Redfish and Grass Shrimp

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OldTownYakBoi
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Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by OldTownYakBoi »

On the last few trips out lately I’m seeing a pattern, especially with some of the higher tides dropping out. The redfish are right in the grass and right on top of the shorelines. The she dog in particular has been getting some play on bigger fish.
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Over the last month I’ve had success catching the near shoreline redfish on Top-waters when the bait present was mullet and Shad… But the last couple of trips have been a struggle. Now that they’ve been feeding on shrimp, particularly small grass shrimp, I’m having trouble hooking up on tops or plastics.

What kind of lures or tricks do you like to use in these situations? It’s a little frustrating to see them blowing up shrimp all around you and not be able to get any interest… Anyone else experienced this? On the bright side I have seen some amazing wildlife and scenery on the last few trips, it’s always great to be out, just looking for ideas of how and what to use in the situations where they’re feeding on tiny grass shrimp. Here’s a pic of about a 6 ft rattlesnake crossing the bayou
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The sunset last night before the tropical storm was great.
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The fish are a bonus… Mother Nature never seems to disappoint.
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All this redfish action in the marsh has me pumped up for fall!


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Ron Mc
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by Ron Mc »

Great report and photos.

They make a nice 1/16 oz vudu shrimp.
You could fish it below a 3" cigar cork (mansfield mauler) - you can also add a hook to your cigar cork in case it draws a strike
(split ring and size 6 treble on the bottom wire loop).

Here's how we used to rig Stazo flex jig with shrimp tail.

Image

TTF sells a nice pre-rigged shrimp lure called a Shiney Hiney, but I like the cigar cork better than popping cork.
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Dandydon
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by Dandydon »

Terrific report & photos, Yak Boi.
That rattlesnake photo is scary. Three years ago Shoffer & I had a 6-ft. alligator closely shadowing our kayaks for about 20 minutes in Pickels Marsh. That's a nice deep marsh network on the east shoreline of Trinity Bay north of Double Bayou. The gators get aggressive when guarding their nest areas.

I second Ron's recommendation of the tiny Vudu SHAD when the Redfish are picky. Fish it slow until it reaches your target, then speed it up. I've caught reluctant Reds doing that.

Good luck & keep 'em coming. Are you fishing today ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas? Might want to take advantage of the low barometer, but watch out for those 60 mph winds!

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shoffer
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by shoffer »

YakBoi - great photos and glad to hear you are getting out.

Scott Null (formerly Let's Go on this Board) is the Redfish god. When he guided in Greens Lake, we would go out on his poling skiff in the Fall. August-September was, like clockwork, what you are experiencing - redfish cruising shorelines knocking small shrimp out of the cordgrass and eating them. There will be some bird action shadowing them, but snowy white egrets on the shoreline just looking down in the water are the definite sign of cruising redfish doing this - especially if they are close to one another and are leapfrogging one another one way or the other down a shoreline.

Come October-November, they will herd up in massive schools and maraud the open lakes eating the larger shrimp to fatten up for winter. It is a breathtaking sight to witness. That's when you get more typical bird action following them 10 or 15 above the school squawking and carrying on.

I would recommend the small shrimp tandem rigs; you can tie them yourself or you can pick up pretied ones at Academy. Vudu has the tough shrimp ones, but much cheaper, and almost as tough, are the H20 Express ones at Academy. Two colors are on clearance right now for .26 cents a pack, but I bet will be hard to find.
Capture.JPG
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OldTownYakBoi
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by OldTownYakBoi »

Ron Mc wrote:Great report and photos.

They make a nice 1/16 oz vudu shrimp.
You could fish it below a 3" cigar cork (mansfield mauler) - you can also add a hook to your cigar cork in case it draws a strike
(split ring and size 6 treble on the bottom wire loop).

Here's how we used to rig Stazo flex jig with shrimp tail.

Image

TTF sells a nice pre-rigged shrimp lure called a Shiney Hiney, but I like the cigar cork better than popping cork.
That’s a good idea, a Vudu shrimp would probably work well, hardest part would be getting close enough to cast something that light… Not to mention being stealthy, but hey that’s all part of the thrill and chase.

Thanks Ron


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OldTownYakBoi
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by OldTownYakBoi »

Dandydon wrote:Terrific report & photos, Yak Boi.
That rattlesnake photo is scary. Three years ago Shoffer & I had a 6-ft. alligator closely shadowing our kayaks for about 20 minutes in Pickels Marsh. That's a nice deep marsh network on the east shoreline of Trinity Bay north of Double Bayou. The gators get aggressive when guarding their nest areas.

I second Ron's recommendation of the tiny Vudu SHAD when the Redfish are picky. Fish it slow until it reaches your target, then speed it up. I've caught reluctant Reds doing that.

Good luck & keep 'em coming. Are you fishing today ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas? Might want to take advantage of the low barometer, but watch out for those 60 mph winds! Image

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I can definitely do without the gators, but I rarely have seen snakes crossing, especially one this large. I got a good video of him crossing all the way until he finally settled and disappeared into the grass on the other side.

I had a Vudu Shad with me but couldn’t get a bite, they were so keyed in on the shrimp.

What’s really interesting is something I’ve heard Scott null talk about. The bayou was thick with mullet, all of which seemed to be running and spooked, but the redfish were exclusively on the shrimp. Pretty interesting to witness, I don’t blame them though, I’d choose shrimp over mullet too Image


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OldTownYakBoi
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by OldTownYakBoi »

shoffer wrote:YakBoi - great photos and glad to hear you are getting out.

Scott Null (formerly Let's Go on this Board) is the Redfish god. When he guided in Greens Lake, we would go out on his poling skiff in the Fall. August-September was, like clockwork, what you are experiencing - redfish cruising shorelines knocking small shrimp out of the cordgrass and eating them. There will be some bird action shadowing them, but snowy white egrets on the shoreline just looking down in the water are the definite sign of cruising redfish doing this - especially if they are close to one another and are leapfrogging one another one way or the other down a shoreline.

Come October-November, they will herd up in massive schools and maraud the open lakes eating the larger shrimp to fatten up for winter. It is a breathtaking sight to witness. That's when you get more typical bird action following them 10 or 15 above the school squawking and carrying on.

I would recommend the small shrimp tandem rigs; you can tie them yourself or you can pick up pretied ones at Academy. Vudu has the tough shrimp ones, but much cheaper, and almost as tough, are the H20 Express ones at Academy. Two colors are on clearance right now for .26 cents a pack, but I bet will be hard to find.
Capture.JPG
Thanks for the good info shoffer, last fall I felt like a professional fisherman Oct-Nov… The marsh fishing was on fire and I got to witness some of those heards you’re talking about. Another cool thing that time of year is seeing the trout move up to the shallow marshes to eat all the bait dumping on the falling tides, caught some nice ones.

I haven’t seen much bird action, but I have seen the egrets bunched up. Last fall in Rockport there was a gang of them all right on top of each other and I hammered the fish. Caught some nice reds and damn near a speck on every cast. I love this time of year.

On a side note, the hurricane didn’t do much damage down here, flooding was minimal as Nicholas passed over the island quickly. It may have given our marsh systems a much needed flush of fresh water. Can’t wait to get back out!


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SWFinatic
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by SWFinatic »

OldTownYakBoi in addition to the VUDU shrimp I've had really good success this time of year with a 3" curl tail grub in brown with chartreuse tail on a 1/8 oz jig head. When the tides come up next month and the reds move deep into the grass you can switch to a weedless rig with it. Academy sells Big Bites and they make this lure (it has great action but is soft so buy a few packs) but so does H&H, Fish Bites, Z-Man and others. If you're seeing them I wouldn't throw a popping cork. If you need to locate them a popping cork would be the way to go. The 3" curl tail grub works well either way.

To add to Shoffer's point on the redfish gorging on shrimp this time of year it is a sight to see. They take aggressive to a new level. A large majority of the redfish that have spent the summer in the back lakes starting in October will also slowly begin to move towards the opening of that back lake. In late October you can catch them staged up in huge schools at the mouth or just inside the mouth of a large back lake getting ready to migrate to sea. You can often find many oversized reds in this scenario.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by Ron Mc »

That’s a good idea, a Vudu shrimp would probably work well, hardest part would be getting close enough to cast something that light… Not to mention being stealthy, but hey that’s all part of the thrill and chase.

Thanks Ron
you're welcome.
I have to disagree on the getting close enough part - that's where all the good sight-fishing exists.
The obvious choice is fly rod, and this has been my go-to salt fly for decades
ImageImage
But if you want to cast a light lure on cigar cork a long way, you go to rockfish rods - this one is very cost-effective, NS Black Hole from Korea
At Arroyo, it's landed doubles with redfish and snook.
It's made for casting 1-5 g on 10-lb braid, and the butt is made for turning big fish.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/142310405589?
No current stock on the 1-5 g ST, but the 1-10g 802ML could be even better

Image
this is fishing the width of Little Cut
It's serious salty UL for imitating glass minnows all winter

Image
Here's a Japanese shrimp I've rigged up to fish the same way at Arroyo on coming Dec new moon

Image
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and a good daytime color
Image
Adding about this rigging with cigar cork - when you click the cork, the lure doubles like a kicking, evading shrimp.
It settles down head-first like a shrimp swimming with its legs.

Here's the lure in Japan
https://fishingshop.kiwi/search/?query=nikko+krill
the jigheads
https://fishingshop.kiwi/search/?query=zeake+f-change
and the stinger hook
https://fishingshop.kiwi/search/?query= ... n+f-change
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OldTownYakBoi
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by OldTownYakBoi »

SWFinatic wrote:OldTownYakBoi in addition to the VUDU shrimp I've had really good success this time of year with a 3" curl tail grub in brown with chartreuse tail on a 1/8 oz jig head. When the tides come up next month and the reds move deep into the grass you can switch to a weedless rig with it. Academy sells Big Bites and they make this lure (it has great action but is soft so buy a few packs) but so does H&H, Fish Bites, Z-Man and others. If you're seeing them I wouldn't throw a popping cork. If you need to locate them a popping cork would be the way to go. The 3" curl tail grub works well either way.

To add to Shoffer's point on the redfish gorging on shrimp this time of year it is a sight to see. They take aggressive to a new level. A large majority of the redfish that have spent the summer in the back lakes starting in October will also slowly begin to move towards the opening of that back lake. In late October you can catch them staged up in huge schools at the mouth or just inside the mouth of a large back lake getting ready to migrate to sea. You can often find many oversized reds in this scenario.
Thanks for the input, I’ll have to try a curl tail grub. And I agree, seeing a gang of feeding redfish is a beautiful sight to see. I was out today and saw some massive blow ups, but they were all singles


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bones72
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by bones72 »

I could send you some of these for a fly rod or under a popping cork.
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They've worked for me on reds chasing small baits
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Dandydon
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Re: Redfish and Grass Shrimp

Post by Dandydon »

Men, are THE BIRDS WORKING yet?

Call Image me! Image

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