No doubt, redfish are one of the most user-friendly inshore species and the recent Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter at Apalachicola Bay proved as much. This invitational event gathered some of the industry’s top competitors, but we can glean several lessons with direct applicability to anglers of all skill and experience levels.
(Championship format fielded six two-person redfish tournament teams, along with four hybrid teams comprising a Bassmaster Elite angler and a redfish pro.)
Depth range
Probably the most encouraging takeaway from the tournament’s unfolding was the broad spectrum of habitats and depths from which redfish are caught. Demonstrating how anglers can find reds most anywhere in the coastal zone, competitors found fish in just about every scenario the vast a diverse tournament waters had to offer.
Winners Gary Moreno and Tony Viator did most of their heavy lifting in Apalachicola Bay’s lower end where they fished in and near West Pass, which links the bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Fishing the shallow sandy edges of St. Vincent Island, Moreno and Viator targeted redfish that were coming out of the pass’ deep water to feed in 2-5 feet. Throwing silver spoons tempted their winning fish.
The second-place team of Michael Frenette and Mark Robinson, spent part of their time in the same area, but also fished the 22- to 32-foot depths between the Government Cut jetties, east of West Pass. They caught their fish by dropping 1-ounce jigging spoons to the bottom and working them up for a fluttering action.
Meanwhile, several teams like third-place Chris Cenci and Brandon Palaniuk, along with 2023 Redfish Cup Championship winners Cody Chivas and Fred Myers III mostly focused on shallow marsh edges. Others hunted redfish schools as they grazed across broad, shallow flats.
Taking these examples, folks seeking their own redfish action should keep an open mind and. Carry a variety of redfish baits and don’t get locked into a single method or area.
Safe spaces
One of the consistent details most experienced redfish anglers will seek is proximity to deep water. Reds tend to favor shallow areas where they can feed efficiently, however, they like to stay near channels and cuts where they can drop into greater depths to elude dolphins and sharks.
At St. Vincent Island, Viator and Moreno worked a sandy edge with a distinct drop-off. The fish would hang out in the deeper zone and occasionally come up shallow to feed, so they split the duties — one would target the shallows, while the other probed the deeper water.
Abide the tide
Daily ebb and flow governs the inshore game and redfish are particularly impacted in a couple of ways. First is access — rising water allows reds to push into marshes and onto oyster bars for feeding opportunities.
By extension, anglers are likewise impacted, as incoming and outgoing tides determine safe navigation. For one thing, no one wants to whack an oyster bar or a limestone outcropping with their outboard, but getting stranded by a falling tide is no fun either.
(Notably, at last year’s Redfish Cup Championship in South Carolina’s Winyah Bay, hard outgoing tides stranded several teams in muddy marsh creeks and prevented them from making it to the first day’s weigh ins.)
Bottom line, know before you go and only venture into skinny reaches on high water. Soon as the tide starts to drop, you’d better head for the exit, or you could find yourself sitting high and dry on a relentless mud flat.
The other tidal consideration is clarity. On Day 2, Frenette and Robinson found their spot on St. Vincent Island too muddy to fish when they first arrived. Filling time elsewhere, they waited until the outgoing tide pulled a lot of the turbidity out of their area and presented a much better scenario in which they caught a 6-pound redfish that helped give them the second-day lead.
Long and short
Redfish are bold creatures, but in shallow, clear water, they can be incredibly spooky. Moreno and Viator addressed this with a succinct strategy. They made long casts to fish they spotted ahead of the boat, but one of them stayed ready at all times to make short pitches to close-range reds suddenly popped up from deeper water.
This is a wise principle to keep in mind when you’re dealing with nervous redfish. If you’re fishing alone, keep a rod with a lead head jig and a paddletail or a shrimp imitator handy for those unexpected targets of opportunity.
Expounding on that thought, tournament anglers often found a hooked redfish coming to the boat with a few companions. This is likely a feeding competion thing, as reds are known for trying to take food from one another.
If your friend hooks a redfish and you spot other followers, make a quick cast near the hooked fish and you’ll often score a double header. Just mind your positioning to avoid tangles.
Don’t pass on the bass (baits)
Look at a redfish angler’s tackle box and many of the baits resemble those of bass fishermen. From topwater walkers, to spinnerbaits, to soft plastics on jig heads, similarities are many. That makes it easy to double dip and Palaniuk proved as much by catching several nice fish, including a 7-pounder on the same 1/2-ounce Z-Man Chatterbait Jackhammer with a 4.75 XZone Lures Swammer he commonly uses in bass events.
Looking back to the 2021 Redfish Cup Championship at Port Aransas, Texas, veteran Bassmaster Elite Mark Menendez caught several competitive fish by pitching a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Craw — one of his most common Elite trail tactics.
The company they keep
Redfishing is fun. Full stop.
However, even though catching only these copper scaled beauties would provide plenty of challenge, fun and photo-worthy memories, you’ll often encounter other impressive species along the way.
The Redfish Cup Championship turned up several bycatch examples. Myers caught a whopper black drum on Day 2, while Chivas released several nice flounder, including a dandy flatfish that he said “would’ve fed the whole family.”
Elite pro Justin Atkins enjoyed catching several reds while fishing with local guide Krista Miller, but his biggest workout came late in Day 1 when a stud jack crevalle that went close to 20 pounds grabbed his bait and stretched his string for several minutes.
Diversity keeps the game interesting and redfish newbies will often find these, along with speckled trout, snook and the occasional croaker favoring their baits.
The smell of success
Redfish have good sniffers and if it smells like a baitfish or crustacean, these gluttons will find it. Knowing this, savvy anglers will hasten the process.
For example, Ryan Rickard, who paired with Elite pro Chris Zaldain to win the first Redfish Cup Championship in 2021, always dabs his plastics with Pro-Cure Shrimp scent attractant. He’ll reapply the gel after every catch, or after a certain number of casts.
Likewise, Chivas and Myers caught several of their fish this year and last on Berkley’s famous Gulp Shrimp — a plastic bait made with a potent scent/taste formula that attracts bites and convinces a fish to hold on longer.
Whatever you throw, expect big runs and stubborn fights. Keep the rod tip high, maintain steady pressure and with a good dose of diligence, you’ll hold one of the sea’s most beautiful fish for a bragging rights photo.
