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Updated 08/23/10
Roaming Schools Of Big Redfish
Every year around this time mature redfish begin to
school up in the Pine Island Sound and in Charlotte Harbor
before they head offshore to continue their adult lives.
Although mid-September through October is usually the best time
for this seasonal fishery, it is already kicking off. I have had
several reports this week of schools of a hundred or more
redfish located on flats at the northern end of the sound along
with big numbers of reds on docks at the passes. |
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Keep your eyes open while on the water as these big reds can be
located just about anywhere at anytime. Oyster bars, sandbars, flats,
docks and the passes are all places that can hold these huge schools of
hungry redfish. The deep hole off the Sanibel Pier will get crazy too
with these over-the-slot reds in the next month or so.
Shallow water sightfishing for these roaming schools of big reds is some
of my favorite fishing of the year. Though sometimes hard to locate,
once found these schools will eat just about anything pitched to them
from cut bait and live bait to topwater plugs. Their large numbers seem
to make them competitive when a bait is presented in front of them with
often a dozen or more fish charging the bait.
Shoals and oyster bars can often hold these schools of reds for weeks.
They generally show up at the same stage of the tide. Watching a big
school of hundreds of redfish working around an oyster bar or out on a
flat is possibly one of the coolest things you will ever see.
Calm conditions make locating these schools a little easier. Often a big
shake, push or simply nervous water will be the only clue thats gives up
their location. Schools can be spotted from a hundred yards or more away
when the conditions are right. Getting up close enough to catch redfish
can be another thing though, as it often takes stealth and patience. One
hundred-plus sets of eyes makes these schools very spooky and wary of
fisherman and boats.
Shallow, clear flats located from the middle to northeast end of the
sound seem to be about the most perfect waters to sight-fish for these
reds. This water stays nice and clear and is shallow enough to see the
fish pushing water on almost any stage of the tide. There are plenty of
small mangrove islands too which block the wind, giving you calm
conditions while fishing the lee sides. I do lots of redfish fishing up
close and around these same islands on high tides most of the year but
now these schools are out in wide open water.
Oyster bars south of Useppa, the many oyster bars around Bokeelia and
the flats at Fosters Point on North Captiva were a few of the more
productive places I got on these redfish schools the past few years. The
Burnt Store bar and the Jug Creek shoals are also places that these fish
show up on in huge numbers. I like to scout out the schools while moving
fast on the trolling motor until I spot them and then switch over to the
push pole to approach them quietly.
If you have never sight-fished for redfish this is the time.
Click the links below to view copies of my other recent reports.
08-02-2010 -
08-09-2010 -
08-16-2010
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