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Play dead, catch reds

When redfish turn fussy, you don't have to cast and crank. Be still, and let them come to you.

By DAVID A. BROWN
Published July 22, 2006

Redfish are typically aggressive feeders that show little hesitance to eat when food avails. But just as soon as you get comfortable with that premise, you run across a pod of copper cruisers that refuse to play.

We're not talking about spooked fish that run when you drop a rod on the deck or tap a rock with your push pole. It's more the indecisive fish that are well within casting range, but just not ready to bite.

Maybe they're napping in potholes during a slack tide. Or perhaps a rising barometer has them feeling kind of funny. Could be that the fish just finished feeding and they're trying to decide if they feel like packing in another mouthful.

The good thing about redfish is that they really hate to pass up a meal, so if you can outlast their indecision, you can often coax them into biting. Hanging a live shrimp or pinfish under a cork certainly keeps the food ready and available, but another option affords optimum versatility.

When redfish play hard to get, take a page from the bass angler's playbook and employ the technique of dead-sticking.

The in-depth, detailed, really advanced technique summary: Cast a soft plastic bait and let it sit - and sit, and sit, and, you get the point.

Some call this finesse fishing, because it's not the usual grind of casting and reeling until your find a taker. With dead-sticking, you take more of a tempting, coaxing approach in hopes that a redfish will find your bait too irresistible to ignore.

Dead-sticking can entice other game fish, such as speckled trout, but a redfish's design makes it the perfect candidate for gobbling a piece of food that has gone well past the 5-second rule.

The torpedolike head with its bony build and underslung mouth is made for grubbing around the bottom. A simple design perfected for its purpose, redfish excel at rooting out meals with their nose and inhaling whatever they find.

And even when they're not actively feeding, reds are more likely to be sitting near the bottom. So, given this predator's propensity for looking down, fishing baits in slow motion - or even no motion - along the bottom can prove deadly.

Dead sticking can also work as a blind-casting search pattern. The key here is to identify natural travel lanes like deep troughs or the point of a mangrove shoreline. With the latter, reds cruising the bushes on high tide will flare around points, thereby providing a logical spot to lay a bait.

Redfish response varies depending upon habitat. Under the mangroves, strikes are more subtle because the fish are moving into an area and will usually eat anything they happen upon. But on the flats, the hits are more aggressive because they're actually looking for food.

Diligence and repetition comprise the recipe for dead-stick success. The bottom line is that you must keep the bait in the strike zone as long as possible. That means dealing with the annoyance of wind and tide moving your bait, as well as your temptation to reel up a few cranks or cast somewhere else.

For active or passive strategies, scented baits are excellent choices for the dead-stick game.

For one thing, a wafting aroma will stimulate fish that a have not yet seen your bait, and b) are trying to make up their minds.

Furthermore, indecisive fish often bite with lackadaisical resolve. They mouth the bait, nibble on it and take their time doing so. It's hard to set the hook on a fish that may only have half of the bait in its mouth. Likewise, a slow-chewing fish will quickly identify and expel an artificial.

But if that artificial smells and tastes like the real deal, then your fish might just change its mood and get to chomping.

In heavy grass, where snagging concerns weigh heavily, use ¹/₈- to ¹/₁₆-ounce jig heads or 4/0 worm hooks with weighted shanks. In sparse vegetation, where redfish tend to scatter, use a -ounce jig head for longer casts. Reds become spookier in their exposed condition, so range matters more.

Experiment with different colored baits or jig heads, but one thing remains constant - let your bait sit, and sit, and sit.

Although dead-sticking implies minimal bait action, you can often push curious predators over the edge with erratic sounds. Whether you give your bait a little tug or hop it vertically, tickling the fish's ears often convinces them that the object represents an edible meal.

Accomplish this with rattle inserts and/or clip-on rattle chambers. The former is comprised of a small plastic capsule with a cone-shaped nose and a few metal balls that clack together with the slightest movement. In a similar setup, clip-on rattles simply incorporate an attachment groove that slips onto a hook shank.

Just don't let the added attraction mar your overall presentation.

Brief noise emissions are what you want. Overdoing it may increase the audible attraction factor, but it will nullify your overall game plan of dead-sticking.

David A. Brown covers area fishing tournaments and can be reached at tightlinecomm@aol.com

[Last modified July 21, 2006, 21:00:37]