# Here's my post on how to catch tailing reds for newer anglers



## Gatorgrizz27 (Apr 4, 2015)

I find reds tailing on top of oyster bars quite regularly, but have a heck of a time hooking them. Using any type of live bait, the blue crabs swarm it immediately. I had a gulp shrimp a foot in front of a tailer this Wednesday and a crab grabbed it and drug it away. I was hoping the red would crush the whole crab and get hooked. 

The other tough part is getting snagged constantly or fraying your leader. I’ve been using a 1/4 oz jig head, but I’m going to try 1/16 oz weedless wide gap hooks and my RIO alloy hard fly tippet as leader. Hopefully I have better success.


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

Go weedless. Nothing worse than getting fouled right before your lure gets in the stake zone. Good article above but tailing reds are not a slam dunk. Sometimes they will inhale a lure, sometimes they will run for their lives even before the lure hits the water and sometimes they will just never see it. I've seen it all happen. You never know but the hunt and presentation is where it is at.


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

Good summary article. From what I've seen with fish on the flats, it is remarkable how easily they will bust you especially by feeling movement from the boat, noise or just seeing the angler on the casting platform. Even too many false casts when fly fishing can get you busted. Maybe I should have spent my money on the bigger zoom lens for my camera than that new Sage rod...


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

I enjoyed the article. The one other suggestion I’d have if redfish aren’t interested in your lure is using a small top water and staying further away from the fish while still working it past them. Maybe 3-4’ even with an angle away from them. Small spoon is a good thing to have as well. What I think is going on is more of a reaction strike vs matching what they are feeding on. Sometimes they simply can’t help but eating a top water. 

For tailing black drum, I like a clear casting bobber with a small j hook rigged weightless (basically what you would use for a fly). The bobber helps with casting and tracking where your bait is. Small crabs and dead shrimp would be my normal choice here. Peel the shrimp and use just enough to cover the hook. This dang sure works for reds too and when they are hanging out together is very effective.


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

I bet that clear float dead shrimp slays the black drum. They are tough to feed with the fly rod and a fly that smells like feathers.


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## Seymour fish (May 13, 2018)

hunterbrown said:


> Tailing redfish provide one of the most exciting visual displays in backcountry fishing, it is the anglers equivalent to a fanned out gobbler during spring turkey season. The angler is able to spot the feeding fish that they want to target, stalk the fish, and finally watch it react to their presentation of the bait or lure. Tailing fish are exciting for anglers because there is no question of where they are of whether or not they will bite. If you put a bait in front of them with a decent presentation they will almost always eat. This brief article will outline a method that I often use for catching tailing redfish in shallow water. This method can be applied to spin fishing with live bait or lures as well as fly fishing.
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> ...


Capt. Hunter, excellent review and covered a lot of “water”. We used to have big pods of tailing reds in thick grass on big white shrimp migrations, where water was off-color. They would not see a shrimp fly but would come up and hammer a white deer hair topwater fly if you over-casted it, smacked it down hard in the middle of the pod, and gave it a hard strip. Took a while to work out this puzzle


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## TysonC (Apr 20, 2018)

Surffshr said:


> I like a clear casting bobber with a small j hook rigged weightless (basically what you would use for a fly). The bobber helps with casting and tracking where your bait is. Small crabs and dead shrimp would be my normal choice here. Peel the shrimp and use just enough to cover the hook. This dang sure works for reds too and when they are hanging out together is very effective.


Do you have a picture of this method? I’m still trying to expand beyond my basic paddletail and jerk bait methods.


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

This is one that I had tied up. Probably only 18” between the bobber and hook. I’m normally in shin deep water using this. Hook should be fairly light wire as black drum can be very picky.


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## TysonC (Apr 20, 2018)

Surffshr said:


> View attachment 29403
> This is one that I had tied up. Probably only 18” between the bobber and hook. I’m normally in shin deep water using this. Hook should be fairly light wire as black drum can be very picky.


Awesome! Thank you so much. 

Are you using live, fresh dead, or frozen to cover the hook?


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

TysonC said:


> Awesome! Thank you so much.
> 
> Are you using live, fresh dead, or frozen to cover the hook?


Yes. Seriously, I’ve made little crabby patties to coax black drum into eating.


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## 1Fisher77316 (Nov 1, 2016)

Very constructive article! Here on the Texas mid coastal flats/ marshes I've also found the using a clear torpedo cork about 18 inches above a DOA shrimp to be highly effective on tailing reds. The only addition we made was adding a stinger hook to the rear of the torpedo cork since so many reds hit the cork instead of the DOA. Just another weapon to add to your arsenal when those tailing fish are being stubborn.
1Fisher77316


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