# 3 Tips to Help You Catch Winter Redfish



## jackson man (Aug 13, 2020)

Brandon Parker said:


> These are broken up into individual topics for an easier read, just click and enjoy.
> 
> 1) Environmental Factors
> 2) The Approach
> 3) The Presentation


Thanks for the post, great read!


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

Well written and informative.

I wish more would follow what you outlined in the approach section as it is what I most commonly see missed.


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## Coastalkid05 (Nov 29, 2020)

Brandon Parker said:


> These are broken up into individual topics for an easier read, just click and enjoy.
> 
> 1) Environmental Factors
> 2) The Approach
> 3) The Presentation


My problem is finding them. Is there a specific terrain they stick to?


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

Coastalkid05 said:


> My problem is finding them. Is there a specific terrain they stick to?


right now look at back creeks blocked by oyster bars on low tide or main river shorelines with oyster banks. Even better if these banks have a little “flat” that extends out from them and are behind a shoreline hook that blocks or slows current flow.


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

Very good articles and worth a sticky. Here on the upper Texas coast, there are a couple behavioral differences but the rest is spot on. Our redfish that don't move offshore, typically those less than 26" or so, don't school up. Just the opposite, they are almost always singles either slowly cruising or just belly down in the mud. In early winter, there are still some mullet and mud minnows in the bay but by late winter those are scarce. We also get our first menhaden hatch in late winter (which I saw the first signs of that last week, yay) so the lure/fly sizes need to be downsized and "baitfishy" looking. Our water gets really clear as well but we also are usually dealing with lots of wind as the cold fronts blow through on regular occurrence. Another issue we have to try and figure out are the 8-10 degree temperature swings in bay water temps. As the cold fronts blow through, our water will drop into the low 50's and sometimes high 40's. A few days later, the sea breeze returns and the bay water can warm up to the low to mid 60's only to have another front come through, blow a bunch of water out of the bay and drop the temps. Even after 20+ years of living right on the water, I don't have any general pattern or any idea where the fish go and what they do other than retreat to a little deeper water and hunker down. Each time we go out is like the first time we've been out.
Like I said though, our first bait hatch has happened so better and slightly more predictable fishing is on its way. FYI- my perspective is from sight casting fly fishing. The handful of times I fish conventional it is usually a lot more productive and predictable.


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

Interesting how different the same fish can be in different fisheries. While they can be found on the inside any time of year, in much of the Louisiana marsh, we get a bigger push of bulls inshore in the fall and winter. Usually starting shortly after the spawn, they move in looking to fatten up after the spawn, and tend to hang out. There are areas of the state that are an exception to this. On the west side of the state where the marsh is more "impounded" we don't see the same ingress of big fish, and in fact much of the shallow water sight fishing just goes to crap for redfish large and small in the winter. Based on nothing other than my observations over the years, I think it may be because on the east side of the state the marsh essentially opens directly to the gulf, where on the west side there are a limited number of fairly restricted passes, and with less free exchange of water with the gulf, interior water temperatures drop and bait moves off the shallows.


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