Planning on catching your “personal best” bull red this weekend? You may want to vary your approach given information we’ve received from Delacroix about current fishing conditions.
“The redfish seem pretty scattered out (on the inside),” said Capt. Cory Gradwohl of Hook & Reel Charters out of Delacroix.
The bite has varied from day-to-day, but the reds aren’t gathering in the numbers seen in the past.
Gradwohl said the fish really aren’t stacked up consistently.
“Some days, you find them in pretty (good numbers) in spots, and then you’ll go to other spots in the area and there’s nothing.” he said. “Then other days, you’ll catch 1 or 2 (in each spot), but you have to keep moving.”
Frustration with the redfish bite is pervasive. In fact, ‘They’re biting, but they’ll make you work for it’ has become a common refrain this year.
“I don’t know if the big balls of bait ever really showed up,” Gradwohl said, echoing talk common amongst professional guides these days.
But the fish are there. If you are smart about not getting bogged down in an unproductive area, you’ll catch them.
“Definitely don’t sit around and waste a lot of time in a single spot if you’re not getting bites,” Gradwohl said. “Normally, if they’re there, they are biting right away.”
Capt. Gradwohl fishes live shrimp underneath Four Horsemen Tackle corks when targeting redfish.
If you’d rather fish for speckled trout this weekend, Capt. Gradwohl said that you’ll find them in decent numbers “on the outside barrier islands.”
We welcome you to share your observations about the fishing conditions where you wet a line. If you have information about baits, tactics, or related news, please email Will Martin at willm@lasmag.com, along with your name, location, and telephone number.
