# Surrounded by Redfish but they wouldn't eat.



## 994 (Apr 14, 2008)

Dirty mudflat makes me thing they’re eating worms. I’m not too keen on worm ecology in your area, but over here it’s usually lugworms. Weighted red or brown rabbit strips basically deadsticked gets the black drum to eat when they won’t bother with anything else.


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## flyclimber (May 22, 2016)

Also I’ve had good luck downsizing to match what I see in the water. Literally went from a 2.5” long fly to a 1.5” fly same style and color then got hammered.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

I’ve seen a lot eating very small minnows lately.


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## NealXB2003 (Jun 8, 2020)

Stink cricket and a cork?


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## tarponandtailers (Jun 7, 2020)

BrownDog said:


> I’ve seen a lot eating very small minnows lately.


do you have a picture of the fly you like in that situation?


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## Str8-Six (Jul 6, 2015)

Maybe you suck… That’s what I tell myself in those situations.


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## PTLuv2Fish (Feb 10, 2021)

mosquitolaGOON said:


> Dirty mudflat makes me thing they’re eating worms. I’m not too keen on worm ecology in your area, but over here it’s usually lugworms. Weighted red or brown rabbit strips basically deadsticked gets the black drum to eat when they won’t bother with anything else.


They were busting the minnows all over this little "pond" I'll call it. Minnows flying out of water and being chased, this little area has one opening to the larger flat and I think it makes the perfect trap for the Redfish.


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## Jred (Sep 22, 2013)

Fly doesn’t matter as much as presentation


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## FishWithChris (Feb 6, 2019)

I was over that way on Sunday; working a cove and chasing after the same school for a few hours - we had more eats on SUPER aggressive action, as opposed to the usual "get in front and work it slow" type action. If we weren't throwing on TOP of the school/fish or at least directly next to them, wasn't happening. 

in this super hot weather, it gets interesting. I was also in 2', however.


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## PTLuv2Fish (Feb 10, 2021)

FishWithChris said:


> I was over that way on Sunday; working a cove and chasing after the same school for a few hours - we had more eats on SUPER aggressive action, as opposed to the usual "get in front and work it slow" type action. If we weren't throwing on TOP of the school/fish or at least directly next to them, wasn't happening.
> 
> in this super hot weather, it gets interesting. I was also in 2', however.


I've never seen anything like it before because this cove was about half the size of an Olympic pool and they were busting bait everywhere. In the middle chasing, on the sides busting them on the bank it was near low tide so there was a lot of bank exposed. They were not just cruising around. They were raising hell in there lots of splashing, popping, snapping sounds it was crazy. I have seen other situations in fishing where sometimes you just can't compete with the real thing. It was amazing to see none the less and they kept it up for about an hour then the water got so low they moved out to about 2 feet and it pretty much stopped.


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## 994 (Apr 14, 2008)

PTLuv2Fish said:


> They were busting the minnows all over this little "pond" I'll call it. Minnows flying out of water and being chased, this little area has one opening to the larger flat and I think it makes the perfect trap for the Redfish.


Then why were you throwing shrimp and gurgler patterns? Match the hatch.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

They weren’t keying in on one bait, they were slashing through a school and getting a mouth full. Happens a lot, seen it a lot. Move on and find bigger solo and pairs cruising and hunting.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

They were likely snook!


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## TidewateR (Nov 11, 2009)

take pics of the action.. pushes and tails etc, then move on to find other fish


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## Goose (Jul 15, 2019)

If the water is a murky as you say go big and dark with your lure. Purple, black and blue, or PB&J in a 5-6" paddle tail will get their attention, especially if you bounce it off the bottom like it's wounded.


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## finbully (Jan 26, 2013)

They weren't biting...


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## Frequent Flyer (Jul 23, 2019)

That’s why’s it’s called fishing. Good job finding them and being able to see their feeding patterns, which is half the battle. I could have written the same story about my trip two weeks ago, two states away. I agree with all of the previous posts but add that there’s a lot of fishing pressure out there right now.


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## RJTaylor (Oct 4, 2017)

Sometimes you have to leave fish, to catch fish.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

PTLuv2Fish said:


> New spot for me in Panacea FL, small mudflat that was being torn up by the Red's today in about .5-1.5 ft of very dirty water. Most of all I think they had an good supply of minnows, not sure if they were mud minnows and they were too big to be glass minnows? Anyway I parked myself in there and had non stop action for about an hour all around me. I tried a shrimp pattern, small olive crab, large crab, and a gurgler. They would follow the crab patterns but not eat, nothing on the shrimp or gurgler I also tried spinning gear and two different lures that work real well normally. Anyway it was a lot of fun but sure do wish I could have gotten them to eat.



What leader / tippet material were you using? Sounds like the classic tale of leadershy fish.


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## Newman (Jan 22, 2018)

If fish are tracking your flies and lures and not eating it’s often a scent contamination issue.
Did you maybe have a tiny bit of bug spray or sunblock on your hands?
I keep a 1:10ish mixture of blue joy and FRESH water aboard to keep hands (and flies/lures) from smelling like unnatural chemicals.


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## scissorhands (Apr 8, 2012)

mullet?


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## BM_Barrelcooker (May 4, 2011)

They might have been mullet


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## PTLuv2Fish (Feb 10, 2021)

paint it black said:


> What leader / tippet material were you using? Sounds like the classic tale of leadershy fish.


Was a store bought leader for Redfish, 16lb I think. The water was so muddy and the fish so crazy Im not sure it was a leader problem. I have caught several with same leader in crystal clear water before. Thanks


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## PTLuv2Fish (Feb 10, 2021)

scissorhands said:


> mullet?


Nope I could see them, their backs etc...


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

If the water is dirty and the fish are feeding hard, I'm throwing a fly that moves some water. They aren't really feeding by sight, but by feel. They feel a group of minnows and then dive at them en mass rather than one particular bait fish. I don't think color matters that much in situations like that although I'd likely have a dark colored pattery (I throw a lot of purple/black and red/black flies). Retrieve needs to match other fleeing baitfish so aggressive movements stripping the line in. I could be wrong though...the fish out smart me a lot.


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## PTLuv2Fish (Feb 10, 2021)

jay.bush1434 said:


> If the water is dirty and the fish are feeding hard, I'm throwing a fly that moves some water. They aren't really feeding by sight, but by feel. They feel a group of minnows and then dive at them en mass rather than one particular bait fish. I don't think color matters that much in situations like that although I'd likely have a dark colored pattery (I throw a lot of purple/black and red/black flies). Retrieve needs to match other fleeing baitfish so aggressive movements stripping the line in. I could be wrong though...the fish out smart me a lot.


Yea that makes a lot of sense to me and hopefully the fish. I'm not really disappointed they wouldn't eat one of my flies because it was a major accomplishment just to locate them. I won't forget all that for quite a while.


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