Here is what you need to be prepared for and a few tips too. While redfish are one of the easiest saltwater fish to target with a fly rod, if you have never fished saltwater before, it’s still going to be a challenge. Saltwater Fly Fishing Tactics For Redfish
#FLY FISHING FOR REDFISH PLUS#
You’ll want a range of dark colors to choose from for murky water days plus some white, tan, and chartreuse flies for clearer waters.Īsk a local fly shop where you’re fishing to find out what works best in that area as patterns differ depending on location. Shrimp and baitfish imitations work best and make sure the flies come with dumb-bell eyes as reds feed off the bottom and will be looking down most of the time. You want quite a few of the redfish flies in larger sizes of around 3 inches for your standard reds and 6 inches for the bigger fish. It’s also useful to taper your leaders from a 40lb butt section down to the 25 lb tippet as this will help you turn your fly over more easily and it makes changing tippet sections easier too. This might sound quite heavy to those of you who fish 8lb leaders for spooking bones but reds aren’t leader shy and when you see a 30lb fish, you’re going to be happy you have a 25lb tippet on the end. You should be using a 25 lb fluorocarbon tippet most of the time while fishing for reds. Make sure it’s a saltwater line that is made for warm water and that it matches or is one line weight above your fly rod weight.īy using a heavier line you can make quick short casts a lot more easily as the line loads your rod without the need for many false casts. Fly Lineĩ9% of the time you will need a weight-forward floating line for redfish as you’re fishing in shallow water but if you go offshore, then a fly fishing sinking line will also be useful. I’d recommend a large arbor reel made by either Nautilus, Shilton, Mako, Abel Reels, or Hatch. You should have a reel that is made for saltwater so the reel doesn’t rust. This means anglers are going to need a good reel with a solid drag that they can play the fish with. When a redfish takes your fly it’s going to pull about 100 times harder than any trout you have ever hooked. The reason I recommend fast action rods is because you’re going to need a rod that will help you cut through the wind and make quick casts easily.Ĭheck out our breakdown of the Best 8 Weight Fly Rod here. The best fly fishing rod for redfish will be a fast action 8 – 10 weight rod depending on the size of the fish you’re catching.įor standard reds of up to 20lbs, an 8-9 weight rod will do the job just fine but, when you start going for reds of 20lbs and over, you’re going to need a 10 wt rod to be able to lift them. What fly fishing gear do I need for redfish? Basically, if it looks tasty and fits in their mouths, they’re going to try and inhale it. Redfish are not fussy and will eat anything that crosses their path from shrimp to small baitfish, mollusks, other crustaceans, and of course, flies. By a big redfish, I mean over the 20 lbs mark. The largest redfish, known as big bulls, spend most of their time in deeper water just outside of the saltwater flats and come into the shallows at certain times of the year. They stick to shallow water of around 1-3 feet most of the time and their feeding patterns coincide with the tides, meaning you’re sight fishing to moving fish. Redfish spend most of their time around mud-flats, sand flats, seagrass beds, and oyster beds. They can also handle differing salinities too meaning you’ll often find them in marshes around deltas. Redfish can handle a wide range of water temperatures, and they need to in order to live in both Massachusetts and Florida. You can find them from Massachusetts on the northeast coast of the US all the way down to east-central Florida, around the corner to the southern tip of South Florida, and into the Gulf of Mexico all the way to South Texas. They are a red coppery color on the top half with a white under section and two black spots, one of the tail and one near to the tail. Redfish (aka red drum) are a saltwater fish species that are found exclusively around the coast of the USA.
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