September kicks off some of the best months to fish for redfish. In most locales, September also coincides with dove and early teal season; the school season has started and the crowds of summer seem to evaporate overnight leaving the bays teeming with hungry predator fish and no one in sight except maybe for the Saturday afternoon “cast and blasters.”
What makes fall redfish action so hot? Well, for starters, the shrimp crop is maturing and slowly working its way out of marshes and rivers. The water is also cooling just a little. In the middle of July, the sun angle began to drop a little lower on the horizon. The dropping water temperature also helps it hold more oxygen. Don’t get me wrong, redfish can handle the lowest oxygen during the hottest parts of the year, but the slight temperature drop in the fall is like turbocharging a bull. It makes them even more aggressive feeders and the fights are longer with better drag stripping runs. I love the sound of braid peeling off my Lew’s custom inshore rod and reel. Nothing better than hooking into an upper-slot redfish and then having them take off the other direction. Good stuff!
Along with the cooling water, there will be less floating sea grass, at least early in the day, since it’s the bubbles from plant respiration that sends most of the loose grass to the top to foul hooks. If there are still some floating tendrils where you fish or if the widgeon grass is thick, you might stick with topwaters with single hooks, weedless spoons and weedless soft plastics rigged on a wide-gap Kahle swimbait hook. 5/0 works well for both trout and reds.
There are still a lot of juvenile baitfish in the bays at this time, so the size of lure selection is still going to be determined by what is around you. If you are seeing a lot of small bait, select a smaller topwater like a Super Spook Jr. or SkitterWalk Pup. I love the little Skitter Pup in the leopard frog color, and so do redfish. You’ll find it in the freshwater section. Change your hooks, though. A 28- to 30-inch inch redfish will absolutely destroy the freshwater hooks. VMC makes a great treble hook that you can replace the freshwater hooks with. Look for the galvanized (tinned) VMC Conecut hooks in 4/0 for that bait.
If you really want to capitalize on the best redfish action there is to offer and still, do a cast and blast, consider heading to Big Lake, Louisiana. and hooking up with the Hackberry Rod and Gun guys, or hitting the Sabine Marsh with Capt. Chuck Uzzle. Either of those will get you to the redfish water before the other outfits will, and you’ll still be able to enjoy the serenity of the fall morning.
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