# Redfish on the Fly....Deep Water?



## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

I was reading a Fly Fishing the coast book, and the author stated the need for a poling skiff for fly fishing for reds. His statement was to the effect, if you are deep enough to run a trolling motor you are too deep to catch redfish on the fly. I'm a rank rookie when it comes to fly fishing in the salt. But I don't see the truth in his statement. I understand the premise of sight fishing. But can't you catch redfish in deeper water?


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

Bit of a generalization. Maybe some truth to it. I have caught a number of redfish on fly running my TM but I fish everyday so I encounter a lot of opportunities. Most fly caught reds have been poling though.


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## Water Bound (Dec 12, 2018)

His statement could not be more false! You can absolutely catch redfish on the fly with a trolling motor. I caught 7 while solo a couple weeks ago, all on the fly, all sight fished and all while using the trolling motor!


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

I bet the author only dry fly fishes for browns too.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

I believe he was referencing catching redfish in deeper water not while operating a trolling motor.

In my opinion you can certainly catch redfish in deeper water on fly, the challenge lies in properly presenting the fly to them.


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## Xcapnjoe (Jun 5, 2013)

Maybe the author's just opinionated... like me. Maybe he fishes a floating line. Maybe he was referring to sight fishing but didn't specify it.

It is pretty darn hard to see a redfish in deep water unless it's an incoming tide around here.


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Simply not true.


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## JonathanD (Feb 19, 2019)

I think it depends where you are. I know of a few spots in Pine Island where there is zero chance of catching a redfish on anything if under power with TM. Not too far south, no problem.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

He was referring to sight fishing, and if you can't see the fish, it's useless to blind cast. If the water is deep enough to run a trolling motor, you can't see the fish. So there's no use casting.


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## cdmalgee (Oct 15, 2020)

The only ones I’ve caught on fly while using the trolling motor are when casting to lit docks at night.


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

I fish some channels that are pretty deep, way deep enough for a troll motor, yet at times offer sight casting to redfish. Redfish come up on narrow shallow shelves along the edges to feed. Caught my best sight fished red in such a place. Fish was in 10” of water, 30’ away water was 3-4’ deep.


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## RJTaylor (Oct 4, 2017)

I guess it depends on the definition of deep. I’ve caught a ton of reds by sight fishing in waist deep water. It does help they the LLM has a lot of gin clear water.


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## CKEAT (Aug 26, 2015)

Fishing potholes and guts can be pretty good, deeper water with intermediate line, around 4-10’. This is usually not sight fishing though.


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## Flatoutfly (Jun 11, 2020)

Thousands of reds have been caught while using a trolling motor. I even caught a bonefish using a trolling motor.

Big tip when using the trolling motor is don't change the speed often. If it stays at a constant speed the fish tend to not be as aware. I like the newer I pilot remotes trolling motors but think the manual steer ones will not spook fish as much.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Sounds like a googan


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

I went back and looked it up. It's from Gordon Churchill's book "FLY FISHING THE SOUTHEAST COAST" and here is the quote. 
"First, any water around here deep enough to run a trolling motor is too deep to be fly fishing for redfish. If you can't see the bottom, you can't see the fish. If you can't see the fish, you aren't catching any either."

So, it's a push for sight fishing, and only in shallow water. Deep water is for flounder and trout.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

fishnpreacher said:


> I went back and looked it up. It's from Gordon Churchill's book "FLY FISHING THE SOUTHEAST COAST" and here is the quote.
> "First, any water around here deep enough to run a trolling motor is too deep to be fly fishing for redfish. If you can't see the bottom, you can't see the fish. If you can't see the fish, you aren't catching any either."
> 
> So, it's a push for sight fishing, and only in shallow water. Deep water is for flounder and trout.


That is BS plain and simple.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> That is BS plain and simple.


That's what I thought. I'm not very familiar with salt water fishing, but I figured redfish could live somewhere besides on top of a shallow flat. I'm smart enough to know you can't target reds like you do stripers or largemouths. But I'm learning to think salty.


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## RennieRae (Aug 4, 2018)

He does say "any water around here" so depending upon where he is talking about, it is probably true for that location._ Fly Fishing the SE Coast_ seems to refer to a pretty large area and as many have said, and is also the case in my area, you can certainly catch redfish on fly in water deep enough to run a trolling motor. I do it all the time.


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## CKEAT (Aug 26, 2015)

fishnpreacher said:


> I went back and looked it up. It's from Gordon Churchill's book "FLY FISHING THE SOUTHEAST COAST" and here is the quote.
> "First, any water around here deep enough to run a trolling motor is too deep to be fly fishing for redfish. If you can't see the bottom, you can't see the fish. If you can't see the fish, you aren't catching any either."
> 
> So, it's a push for sight fishing, and only in shallow water. Deep water is for flounder and trout.


Yep I agree, can’t catch reds if you can’t see them, non need to try. Nothing to see here, move along everyone 🤣


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## CKEAT (Aug 26, 2015)

All kidding aside, that is BS. Casting guts and drop offs and certain habitat can be great.

I blind cast even in marshes, we went this last fall and most of our fish were caught this way. Didn’t see many of them, just casting.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

CKEAT said:


> Yep I agree, can’t catch reds if you can’t see them, non need to try. Nothing to see here, move along everyone 🤣


Maybe we should play dumb and act like we haven’t been fishing saltwater for 36-38 years...


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## kjnengr (Jan 16, 2018)

RennieRae said:


> He does say "any water around here" so depending upon where he is talking about, it is probably true for that location._ Fly Fishing the SE Coast_ seems to refer to a pretty large area and as many have said, and is also the case in my area, you can certainly catch redfish on fly in water deep enough to run a trolling motor. I do it all the time.



I think Rennie is spot on here. I don't know where Gordon is talking about, but in my area, people are using bigger and bigger skiffs and everyone has a trolling motor on it. The bigger reds are targeted in 2-4 feet of water in big bays. Certain times of the year they are in deep water but floating and schooling up at the surface.


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## Lee Singleton (Jul 3, 2018)

redfish tend to lurk on the bottom, flies (even heavy ones) sink very slow compared conventional tackle. If you want to catch a red on fly, it’s a lot easier to get the fly in front of him if it’s shallow.

Sometimes reds raise up to the surface in the big water when they are schooled up. This makes fly fishing in deep water more doable.

Ive caught reds on fly in 0.5’-15’ but 97% were in less than 3’.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

His "around here" is anywhere from the North Carolina coast to northern Florida. I believe he is basing most of his experiences on the northern part of this region, though he does mention large tidal swings of the low country and the Golden Isles of Ga.


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## HeliRob (Aug 26, 2019)

It is certainly much easier to find reds here in SC to target w a fly when they are waving their tails at you in shallow water. But if you cover enough water hitting high percentage spots blind casting, you're bound to hook up w something. Our water has less clarity than a glass of chocolate milk in the summer, winter can be ok on the right days


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

The best way to find out is hop in a boat and try it.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

A fish has a lateral line for a reason and they use it. If a school of redfish can smash bait on a dark moon night with no ambient light they can find a fly being twitched in any depth of water. They are also not blind or even close to it, a redfish can see like a cat. My buddy is a jetty guide and they catch redfish one after another in 80-90 feet of water fishing at night with nothing but deck lights so they can see where they are walking on the boat.


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## flysalt060 (Aug 5, 2012)

Go watch one of Carter Nelson’s videos on YouTube. He paddles up to a dock or drop and starts blind casting. And catches reds.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Are we done here?


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

Think about using a casting or spinning rod when blind casting to deep water. More efficient. Or not. Fly fishing in salt water was/is about efficient presentation of small lures(flies) to visible fish. Then the thrill of watching the action. Or not.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> The best way to find out is hop in a boat and try it.


Thats the plan....2nd week of April, Blythe Island near Brunswick, Ga. I'm gonna camp and fish 4 or 5 days. I'm carrying spin and fly, so hopefully I'll catch something.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

fishnpreacher said:


> Thats the plan....2nd week of April, Blythe Island near Brunswick, Ga. I'm gonna camp and fish 4 or 5 days. I'm carrying spin and fly, so hopefully I'll catch something.


If you can’t catch a redfish on your fly rod, thread a piece of dead shrimp on the fly and dredge it!


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> If you can’t catch a redfish on your fly rod, thread a piece of dead shrimp on the fly and dredge it!


I'm not above it! I have fished power bait on a vintage bamboo fly rod for trout. If it's legal, I'm game.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Around here, you're not sight casting very many reds with a TM running. They get alot of pressure and are very wary of anything that makes them uncomfortable. 

You may get lucky from time to time, but you won't be successful with any sort of consistency. And its so tough feeding the little bastards that I don't see any reason to compound things.

For example...I was staked out in the Spear in a back bay not too long ago...standing there watching the back side of a point on an incoming tide in about 12" of water...an area I knew reds would move through as the water rose. All of a sudden 8-10 nice sized reds came hauling ass around the point running past me. They were obviously bothered by something. I figured maybe a dolphin was moving up. Low and behold a local guide came trolling around the point with his client slinging a spin rod on the front platform. He saw me and edged away with the trolling motor...I watched the reds settle down and caught one of them on fly after the TM had cleared the area. It was 100% obvious that he'd pushed those reds around that corner before he'd even seen them...I thanked him when I saw him later...


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