Hungry Redfish in VBay

[Marque]

The trout bite has slowed down in VBay with all this crazy weather so I decided to target some redfish. Pulled up at one of my honey holes in the NW part of the bay and found the fat boys stacked up and hungry. Caught 15 in a little over an hour. All on artificial. They were so turned on and stacked up that anything would have worked. Water was nice out of the 4 mile but got dirtier the further East I went. Tried to find a few specks but wind picked up and water got nasty. Saw a bunch of boats in Shark Bayou, none of them looked like they were catching much.

[The shop in Broussard]

Not too shabby.


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[Davewiseman]

Marque, enjoy reading about your trips to VB. Not many report from this area. I don't expect you to give out exactly where you caught, but a water condition report is much appreciated. Most of my fishing is out of Burn's Point, but plan to visit VB after Thanksgiving. Dave

[legallimits]

Wow, nice haul! I love catching those slot reds, but I pretty much always use live (typically finger mullet) and I work the weeds at high tide. With the tide as low as it's been lately, it's been nothing doing. Any tips for a fellow redfisherman on what type of artificial is working and how to find them when there's no weeds to work with the low water.

And thanks for another good post, Marque. VBay posts are getting few and far between.

[shellman]

Very nice mark....good to see you on em....

[Stumpy14]

Thanks for the report! Nice catch!


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[Marque]

Originally Posted by legallimits

Wow, nice haul! I love catching those slot reds, but I pretty much always use live (typically finger mullet) and I work the weeds at high tide. With the tide as low as it's been lately, it's been nothing doing. Any tips for a fellow redfisherman on what type of artificial is working and how to find them when there's no weeds to work with the low water.

And thanks for another good post, Marque. VBay posts are getting few and far between.

Right now the water is clean enough to catch them on pretty much on any decent swim bait. My brother and a buddy fished with me yesterday and caught their fish on 3" and 4" swim baits. H&H Usual Suspects in the Coc of the Walk and Glow/Chart color. I caught mine on Matrix Vortex Black/Chart, Nighttruse, and a couple on Matrix Shad Tigerbait. When the water is not as clear I use different methods. For the most part I will use some sort of spinner. If the water is god aweful I go with a chatter bait and a Black and Chart Matrix Vortex. With the chatter bait, you can adjust the blade to increase or decrease the vibration you want it to put out. I find the Vortex has the strongest action of any type of swim shad. The Thumping Mullets with the rattles inside are good but you have to work them fast and that is not a good thing in dirty water. If the water is murky or stained, but has some visibility I will use something like a Jenny Jig Redfish or Speck Spinner. It is a spinner attached directly to a jig head. It puts off less vibration a conventional safety pin spinner bait but will not get hung up on grass or oysters as easily. I prefer the ones with a Colorado blade to the willow blade but they are hard to find. If the redfish are not feeding aggressively I will break down and use a cork. Typically my favorite artificial to put under a cork is a H&H baby bull minnow in black and chart or purple and chart tipped with a shrimp. Gulp shrimp works as well. This works well in the spring when the salinity is really low. Right now they are stacked up at cuts draining out of the marsh. My advice would be to find moving water coming out of the marsh on a falling tide and fish the parameters. If there is a shell bank or flat at the mouth of the cut even better. They will not be directly in the current but feeding in the shallows on the side. Moving water is the key. If the water temp drops below 50 deg start looking for deep holes. Good luck.

[legallimits]

All great advice. Thanks Marque.

[Montauk17]

Originally Posted by Marque

Right now the water is clean enough to catch them on pretty much on any decent swim bait. My brother and a buddy fished with me yesterday and caught their fish on 3" and 4" swim baits. H&H Usual Suspects in the Coc of the Walk and Glow/Chart color. I caught mine on Matrix Vortex Black/Chart, Nighttruse, and a couple on Matrix Shad Tigerbait. When the water is not as clear I use different methods. For the most part I will use some sort of spinner. If the water is god aweful I go with a chatter bait and a Black and Chart Matrix Vortex. With the chatter bait, you can adjust the blade to increase or decrease the vibration you want it to put out. I find the Vortex has the strongest action of any type of swim shad. The Thumping Mullets with the rattles inside are good but you have to work them fast and that is not a good thing in dirty water. If the water is murky or stained, but has some visibility I will use something like a Jenny Jig Redfish or Speck Spinner. It is a spinner attached directly to a jig head. It puts off less vibration a conventional safety pin spinner bait but will not get hung up on grass or oysters as easily. I prefer the ones with a Colorado blade to the willow blade but they are hard to find. If the redfish are not feeding aggressively I will break down and use a cork. Typically my favorite artificial to put under a cork is a H&H baby bull minnow in black and chart or purple and chart tipped with a shrimp. Gulp shrimp works as well. This works well in the spring when the salinity is really low. Right now they are stacked up at cuts draining out of the marsh. My advice would be to find moving water coming out of the marsh on a falling tide and fish the parameters. If there is a shell bank or flat at the mouth of the cut even better. They will not be directly in the current but feeding in the shallows on the side. Moving water is the key. If the water temp drops below 50 deg start looking for deep holes. Good luck.

The thumping mullets are a copy off the gambler flappin shad. I been using them for years for bass and saltwater. The key to those baits is to cut the bottom tail at a 45 degree angle. They swim at slow speeds with the tail cut.

[Marque]

Originally Posted by Montauk17

The thumping mullets are a copy off the gambler flappin shad. I been using them for years for bass and saltwater. The key to those baits is to cut the bottom tail at a 45 degree angle. They swim at slow speeds with the tail cut.

Never thought of that. I will try it for sure. Thanks for the info.

[Clampy]

Originally Posted by Montauk17

The thumping mullets are a copy off the gambler flappin shad. I been using them for years for bass and saltwater. The key to those baits is to cut the bottom tail at a 45 degree angle. They swim at slow speeds with the tail cut.

Good P Train Bait too.

[gilbeaex]

Nice catch. I should have stayed out there another night and went fishing this morning.