Sight Fishing For Redfish.

One of my favorite types of fishing is sight fishing. Fishing the shallow water offers a great opportunity to sight fish. I fish a lot in Centipede bay where there are many winding creeks and redfish. But if you look at most of the west coast of Florida, Centipede bay looks about the same as most other areas. So this sight fishing methodology would apply to almost any shallow water area in Florida.

The number one thing you have to remember when you are sight fishing, is that you are really stalking; not fishing. This means you have to be very quiet and stealthy. So before you begin, take a look at your boat and see what you can do to make it more stealthy. Some things you will want to look are;

• Where you keep your tackle. Your tackle should be easily accessed with out having to open any hatches or move anything to get to your tackle. I use a small divided box with a lid that will hold everything I need and keep near my casting platform.
• Tools should be kept in a safe but easily accessible area. One thing that many anglers will do is to toss their pliers down on the floor. This will spoke most redfish that are near by.
• Where you stand while fishing, you will want to make sure that there are no creeks when you move around in this area. You may need to tighten screws or put down a foam mat. I built a casting platform and attached the deck using rubber cushion to limit any noise.
  
• Rocking the boat, this is almost as bad as bang the side of the boat. Fish are pressure sensitive and when your boat rocks it sends out pressure waves that the fish can pick up. While they may not take off running, they may spoke enough to make them wary of any bait you offer them.
• If you are going to use live bait, make sure you can get to the bait easily without making noise. Also make sure you have a net near the live well. On my live well I have a latch that will hold the hatch door open and out of the way.
• If you are using lures, have a couple of extra lures in a small box to keep with you while you are fishing.
• Keep the deck clear, you will want to be able to move from bow to stern without having to step over or on anything besides the deck.
• Your landing net should be out and ready to be used.

Now that you have stealtherized your boat, you are ready to sight fish. The best bait to use is shrimp. They are easy to keep and redfish love them and you do not need a live well. You can put them in a bag or small bucket with some ice and they will keep for hours and still be lively a few minutes after you take them off the ice.

The best place to start looking is in the creeks.

View Sight Fishing in a larger map

As you start to move in to the creek, take you time and go slow. If you rush through you will only see the redfish running scared. If you have a trolling motor set it to the slowest speed, or if you're lucky and can find someone to pole you around, make sure they are quiet. Typically I look for areas where there will be grass between the boat and the area I want to look.
This is an area that is not too far in and will typically hold fish. Once hooked the redfish will run out of this cove, so you will need to be ready to move which ever direction the redfish takes you. Other areas are much larger and still offer a protected spot you can peak in and see if any redfish are home, with out the redfish seeing the boat. You do have to be careful they can see you and if you make any fast movements and the redfish will run.

Next time you have a few hours to fish, pick up some live jumbo and give sight fishing a try. Once you experience sight fishing it's hard to go back to the bait and wait method.

Good Luck
Zippyjr