Saltwater therapy

TackDriver284

Handloader
Feb 13, 2016
2,305
1,536
My daughter begs me to go fishing so she can break in her new custom rod and take the Jack Russell with us. So we set out early to test the new prop as well and on her first cast she lands an oversized 31 inch redfish but we used our redfish tags so she puts it back in the water and sets her free to see another day. The Jack Russell was a pain in the ass and attacks each fish we bring in lol. Overall we had some good fish including one 26 inch speckled trout. Threw back in 3 redfish and several small trout. Overall we had a blast and boxed 6 redfish and two trouts. It was a slow day though, used gold spoons and lures.

http://imgur.com/a/m7Gfx

http://imgur.com/a/rioED
 
I just use light tackle and love hearing the reels sing. Sustain and Stradic 2500's with 10 to 15 pound braid is all you need with some custom Laguna 3 ounce rods. Light as a feather. Redfish tend to take out line, they are strong.
 
I agree the 2500 series loaded with 10 lb. braid and the right rod is a fish catching machine. I have an older Symetre that sees a lot of use. It's a really smooth reel. I also have a Stradic 4000 loaded with 20lb. braid on a Shimano Teramar SE 7'6" Med. rod.
We were fishing at Sebastion Inlet and got into some large jacks running in that strong current. There were a couple of times I nearly got spooled. I was glad to have a 4000 with 20lb. braid that trip.
I really like that flats boat BTW.
 
Darkhorse":23d6is6b said:
I agree the 2500 series loaded with 10 lb. braid and the right rod is a fish catching machine. I have an older Symetre that sees a lot of use. It's a really smooth reel. I also have a Stradic 4000 loaded with 20lb. braid on a Shimano Teramar SE 7'6" Med. rod.
We were fishing at Sebastion Inlet and got into some large jacks running in that strong current. There were a couple of times I nearly got spooled. I was glad to have a 4000 with 20lb. braid that trip.
I really like that flats boat BTW.

I also have 3 of those 4000's with 20 lb braid for some big bait chunking or popping corks. I have been spooled before using 15 to 20 lb. mono line because its thicker and uses less line in the spools. Braids are real thin and stronger and you can pack a lot on a spool, hard to get spooled with them. Thanks for the compliment.
 
Good looking fish, how do they taste? Don't know much about redfish and how they are caught so maybe a few more pictures and some more info would be nice ;)
 
Redfish taste a little wilder than trout, such as nilgai is to a deer. You can cook it broiled, poached, fried, grilled on the half shell. Mostly caught with any type of lures such as Kelly Wigglers, Cocohoe Minnows, jerk shads, gold spoons, topwaters as Mirrorlures, Super Spooks, etc. Chunking bait is a great way to catch them, mullet, piggy perch, ballyhoo works.
 
You can also catch them by freelining (no weight) live shrimp, finger mullet or other smaller fish in the passes. For us, reds are mainly a bycatch as Snook are the main target. I cast upcurrent then let the bait drift with the current as far as possible. I use small circle hooks sized to the bait.
The larger passes and channels running to sea often hold the largest reds. I'm talking 30 to 50 pounds but that size is over slot. The catch a lot of them off the Georgia coast and those old timer's say they aren't fit to eat in that size.
 
It looks like it was a successful day out and when with family it can't get much better (y).
Thank you for the post and photos.

Blessings,
Dan
 
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