Once fished and gill-netted to dangerously low populations, the red drum has made a tremendous comeback over the last few decades. Known more commonly as redfish, or simply “reds,” they also make for versatile table fare. However, it’s their willingness to take a variety of presentations coupled with their fighting spirit that’s made them a favorite target for those uninitiated to battling them on hook and line. The tactics detailed below present five of the tried and true presentations of boxing that five fish per person daily limit.
1. Dead Shrimp Under a Cork
Often feeding by scavenging the edges of shoreline for a quick meal, redfish have a difficult time turning their nose up to a dead shrimp, commonly referred to as “market bait,” hung 12 to 18 inches beneath a cork. Suspension beneath the cork allows for presenting the bait at the proper depth depending on the depth of the waters fished. This rig is most effective when presented in shallow waters of 3 feet or less, concentrating on points or other structure with tide lines or right against the grass line of a shore with moving water. And though the fish will rarely turn down a live shrimp, the dead versions are typically just as productive, if not more, and cost much less.
My rig consists of a barrel swivel to attach a 14 to 18-inch length of 20 to 30-pound monofilament leader, with a kahle, straight or treble hook at the business end. A small weight is crimped on about midway on the leader to help get the shrimp down to the set depth. Alternatively, a jighead may be substituted as a weighted hook, in which case the crimped weight would be omitted. As for the cork, any number of floats could be used whether rattling or popping, snap-on or fixed. I prefer the snap on rattling corks, which allow for quick depth adjustment or even removal if moving to fish deeper waters. In general, in the more open waters or windier conditions, I’ll go to a cork making more noise but err on the quieter side when fishing smaller ponds and still waters.
When seeking out locations to set up on, position your boat so as to cast downwind toward a wind-blown shoreline. This makes for easier casting, and the wind-blown shorelines are typically where reds congregate to take advantage of bait corralled by the wind. This rig isn’t glamorous, but it’s tried and true for recreational anglers coast-wide and even guides who trust it to put reds in the boat in even the ugliest of conditions.
2. Cracked Crab on a Carolina Rig
It doesn’t take examination of many redfish stomachs to identify their affinity for crabs. Doing so will often produce crabs of all sizes, some impressively large. For fishing reds in tidal passes, the Carolina Rig is a go-to for targeting fish transitioning between two larger bodies of water. In Grand Isle, for example, anglers often target reds in the passes connecting the Gulf of Mexico with interior waters like Barataria Bay. These passes carry a tremendous amount of bait, thus concentrating reds and other fish seeking easy meals. Passes like these can be found across the coast and may be fished in the same fashion.
When rigging up, start with an egg sinker slid up your line before affixing a barrel swivel. The size of the weight will vary with depth and current but a ¾-ounce weight is often the smallest you’ll want to go with. From there tie on a 14 to 18-inch length of monofilament leader of 30 to 40-pound test. Similar to the cork rig, you can go with a treble, straight, or kahle hook to finish the rig.
Utilizing a cast net or crab trap, anglers can obtain small crabs for bait at virtually no cost. When preparing to bait the hook, crack the crab in half and include only half of the crab on the hook. Use of larger crabs may require again cracking the two halves into smaller portions. When possible, try to insert the hook where the legs join the body of the crab for maximum retention. This set up is easy to fish in that it often is best to give the rig a good cast then let it sit while awaiting a taker. Anchoring along deeper waters with good tidal flow is the ideal set up. Similarly, this rig can be presented from points on land as well.
When crabs are unobtainable, dead shrimp can be a productive substitute, but will also increase by-catch such as hardhead catfish. This tactic is usually particularly effective on larger reds (and black drum) that frequent the passes, so keep in mind the regulation allowing only one redfish over 27-inches per person daily. When possible, try to release the larger fish as quickly as possible, taking time to resuscitate tired fish boat-side when needed.
3. Shallow Waters with a Gold Spoon
It arguably looks like nothing a fish would eat as it flashes brilliantly in the overhead sunlight. Similarly it feels like nothing natural with its metallic texture sure to be obtrusive in the mouth. Then again, we’re targeting a fish that can suck in and crush a fully shelled crab in a blink. The gold spoon presented in a cast and retrieve manner is arguably the simplest and most effective all around rig for chasing redfish, particularly in the shallows so common to the marshes they haunt. Sure these same spoons come in silver, white, black and even natural paint schemes, but overall the gold holds the title for most productive.
With all of the modern advances in lifelike paint schemes and textures for artificial lures, guide services and recreational anglers alike continue to lean on the simple gold spoon to put reds in the box virtually year round.
Best of all, this lure can be found for under $5 and is usually good for days of use at a minimum, or typically until the hook inevitably breaks off due to wear and tear.
When hunting reds in the shallows, this is my go-to paired with a baitcasting rod and reel for precision casting. Though the spoon can be fished as-is straight from the box, I often attach a barrel swivel to it via a small split ring to minimize line twist.
We’ll often focus on ponds with irregular shorelines and work our way down the bank casting carefully to place the lure right against the bank before retrieving. Keeping an eye out for cruising reds away from the shoreline which also be taken advantage of as a quick pitch in front of their nose often results in up close and personal strikes and subsequent drag-stripping runs.
This tactic is primarily done under higher tide conditions, allowing access via boat into the duck ponds. When access to the ponds isn’t practical, working down the shorelines of more open waters can also be effective. During periods of particularly high tides when the marsh grass along the shorelines is flooded, look for reds invading these areas seeking meals up in the grass. You’ll want to correspondingly land your casts up in the grass prior to beginning the retrieve. As alluded to above, the spoon is most flashy when exposed to overhead sunlight and typically less effective with heavy cloud cover.
The weedless guard common to the standard gold spoon is key to minimizing hang-ups in both the marsh grass of the shorelines as well as the aquatic grasses common to the ponds. In the event the guard is broken off (and it inevitably will), I’ll often break out a replacement spoon but hang on to the old one for fishing areas of little or no grass.
4. Plastic Jigs
I’ve lumped a number of plastic lures into this column as there’s a good bit of variety in this category. In its simplest form, fishing a plastic fish or shrimp imitation on a plain jig head can be very productive, particularly when aquatic vegetation is not an issue. Today’s plastics come in seemingly infinite color and shape combinations, so the options are nearly endless on what you might throw on a given day, depending on the water clarity and local forage.
A spinner can be added to this rig to bring some flash to the offering, tying in some of the attractiveness that makes the spoon so enticing. Use of a spinner can also help to maintain a steady depth throughout the retrieve when fishing the shallows when working just over a submerged grass bed, for example.
When chasing reds over grass beds that have breached the surface, plastics can be rigged weedless using a worm hook commonly used in bass fishing. The same principal applies - attach the nose of the bait to the base of the hook, and bury the point into the bait’s body to prevent fouling in the grass. This rig is excellent when the fish are following small tidal channels through thick grass, using the cover to ambush bait swept by currents.
5. Hard Plastics
These plastics include both top water plugs as well as crank baits. If you’ve yet to experience a big red blowing up on a topwater, you are really missing out. Redfish are inherently not constructed to feed on the surface but go to great, and often exhilarating lengths to inhale what they believe to be an injured baitfish on top. My go-to lures for top waters would be the TopDog and SheDog along with Badonkadonks, all in nearly any variety of colors. From chrome to clear, and orange to black, I’ve seen reds explode on them all. If choosing just one, bone is typically a good color to stick with on a regular basis, but feel free to try whatever colors catch your eye.
Crankbaits are also known to produce a lot of fish in areas where grass is not a problem. Shallow-diving cranks baits offer flash and vibration to entice the bite and many coastal anglers swear by their production.
Though by no means all encompassing, the presentations detailed above and their derivatives are effective means of putting reds in the boat in a wide variety of situations common to the Louisiana coast. Feel free to tinker with the rigs to fit your preferences and specific situation, and good luck fishin’!
