# tailing reds...



## Flatbroke426

When they are tailing they get stupid but very tunnel visioned. Get the fly closer as they will be concentrating where they are digging. I fish your area and do great with small crab patterns. Those fish are eating a lot of small crabs.


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## jimsmicro

I agree, they're eating small crabs, and off the bottom. Fish accordingly, but sometimes they just ain't having it.


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## H_Reid

Ive had this happen in pensacola and they turned out to be schools of little (manta?) rays with the tips of their "wings" poking out of the water....
Not at all saying thats what you saw. Just sayin.


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## crboggs

Yup...ray wingtips are frequent here too, second only to milling mullet.

Fished some new tarpon water last month and kept mistaking sea turtles for tarpon activity. Hard to object to turtles though...they're cool and I like them. *lol*


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## FlyBy

H_Reid said:


> Ive had this happen in pensacola and they turned out to be schools of little (manta?) rays with the tips of their "wings" poking out of the water....
> Not at all saying thats what you saw. Just sayin.


I saw rays like that near Sanibel and thought I had found the mother lode of permit.


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## Daz

crboggs said:


> Yup...ray wingtips are frequent here too, second only to milling mullet.


Yup - Mullet have fooled me a few times too - Especially before the sun is up and visibility is marginal. I keep hearing that seeing mullet means there are reds around but I'm sure I've caught just as many reds without seeing mullet as with...


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## Surffshr

H_Reid said:


> Ive had this happen in pensacola and they turned out to be schools of little (manta?) rays with the tips of their "wings" poking out of the water....
> Not at all saying thats what you saw. Just sayin.


IDK about over there, but here we call them cow nose rays. Fooled me into hiking across more than one flat with their tricks!


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## Seymour fish

jimsmicro said:


> I agree, they're eating small crabs, and off the bottom. Fish accordingly, but sometimes they just ain't having it.


When all else fails to get their attention, slamming a top water fly down hard right in the middle of them and giving one hard 1’ strip will often bring a strike


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## FlyBy

I throw a gurgler within about a foot of them and twitch it. Missed my target once and the fly landed right beside the tail. The fish turned a somersault and ate coming up. Took it down to his crushers.


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## Forgottencoast

Are u sure they were reds and not black drum? We have quite a few drum here east of you (big ones) that tail up on oyster bars often and I have seen many a person mistake them for redfish. If they are black drum, it most likely was not you, your fly, or even your presentation. Those suckers are just plain PICKY and you have to put it right in their mouth. I’d try going smaller on the fly, maybe lighter or darker depending on what color you were throwing and water clarity


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## Seymour fish

tight_lines_fl said:


> so to start, im originally from texas but got lucky enough to be stationed in the panhandle of florida and live and fish the destin area... the other day i was fishing at one of my usual spots and absolutely nothing for a couple of hours but some jumping mullet. then out of nowhere there were pods (?) everywhere of tailing reds. my heart rate jumped to about a thousand bpm. i threw everything i could at them (on a fly rod) and couldnt get them to eat. whats the best and most effective all around fly to throw a them?


Tight, your described circumstance is not uncommon and gives the lie to the oft repeated dogma that reds will eat any well placed fly when they are eating. Fact is they can go selective, and if you don’t have an approximation of this morsel you can be frustrated. Several previous suggestions have merit in a general sense and others raise doubts as to species of fish doing the tailing. More specifics would help. Ex: describe in detail the silhouette appearance, color, relative translucency, speed of motion, amount of tail out of the water, travel rate of the pod, appearance of backs if any seen, etc. a description of the water: clear, etc. bottom: grass species, vs hard sand vs hard rock vs rubble vs nearby oyster, any mud/blowholes from feeding fish, size of any blowholes. Bait: any panic jumping of shrimp, mullet. Any visible relaxed or happy bait around, etc. any obvious rays. Flies: sink rate, flash vs “natural, shrimp vs crab vs LugWorm imitation. Species known to tail: reds vs drum vs sheepshead vs mullet vs trout for openers. Typical vs atypical tailing behavior of each. Observation: were you able to get close, did you get any looks/follows, certain you had flies right through them, any spook off certain flies. Distill it down to probabilities


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## Seymour fish

tight_lines_fl said:


> so to start, im originally from texas but got lucky enough to be stationed in the panhandle of florida and live and fish the destin area... the other day i was fishing at one of my usual spots and absolutely nothing for a couple of hours but some jumping mullet. then out of nowhere there were pods (?) everywhere of tailing reds. my heart rate jumped to about a thousand bpm. i threw everything i could at them (on a fly rod) and couldnt get them to eat. whats the best and most effective all around fly to throw a them?


Shortcut: catch one of these guys by any means, see what’s in his stomach


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## tight_lines_fl

Seymour fish said:


> Tight, your described circumstance is not uncommon and gives the lie to the oft repeated dogma that reds will eat any well placed fly when they are eating. Fact is they can go selective, and if you don’t have an approximation of this morsel you can be frustrated. Several previous suggestions have merit in a general sense and others raise doubts as to species of fish doing the tailing. More specifics would help. Ex: describe in detail the silhouette appearance, color, relative translucency, speed of motion, amount of tail out of the water, travel rate of the pod, appearance of backs if any seen, etc. a description of the water: clear, etc. bottom: grass species, vs hard sand vs hard rock vs rubble vs nearby oyster, any mud/blowholes from feeding fish, size of any blowholes. Bait: any panic jumping of shrimp, mullet. Any visible relaxed or happy bait around, etc. any obvious rays. Flies: sink rate, flash vs “natural, shrimp vs crab vs LugWorm imitation. Species known to tail: reds vs drum vs sheepshead vs mullet vs trout for openers. Typical vs atypical tailing behavior of each. Observation: were you able to get close, did you get any looks/follows, certain you had flies right through them, any spook off certain flies. Distill it down to probabilities



all of this really brings light to a lot of things i didnt think about and brings up a lot of good points. their backs are hardly ever out of the water, just mainly tails. the tails are blueish tipped/edged and their backs are copper in color when seen. the pods seem to swirl around pretty quickly but tend to marinate in an area for aprox 10 sec or so before moving a few feet away. the water is clear usually with grassy bottom and hard sand for the most part. jumping mullet is often seen along with crabs. i use intermediate fly line so i use slower sinking flies. i have not tried running a topwater over them, as i just recently found this certain spot. i am usually able to get close enough to where i can cast well passed them. im certain they are reds though... i have not seen many rays at all in this area.


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## Seymour fish

tight_lines_fl said:


> all of this really brings light to a lot of things i didnt think about and brings up a lot of good points. their backs are hardly ever out of the water, just mainly tails. the tails are blueish tipped/edged and their backs are copper in color when seen. the pods seem to swirl around pretty quickly but tend to marinate in an area for aprox 10 sec or so before moving a few feet away. the water is clear usually with grassy bottom and hard sand for the most part. jumping mullet is often seen along with crabs. i use intermediate fly line so i use slower sinking flies. i have not tried running a topwater over them, as i just recently found this certain spot. i am usually able to get close enough to where i can cast well passed them. im certain they are reds though... i have not seen many rays at all in this area.


TightLines, sounds like they are on shrimp. If enough pods to allow you to take some risks, drop the fly right on them.


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## Seymour fish

TL, depending on sink rate of your light flies, conceivable they are not getting down in time to intercept fish. Test in swimming pool. Would be using floater in place of intermediate at these depths. Loose too much time on follow up casts otherwise


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## tight_lines_fl

thanks seymour, ill try what you said! how can you tell if they are shrimp s opposed to crabs?


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## Seymour fish

tight_lines_fl said:


> thanks seymour, ill try what you said! how can you tell if they are shrimp s opposed to crabs?


TL, generally, a tight compact pod of reds, say 5-10 tails in the air with an impression of twice that number subsurface, heads down in thick grass, will be on shrimp


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## Seymour fish

tight_lines_fl said:


> thanks seymour, ill try what you said! how can you tell if they are shrimp s opposed to crabs?


Generally crabs are more widely dispersed thus reds also. Tail on them at an angle or “hump up” on them. Often give the appearance they are staring at them. The take is a singular event and aggressive. They may be on grass or sand. Caveat: if they are tailing frenetically in one spot, refusing the usual, try an olive Lugworm fly. Resemble an earthworm. Throw within 4 feet, let sink right down on bottom, if he sees it don’t move it. Otherwise a very slow drag. Autopsy greatly helpful. Stomach contents resembling spinach salad will be lugs. Olive wolly burger, weighted, or olive rubber band worm suffices, but lots of room for creativity. Black drum will eat these. Generally on mixed grass/potholes, grass edges, or pure sand. Arenicola Christata is a cool worm: anti cancer properties, anti clot properties, antibiotic properties, exude UV slime when injured thus clue re: tying material accent. Have red gills easily mimicked by palmering a red hackle. They are a clean biohabitat indicator too. Eggs resemble a golfball sized leathery ball and are attached to the bottom. May grow in length to a couple feet. In extreme S Texas these beds produce most of the year, not just March/April as is widely “known”. Best of luck, Seymour


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## tight_lines_fl

thanks for the learning session!


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