by John Kumiski
Lures are more convenient than bait. You don’t have to keep them alive, or cold. They don’t get stinky (mostly). You can put a bag of jerk baits and a few hooks in your pocket and off you go, ready to do battle. You can keep a box of lures in your vehicle along with a rod and reel and you are ready to go fishing 24/7. There are times when lures work better than does bait. Lastly, some folks appreciate the challenge of fooling fish with a piece of wood, metal, or plastic.
While everyone has their favorite lures, most experienced anglers would probably agree that you do not need a bazillion different lures in order to catch redfish anywhere, and certainly not in the IRL. So what I present here are those I carry. Different people will tell you different things. Find what works for you and use it.
An angler looking to put together a starter kit for redfishing in the IRL needs a variety of lures that can cover the entire water column, from the surface to the bottom. It’s usually better to have several of each lure that you know works than a wide variety of stuff that just attracted your eye. The following chart offers guidelines.
Lure Recommendations for IRL Redfish
Lure Type Uses
Surface Plug (popper/chugger, stick bait) |
Blind casting, especially when surface activity is observed. I don’t like plugs but there is no substitute for a popper sometimes. Popular choices in surface plugs include the venerable Zara Spook, the MirroLure Top Dog series, and the Chug Bug from Storm. There are many other good ones. Disadvantages- hooks hang up on floating grass/weed, and make unhooking fish very difficult sometimes unless barbs are pressed down. |
| Spoon |
A 1/4 ounce weedless spoon in gold or silver is a must in every redfisherman’s kit. Captain Mike’s and the Johnson Minnow are popular styles. |
| Jigs (1/8th to 3/8 ounce) |
Jigs will take every species of gamefish in Florida waters. For maximum versatility get jig heads without tails and use these with a variety of soft plastic tails. Owner markets a weedless jighead that is extremely useful when used on grass flats. |
| Soft Plastics |
An entire book could be written about using various soft plastic baits. You need to carry some to be used with jig heads (curly tails, grubs, and shad tails). You’ll also need some twitch baits (Capt. Mike’s Flats Candy 2, Bass Assassin, Sluggo, Jerk Worm, etc.). There are some plug-like soft plastics with single hooks that are excellent- the DOA Lure line (especially the Bait Buster and Shrimp) are especially effective redfish baits. |
Presenting the Lure
If you read “Presenting the Bait” on pp.12 and 13 you already know my philosophy of presenting lures. When sight fishing, put it out in front of them and leave it there until you think they are close enough to see it. One of the reasons that the Bass Assassin is one of my favorite baits is that you can toss it out in front of a swimming fish, let it sink to the bottom where because of its rigging it won’t hang up in the grass, and just give it the tiniest twitch to catch the attention of the redfish as he/they approach it. Actually, you can do this with almost any weedless lure. It’s deadly.
If you’re blind casting then you need to cover water, the more the better. My guess is that the majority of fishermen approach fishing the flats by blind casting. Faced with a large amount of water, they tie on a lure that they hope will work and start throwing it. When there are a lot of fish around this actually works pretty well. When the water is high or dirty, or the wind is up and/or the sky is overcast you don’t have much choice. You can’t sight fish effectively under these conditions.
What lure should you use for blind casting? There is no single answer to this, but it ought to be something that you can throw a long way. It also should make noise, or have a lot of flash, or both. If there are a lot of baitfish in the water, more or less imitating them (especially in regards to size) is often a good idea.
Since mullet are a primary forage, the shallow running DOA Bait Buster is an excellent lure. Surface lures often work well. A weedless spoon likewise is a good choice. I’m not a fan of plugs, but a rattling plug also makes sense if the water is deep enough or grass-free enough to allow its use. A shrimp-tipped bucktail jig, while neither flashy nor noisy, has the scent factor going for it and can also be very effective.What you want to do is let the fish know there is something there that they might be able to eat. You want to attract them to the lure.
Where should you direct your casts? If schools of bait are present, pepper them with casts. Redfish will cruise around and under bait schools. Any protruding structure, such as rocks, oysters, stumps, etc. deserve a few casts. Spoil islands and docks likewise make good targets all through the lagoon system. Drop-offs and sand bars need to be worked. The edges between grass beds and sand holes, and those sand holes themselves, offer good targets. When the water is high enough to allow it, the shoreline itself needs some attention, especially if mangrove trees are growing there.
Don’t just pitch your lure mindlessly, and always keep looking to see fish. It doesn’t make any sense to allow a good opportunity to slip by because you weren’t paying attention.
One other consideration- it pays to have more than one rod rigged when blind casting. Often the lures used for blind casting are flashy and noisy. If you do spot a fish, the sudden increase in noise in his neighborhood that results from a well placed cast may cause him to vacate the premises, pronto. Effective sight casting lures tend to be much more subtle than good blind casting lures. Keep at least one of each rigged up so you’re ready for any situation that comes along.
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This article was written by John Kumiski of John Kumiski Outdoors and Travel. Contact him at his website www.johnkumiski.com or via email at john@spottedtail.com. Copyright 2007 John Kumiski.
John Kumiski 's most recent fishing guidebooks are How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System (Argonaut Publishing Company), and Fishing Florida's Space Coast (Argonaut Publishing Company).
John Kumiski's newest book is Redfish on the Fly- A Comprehensive Guide.
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