The hunt for Redfish in April is as exciting as the Hunt for Red October! An amazing sunrise greeted my anglers Sunday morning. The early morning low / incoming tide meant we would be hunting reds in the potholes away from the Mangrove islands.
Breezy conditions made spotting schools a challenge so I set up on an area that has produced the last few days. Fishing in 2-3' of water we tossed whitebaits with a float 2' up the leader to keep the bait out of the grass. Live baits if allowed will look for cover and dive into the grass. The area we fished first is adjacent to an oyster bar and requires fluorocarbon leaders to be 30 pounds. Let one of these bulldog redfish and with the waters still a little cloudy from recent winds you could probably beef up to 40 pounds without scaring the reds.
The first ten minutes produced only baits being beat up by pinfish. As often happens the best angler is the rod holder and sure enough as someone took a break the action started. With the advent of circle hooks the rod holder really does a good job. The bite continued with nice reds 22-24" making for great sport. Working the NE end of FT Desoto offers acres and acres of prime habitat. A short run to Pinellas point rounded out the action with chunky trout 14-18". Action remained steady and a good day was had by all. I spoke with Capt. Mike Anderson of Reel Animals who had a banner day with over 40 Reds!
Upon our return to the marina I was welcomed by a broken jack on my trailer. Out came the jack to my truck so I could lift the ball off the hitch allowing me to unhook the trailer and run to the parts store. The cranking mechanism had rusted out, I upgraded to a unit that has a fitting that allows regular greasing. Lesson learned; rinse ALL parts of the trailer thoroughly after every use.
Received a tip regarding a new night snook spot loaded with big bruisers. Check back Thursday as I have a night trip Wednesday and let you all know how it went.
Capt. Steven
