in the clear water, between waves of course...

I'm going to have to rethink my strategy to conquer these dirty water reds.

[bluegill576 0]

Look like some nice fish! good job.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Jax, that is pretty good considering how murky the water was. Now, is their coloration due to the color of the water too? Go to the link to see some pics from a trip I made last week, not trying to hijack your post but it is interesting to see the difference in coloration of the same species from one state to another.

http://www.laflyfish.com/cgi-bin/bforum/viewtopic.php?id=1539

I think that is so cool you can fish the marsh and the surf that close together. In the winter when we lose our grass beds, the water can get murky and the only way to entice them is with big heavy water pushing flies. Either black or hot pink works good in dingy water.

From your post in the Saltwater Section last week though, it looks like you have those kinds of flies so don't know. Sometimes you just have days like that. Its challenging days like those that, while temporarily are frustrating, wound up being fun and stir the creative juices at the vice.

Nice pics.

 

Kirk

[Tailn'Jax 0]

Kirk, thats interesting to hear, and those pictures really show that you have some of the most beautiful reds around. We are almost the opposite over here as far as water clarity goes. Winter time brings on super clear water when the colder weather kills off the algae. Summer time is when the water gets murky around here. To make matters worse, this weekend was a spring tide, so the added water influx and outflow increased the turbidity. As summer goes on you will catch some fish that show more copper, but I can't say I have ever caught one as dark as the ones you have over there. Most of my flies push a little water, the only time I really throw anything subtle is to tailing or backing fish in clear water. When its muddy this time of year through september I am usually throwing something black with a deer hair head to push water. I have thought about adding a rattle to some flies for this muddy water, have you had any experience with rattles, Im thinking it may help the fish key in on the fly better when they have a hard time seeing it. On a side note, LA is one of my dream fishing destinations, I would like to talk to you about the opportunities over there sometime.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Jax, I tied a fly called the Rattle Rouser that was very popular. A friend of mine and I could never figure if the rattle was the trigger or the shape of the fly as the fly with the rattle would catch fish and after a dozen or so reds, the rattle would fall out the mylar and they still ate the fly. There are many bass fishers that swear by rattles. Most of my redfishing is sightcasting so, its hard to make a call on the rattles.

Here is a pic of my Rattle Rouser, I've done them with a clump of deer hair or ram's wool heads over the thread wraps too. The BB you see in the front of the orange body is in the silver one's too, it is a keel weight that sits in front of the rattle capsule to help counteract the air in the rattle chamber - gives it a nice jigging action too.

[Li'lDave 0]

Nice fish mate.. I imagine they would go very nicely on the fly...

 

Kirk... We use rattle rousers here on the barra in dirtier water.... usually using Buck tail as the wing material, and in colours very similar to the the top fly in that pic.