Well, to find these giant redfish, you need to be on the beach, gulf side. The key is to look for diving birds. If you don’t have access to a boat, you better be prepared to wade out as far as you can with a big rod and cast to them, as these fish are in the 10-15 foot depth range. These birds are diving on all the pilchards and menhaden that are schooled up on the shorelines this time of year, so in order to catch these fish, you need to “match the hatch” as I call it and use these types of bait. If you are using artificial bait, then a Z-man Minnowz or a Z-man Swimmerz bait will suffice. I promise you this, you can catch them on artificial bait just as you can with live bait. I recommend the Z-man bait because their elaztech plastic that they make these baits out of is virtually indestructible, thus easing the hit your wallet takes when buying baits. The colors I have found to work the best this time of year are, New Penny, Hitch, Natural, and Opening Night (glass minnow). Just remember, if wading out to catch these, be VERY VERY careful as the stingrays are mixed in with these reds as well. I have seen some of the biggest stingrays ever lately, they look like coffee tables laying down on the bottom. If it looks like a coffee table from 15 ft up, you know they are big. SO BE CAREFUL!

The key is to just cast into the bait pod that the birds are diving on and let your bait sink right to the bottom as this is where the fish are holding. The fish hold there so that they can ambush the bait from below and pick off any stragglers that are left behind outside of the bait pod, thus making it an easy meal. If you are on a boat, then your chances of catching one of these beasts are ever increased. You want to follow the same procedure as you would wade fishing only you can cover more ground this way: Look for birds and bait; cast into them; let it hit the bottom; and start twitching your bait. It wont take long before a fish devours it and you have a fight on your hands. The law in Florida doesn’t allow you to keep these sized redfish so you have to throw them back. But after a few photo’s of you and your catch, throwing it back will leave you with a good feeling knowing that you can come back tomorrow and catch her again. I say “her” because once the reds reach this size they are all breeding females, which is one of the main reasons your not allowed to keep them.

If you’re on the Gulf Coast this winter, make this one of your adventures for a day. I promise you this, it will be a trip of a lifetime. We have some very good guides here on the coast that love doing this sort of thing. If you’re unsure of who would be the best guide in town, hit me up (general@fishhappensoutdoors.com) and I’ll direct you to the right person for the job.

Till next time tight lines and may God Bless.
Chris Williams

Tight Lines,

Chris Williams
fishhappensoutdoors.com

The CCA of Louisiana gave anglers the opportunity to participate in this process by starting a volunteer tagging program. Since 1987 the program has used more than 1,400 volunteer taggers, tagging over 105,000 fish. The main focus of this tagging program is to introduce volunteer anglers to more qualitative or “scientific” methods for reporting their tag and recapture information. The more precise the data will yield to more specific information that can be used in measuring the populations of the fish.

The best part of this program is you do not have to tag fish strictly in Louisiana. You can catch them right here on the Gulf Coast and tag any sized Speckled trout or redfish you release alive.

Here are some of the basics of the program for you:

* Tag Spotted Sea trout “Speckled trout” and Red drum “redfish” of any size in any  water body in any state

* All that they ask is that volunteers complete the data cards with the required fields   and return them in to us for data tracking purposes

* They also ask that GPS coordinates be included on the data card for data analysis and tracking. Volunteers are reminded that this data is for biologist’s use only and will not be shared with the public. So NO private fishing spots will be reveled.

* Whenever someone recaptures a fish that you tagged a recapture report will be sent to the tagging and the recapture angler letting them know where the fish was tagged and recaptured (brief location information/no GPS coordinates), how long the fish was at large and the measurements at the time of tagging and recapturing.

* All supplies are provided to volunteers free of charge and tagging kit includes instructions on how to fill out the data card as well as how to tag the fish.

If you would like to volunteer for this program (as I did), please send the following information in an email to fishtags@wlf.louisiana.gov. It will surely be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do.

• Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Do you own a GPS unit? Yes or no
• Area Generally fished:
• Have you ever participated in a tagging program before? Yes or no