In the course of the last 2 months, I have had around 15 redfish caught out of my boat at Fairfield. Most of them were caught by clients while we were on a bass fishing trip. I had a client from Japan catch one on a drop shot rig about 2 weeks ago. Most of them are caught on lipless cranks, and tailhummers.

They have always been scattered for me, but it's a very nice suprise when your fishing light tackle for bass.

I do currently hold the 8 lb. line class and all tackle world record at the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame for freshwater redfish. I caught a 42" redfish on a Cultiva Mira Vibe December 26, 2001 that went 26.06 lbs. I had a bass trip out on Fairfield that day, and the red was caught right at dusk in the discharge cove.

Pictures of the fish can be seen on my website under the pictures page.

Most of the reds this year haven't been near that size for me, but I hope in years to come, there are plenty more trophy reds caught out of the lake. (I know of at least one fish over 26 lbs. in there!!! hehe)

Make sure to release the trophy fish. Take good pictures, measurements, and let 'em go for another lucky angler to catch. Fiberglass replicas look better and last longer anyway.

Good luck in the trophy red search.



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Les Pratt - HotSpots Guide Service
972-743-4584
www.hotspotsguideservice.net

I've never given freshwater reds a try, but after this thread I am looking forward to it. just one question to settle my curiosity. Do the freshwater reds act like saltwater reds? Feeding habits, movement? When the water warms up do they ever move into the shallows where a fly rod might work? Thanks in advance to those who know more than me.
cap

Thank you for the info on the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. I; as you mentioned you did on Tradinghouse,used to fish Fairfield religiously, but have not fished it lately. The last time I caught a red was Jan. 2001, I caught them schooling in middle of the lake. I made 2 casts into them & caught a 17 & 18 pounder. Made about 4-6 trips back shortly after that without catching any. I have a friend that lives near Tradinghouse that i must take fishing over there. I always catch them on 3/4 or 1oz
Rat-l-traps,DB3's, or Excalibur fat free shad.(suspending)I will use the info. I have seen on this post with some of these tricks mixed in there & hopefully put him on some reds. I think they are the most elusive fish, but well worth the time & effort.

capnbama -

They follow the same routines as saltwater fish...the higher the sun gets, the shallower they seem to go. Of course, they are "down lookers" in the search for food, unlike the up-looking stripers that go deeper as the sun rises.

I'm sure a flyrod would work. I only found them schooled together on a wide flat in feeding mode a couple of times at Tradinghouse and then we wore them out for about an hour with rattle traps. Nothing real big but still a lot of fun. Probably the best bet with a flyrod is when they're visibly schooling on top or you happen to stumble into one cruising in and out of the hot water discharge channel. I always carry my 8-9 wgt. flyrod with me when I go down there...you just never know.

They also go thru the spawning ritual in August but it doesn't take (need salinity in the water for it to take). When the water is really clear there, those fish will be almost copper colored like a brand new penny, really beautiful fish. Yes, we do release most of them unless someone wants one for the grill, then we'll keep one or two. As Les stated about Fairfield, there are some monsters still in Tradinghouse as well.

If you can fish this lake during the weekdays, it's probably better. Too many bass tournaments on weekends and it keeps the fish stirred up.

Capnbama, as I said I encountered them once in the discharge cove in shallow water where I'm sure a fly rod would have worked great (a gum wrapper probably would have worked that day). It would have been a blast trying to land one on a fly rod. However, unless you find them shallow or schooling on top (both pretty unlikely in my experience), a fly rod is probably not the best way to locate them. I have carried an 8-wt a time or two on the off chance I would find them schooled up (or hybrids for that matter). If you bass fish with a fly rod, you would probably pick one up incidentally once in a while like the lure fishermen do. Most of the reds I have caught were a singleton here and there while trolling or in one case casting a sassy shad to a big arch I had just marked on the finder. I have an old DB3 in chrome/blue back that has redfish teeth marks all over it which they liked, and I have caught them on 3/4oz to 1oz rattletraps. As I said I have not had much luck trolling in the last 3 or 4 years, so I am very interested in hearing from people who have had success with other techniques. Thanks to those who posted some tips.

Question for the poster of the big gizzard shad method, how do you get the shad that size?

Well you usually can't get them that size in Fairfield, BUT you can get some honkers from R.C. in the sloughs around Pelican Island. Most of what we netted in Fairfield were 6-10". Most of the bigger shad will be found around launch ramp riprap and aprons at night.

Being somewhat of a novice fly fisherman, self taught and probably unorthodox.....let me as a question. about how far would you say the average cast is? or what is considered a good cast....distance?

I can do it and enjoy it, went out to a stock pond one day to practice years ago and actually caught fish, biggest was 5 pound bass and that was a hoot, but it ruined me and got me thinking it was easy...

when i am in the boat by myself i take it with me, but i have a 7 weight...got a new reel last summer from orvis...would not get that if i was going out to buy one or a rod, but i won a rod and reel from orvis years ago and then one another reel.

my only experience with reds on fly rod was at the coast, sure i blew it several times and finally cuaght one with my non fly-fisherman upbringing, a little rat red but it was fun.

so let me change the topic a bit to fly fishing. if you were going out to get an all around fly rod what weight would you get?

7 ? 8 ?

This is something I plan on doing more of at some point in time, actually taking a class or lessons in it would suit me fine too, but if my good buddy redfin wants to bring his out some day when we are fishing, I will take mine too and ask for pointers.

Steve,

I kicked around that same question a lot a few years back. Figured a 7-wgt. was too light for a big striper, so bought an 8-wgt. Caught a redfish on the 8-wgt. that probably was around 12-13 pounds and told myself, nope, an 8-wgt. is still not enough for a big striper , so I bought a 9-wgt. but I haven't had a chance to use it. I've got about 200 yards of backing on both rods and I'll just about bet it isn't enough for a big striper.

I DO ALOT OF SALTWATER FLY FISHING. FOR REDFISH, TROUT, BONESFISH, SMALL TARPON, SMALL PERMIT AN 8 OR 9 WT IS PERFECT. THE ONLY REASON TO GO SMALLER IN TEXAS LAKES IS TO CATCH 100 SANDBASS ON A HOT SUMMER DAY. A 4 OR 5 WT IS PERFECT. ON REAL WINDY DAYS A HEAVIER FLYROD WILL HELP PUNCH A LARGE FLY OUT INTO THE WIND. IF I WAS TARGETING TRADINGHOUSE REDS OR CEDAR CREEK HYBRIDS I WOULD GO 8 WT. AND NOTHING SMALLER. USE A FLOATING LINE WITH 6 TO 8 FT LEADER AND TIPPET. I CHEAT AND USE PREMADE TAPERED LEADERS FROM BLUE DRAKE FLY SHOP. I LIKE BRIGHT COLORED POPPERS AND CLOUSERS IN WHITE AND CHARTRUESE COLORS FOR FRESHWATER FISHING. GOOD LUCK ON THE FLY, IT IS A FUN WAY TO FISH. REMINDS OF BOW HUNTING OVER RIFLE HUNTING FOR SPORT.

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I agree with the line weight opinions expressed so far by others. I have a 5/6 wt and an 8-wt. The 5/6 is a good all-around size for smaller flies and fish. I use it for trout fishing (used to fish once a year or so on the Green River in Utah), and have used it for sandies. As was stated earlier, an 8-wt will throw bigger and bushier flies, and handle the wind better, but would generally be overkill if you were fishing for trout, small bass, or say bluegill. It would work well for throwing big bass bugs though. I have caught sandies on it and a few smaller stripers (nothing over 2 lbs), but I imagine it would be fine for larger fish. Like redfin I think a 9-wt would probably be better for fish over 10 lbs, although unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to evaluate that situation.

As far as casting distance, my opinion is that if you can cast accurately to about 40 feet, you are good for about 98% of the time. Stream fishing for trout, you seldom need to cast longer than that, and most casts are within 30 feet or so. There may be more situations in saltwater flats fishing or maybe steelhead fishing where you want to cast longer on a regular basis, but I haven't tried those so I don't know. I have practiced with my 8-wt and my limit is about 60 feet with very sloppy control, with 50 feet a much more practical maximum.

GeneC has busted many a saltwater fish on flyrod. When the water level gets up into the shoreline reeds and cattails on Tradinghouse, you'll see a lot of "tailing" fish along the edges and hear a lot of hog sloppin' going on way into the reeds. This would be a good time to try the flyrod out. I have but I think most of the fish were big tilapia and roughfish or I wasn't putting the shrimp looking fly in the right place. It's enough noise and water movement to get your heart thumpin'.....

Back in the day, (texoma circa 1979) I knew
a place that on any given evening in april
you could stand on the bank and catch stripers that averaged 10lb right at your feet.It was quite unnerving to have a 10 to 15 lb striper blow up on a redfin in the dark as you lifted the lure from the water. What I would give now to go back and fish there with a flyrod.
MO

All this talk about Red fish makes me want to go fishing.

I can hardly wait for spring.




John Z71