Spinfishing for Reds
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About the same as a fly rod. It's tricky to land something like a 1/4oz spoon, or god forbid a spinner bait, on a fish that's 100 feet away without making a bunch of noise. A friend of mine likes to fish them with baitcasting reels because he can thumb the spool to slow things down. Even with his crazy casting skills he doesn't hook very many fish outside of about 60 feet.
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Are you stealthy? If so you can get within 30-40ft to site cast to them, have plenty of times gotten much closer to them like 20ft from them if not less.
But if your boat is noisy or your not too comfortable like that you can swing greater than 40ft but I would refrain from casting 90+ due to the lures slapping the water tends to disturb them unless you are casting ahead of their movement and crossing their nose as they move along a bank or something. Either way I refrain from casting too far, it hinders accuracy and the finesse some casts just need.
But if your boat is noisy or your not too comfortable like that you can swing greater than 40ft but I would refrain from casting 90+ due to the lures slapping the water tends to disturb them unless you are casting ahead of their movement and crossing their nose as they move along a bank or something. Either way I refrain from casting too far, it hinders accuracy and the finesse some casts just need.
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I think this is more of a location based question. I can't speak for other states but, Spring through Fall in SC, I leave the boat behind and wade the grass flats on flood tides to find tailers. I've hooked them from sub 10' to 50' away. For me, it's more of a matter of moving quietly, or not at all.
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3,475 Posts
Agree it depends on location, plus water clarity. In Florida the fish are much more spooky than the Louisiana marsh, for example. Also depends on solunar feeding windows. Have had fish eat on the longest cast I could make and again nearly off the rod tip on quick shots. A quiet approach and reacting before they can spot you is the key.
Skitter Walks, Spooks, light jigs and flukes all work, but my Go-to red lure on spin is a 3/8-ounce weedless single hook Aqua Dream or the original Capt. Mike's spoon. www.aquadreamliving.com The willow blade design makes less of a splash on entry and the weed guard sheds most crap in the water. In the colder months I often scale down to the 1/4-oz. size to match the bait. I do modify the rig by adding a 35-pound test stainless ball bearing swivel to reduce line twist.
Skitter Walks, Spooks, light jigs and flukes all work, but my Go-to red lure on spin is a 3/8-ounce weedless single hook Aqua Dream or the original Capt. Mike's spoon. www.aquadreamliving.com The willow blade design makes less of a splash on entry and the weed guard sheds most crap in the water. In the colder months I often scale down to the 1/4-oz. size to match the bait. I do modify the rig by adding a 35-pound test stainless ball bearing swivel to reduce line twist.
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5,400 Posts
A bunch will depend on where you are (reds are found from Florida Bay all the way up to two or three states north of us...), the time of year - and exactly what kind of place/bottom they're in...
Can't think of many lures I haven't caught reds on - but for my anglers, when we're fishing shorelines in the salt and brackish parts of the Everglades... it's mostly leadheads with Gulp tails on them. For casting at fish we can see I want them tossing a 1/8oz leadhead (get them anywhere, if you can find them with good hooks... Me? I make my own...) with either a 3" Gulp shrimp or a 4" Gulp mullet tail... If they're new to the game the light leadhead will have an Equalizer or Cajun Thunder cork (both very lightweight cigar shaped corks) - and the leader will be almost as long as whatever water depth we're in.... Once the water depth is more than four feet that leadhead turns into 1/4 oz - with or without a cork (and if we rig a cork it's a standard 3" weighted popping cork... put simply - noise works...).
For the lightest leadheads (1/8oz head, tail weight - 1/4 oz - total casting weight... 3/8oz) we're using the lightest rods on my skiff, rated for 6-12lb line with 10lb braid and a 30lb fluoro leader.... For the 1/4oz heads I like a bit stouter rod, rated for 8-17lb line with 20lb braid... with no snook or tarpon around we'll use a 30lb leader - we use 40 if they are around...
This pic is from last week's fishing report - the snook jumped on that same 1/8oz leadhead.... We were actually hunting reds at the time....
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Can't think of many lures I haven't caught reds on - but for my anglers, when we're fishing shorelines in the salt and brackish parts of the Everglades... it's mostly leadheads with Gulp tails on them. For casting at fish we can see I want them tossing a 1/8oz leadhead (get them anywhere, if you can find them with good hooks... Me? I make my own...) with either a 3" Gulp shrimp or a 4" Gulp mullet tail... If they're new to the game the light leadhead will have an Equalizer or Cajun Thunder cork (both very lightweight cigar shaped corks) - and the leader will be almost as long as whatever water depth we're in.... Once the water depth is more than four feet that leadhead turns into 1/4 oz - with or without a cork (and if we rig a cork it's a standard 3" weighted popping cork... put simply - noise works...).
For the lightest leadheads (1/8oz head, tail weight - 1/4 oz - total casting weight... 3/8oz) we're using the lightest rods on my skiff, rated for 6-12lb line with 10lb braid and a 30lb fluoro leader.... For the 1/4oz heads I like a bit stouter rod, rated for 8-17lb line with 20lb braid... with no snook or tarpon around we'll use a 30lb leader - we use 40 if they are around...
This pic is from last week's fishing report - the snook jumped on that same 1/8oz leadhead.... We were actually hunting reds at the time....
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Not much site fishing , mostly spots , caught them close and far. Only time i need to really long cast , is if im putting out a way long shadow . 90% of the time probably 30’ or less
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Most of my sight casts are less than 40' in NE Fl. Most of the water I fish in is less than 4' so I use 1/8 oz jig with a 3" paddle tail in warm water conditions. This winter I have been experimenting with a 1/10 oz Ned Jig with a 2.5" paddle tail. This light weight rig does not spook the fish like a heavier jig would. Other advantages to the Ned jig is that you work the bait very slowly and it is a smaller meal which are both advantages in colder water temps.
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637 Posts
About 5’ further than I’m able to cast, no matter the conditions.
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Funny as I used to fish these all the time but most for blind casting around mullet schools when I kayak fished. I pretty much stopped using them when I bought my skiff. I saw one laying around my shop a couple of weeks ago and thought, I miss those things.
I tied one on to a rig and have been fishing them a bunch the last couple of weeks. Been killing the reds on them. Strictly blind casting spots. I rig them on a 8' really light spinner and they throw a mile. Not the most accurate of long casting lures as they are kinda like a knuckle ball and depending how they go they tend to dance around in the air and get pushed around. They still have it though. I think I am gonna buy some more.
Bad thing is there are no more huge mullet schools anymore. I used to be able to walk on mullet in my neighborhood. Not anymore. It is sad.
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You can cast a 150ft with a flats blaster rig. Bank sinker on end of line with a bait of your choice tied on another leader off the side about 18”s up from sinker. Little tricky to tie but let’s you make a huge distance cast and drag it back. I use it every now and then to work a school without being anywhere near them.
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