One of the most critical components to catching redfish on a fly is presentation. All of the hard work and preparation involved in finding a feeding fish amounts to nothing if you don’t have the skills to close the deal.
Capt. Tyler Gault talks about two different scenarios when trying to put a fly in the right spot to fool a red.
“When a fish is feeding tail up, he is after something on the bottom, usually fiddler crabs,” he said. “I like to try and land the fly within a foot of the fish’s head, being careful not to lay the line over the fish’s back.
“You would think with all of that grass being pushed around, they wouldn’t be sensitive to a light touch from a reasonably small leader, but that’s all it takes to send it charging for deep water with a locked jaw. After I get the fly in place, I just twitch it enough to add movement, trying to keep it in the strike zone as long as possible.”
Gault’s favorite situation is a cruising fish.
“A cruising redfish is one that is working in one direction in very skinny water, often with its dorsal and tail fin exposed,” he said. “This is a perfect opportunity for an ambush. You can afford to lead this fish a little, like three feet, and therefore take less of a chance of spooking the fish. Get the fly ahead of him and use very short strips, being careful not to hop the fly too far off of the bottom and giving it an unnatural action.”
Editor’s Note: This story appears as part of a feature in South Carolina Sportsman’s August issue now on newsstands. To ensure you don’t miss any information-packed issues of the magazine, click here to have each issue delivered right to your mail box.
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