Well I was coming in from kayak fishing yesterday and had already put my boat up and my gear but I decided to sit on a bench and watch the sunset.... Well then I see a big ole Red fish tail sticking out of the water. :excited001: He was getting after it and I could tell he was a large one. I grabbed a rod tied on a red head 1/4 oz jig and white plastic and waded close. Once I was close I could see there were several reds close together feeding. I casted and casted and casted. Then switched it up to a new pinny swim bait on same jig. NO BITES!!!!! then went to a top water spook jr as a last resort. Worked it over top of them with so avail. :angry-rain:

I have never really seen reds feeding like this and never had an opportunity to cast at them like this. They were in the same area for prob thirty min!!
I was so frustrated but I knew I would come here and see if anyone had advice. Or what you like to through when site casting tailing reds.

It's a beautiful site, right? When they are tailing you have to think about what they're doing. Obviously they're eating, but what? They are eating shrimp and little crabs. A Gulp shrimp or crab might have worked if you soaked it for a few and twitched it just a little to simulate a shrimp or crab...but my go to bait when I see tailing reds (if I have any, which I usually do) would be live shrimp. Shrimp is my favorite bait because everything eats shrimp and it's cheap. And if you're getting it from Gandy Bait and Tackle, it's even cheaper than lures and (to me) get's better results. Gandy Bait and Tackle should pay me, I always promote those guys lol! You just can't get a better deal than 5 dozen shrimp for $5. 5 dozen shrimp will usually last me the whole day...even when I have someone with me.

Some people will argue that they think artificials are better than live bait, but I personally never get as many bites on artificials as I do with live bait

Cool thanks for the tips! I am sure live shrimp would have worked. It was just frustrating to see them but not catch them!

I agree that a live shrimp is hard to beat when casting a redfish you can see, (i have never actually seen them tailing, i guess that i have never been in the right place at the right time), but as far as Gandy Bait and Tackle...I will never but anything from them again... I cant stand those guys , they are rude, and nasty SOBs , I would go next door to the little shack that sells bait as well or now i go to the old Denny B's which is now Cody's Bait and Tackle on Hillsborough Ave. just west of Sheldon...One day I got to Gandy at about 6am and got in line with the rest of the guys with my stepson next to me, as we bought 2 specials the guy reminds everyone to keep their receipt at the top of his lungs or "you ain't gettin shit" and resumed ringing up rest of the people in line who waited for nearly 45mins for the shrimp to arrive( now i know that it isn't his fault the shrimp were late but it amplified the situation) after Yelling a few more times to keep your receipt or "you aint getting a F%&KING thing" the gentleman resumed his conversation with another gentleman who was mother F'n the FWC for citing him for not having a fishing license and having over his legal limit and undersize fish (the trifecta) and was then complaining that after actually being detained by the FWC for the infractions, he was stopped again while fishing under a bridge in the Keys on his vacation....which he did not have a license then either and also had illegal fish as well...The whole time dropping multiple F-Bombs and a whole bevy of other curse words ( which only bothered me because of the diversity of the people in the store....kids, women, and many others who were within ear shy) The guy behind the counter just kept agreeing with the piece of shiz who was stopped and cited multiple times about how much those mother F'ers are just trying to be A$%holes and screw with people....I was so pissed that he would oblige someone with that kind of manner in that type of scenario...
sorry for the rambling but i will never go back...even if they are the only ones with shrimp and they were giving them away...I wanted to tell both guys about themselves however I needed to be the one to set the example for my kid. because he certainly got enough of a bad example in the guy running the shop and the other A##hole who was telling the storyabout how he broke the law and got caught twice in two weeks....

Oh yea carolina i started to reply to the post to tell u to make sure to have a DOA shrimp because they work great in that situation because it doesn't take much except good placement and patience to get them to pay off to the fish you can see. so keep a couple in your box and give them a try the next time you get that type of shot....I like the watermelon chrome glitter but the glow or clear gold flake are easier to find in the store, unless you order them from DOA directly...

And one more thing get some ProCure in inshore or shrimp flavor(or any flavor) to enhance the appeal..just sayin....good luck :thumbsup:

My first trip to Ft Desoto last summer I saw the biggest school of redfish I've ever seen tailing in the grass. The school must have been the size of a basketball court. Couldn't believe my eyes. Must of been 500 of em. No joke. I was throwing gulp and i think I might have got a hit or two but no hookups. I didn't have live bait so I tried just like you did for probably a good half hour. The damn things were soo close I could have whacked em with my rod. Talk about frustrating. Very cool sight to see though.

artifishent1 wrote:
Did that happen on a weekend morning or weekday?

Your shadow does not have to be visible. At non it is extended six feet around you -- when the sun's directly over the top of your head. The energy/light from the sun hits you and weakens before it hits the water directly around you.

Fish know it and feel it. It rings inside their very beings and is a bell that says DANGERS!!!!!! They have no idea exactly what the energy source happens to be, but they feel it.

At six in the afternoon, that weakening of the sun's energy extends 20' away from you.

We can see shadows, and we figure that the shadow is important. It is. You watch Captain Mike Cole. You watch David Rieumont. As they move around the boat they make sure they're verrrrry low to the deck. So, too, do I. So do all really experienced anglers.

You were standing up, right?

The redfish smelled you, too. But they felt you first.

Try staying way down. Kneel if you have to, Get your eyes looking parallel to the water, but 1/10th as high off the water then you naturally stand.

And learn from the old-times. The next time you have a 4% greater chance of not scaring them. Not much more than 4% or 5%, but it makes a difference. I can almost guarantee you did not get close to the water as soon as you saw them.

barry i believe that it happened on a saturday morning i was there at about 6am and the place filled up within fifteen minutes all waiting for the shrimp to arrive.

gary all of that info is some that i have never heard, but will definitely remember and it makes so much sense that i cant believe more people dont talk about it

artifishent1 wrote:
Hate to hear stuff like that about Gandy B&T. I've been going there for a long time and never saw anything like that. Not making excuses for them, but the owner, Bill Robinson, usually isn't there on Saturday mornings and I know he wouldn't have put up with this crap. Bill did tell me about the receipts, though. They've been ripped off quite a few times by people who claimed they paid for bait when they actually didn't. Even I show my receipt when I get my shrimp and everybody there knows me. They can't show favoritism or the guy behind me would say something about me not showing my receipt so why does he have to? I wish you would give them another chance but, obviously, it's up to you.

Barry

I'm curious, where was it at? I haven't seen any schools of reds tailing this year, just one or two at a time south of Gandy.

It's got to be the right time of year and tide (usually outgoing) to get them to tail in schools.

I would toss out a crab knuckle or dead stick a bait, but I suppose it's just a matter of opportunity. Maybe a gold spoon?

Dan

For tailing reds I would throw a gold spoon(Johnson Sprite) and work it past them nice and steady. It works for me over in the Mosquito Lagoon so I dont see why it would not work here.

yea I did not try a gold spoon...
Dan it was right inside the sea wall by the small mangrove cluster closest to the bridge on the Tampa side. It is normally very shallow in there but it was a very large tide that day.

Capt David: no doubt a live shrimp or even chunk of ladyfish might get their attn, but I had same thing yesterday morning as Carolinaboy did last evening.
Poled up on a nice school of slot reds... big tails waving. So close even I could drop a shrimp design fly in the school.... and slow retrieve a small plastic mullet like lure (bait all around) and tried topwater to get their attention... and came to the conclusion I have the tools but I'm lacking the talent. Frustrating for sure.
Most of the time they will eat something live, but somedays they just won't eat (what I have).