Ya'll help me out with this...when casting to a tailing red, where is the best place to cast to? I know not to cast too close and that it doesn't make sense to cast so that you work the bait back towards the red since real bait fish ain't gonna swim right up to a big red, but where exactly is the best location for lure placement relative to the fish?

i would usually cast past and to the side and use somthing noisy like a top dog or top pup.but have landed right in the middle of a school and had my bait crushed the second it hit the water.i think alot of times when the lure hits they think its just bait fish running for there lives and will turn and attack.

My suggestion is to try to see which direction it's feeding and try to cast in front and ahead of it. I feel it's more important to make sure the line doesn't hit the back of the redfish, I've scared more reds that way than any other way. 6 foot in front is a good distance to be in front and past it if possible to work the lure past the fish's face. You want the lure in front the fish or it most likely not see or respond to it. Have had reds turn 180 to attack a topdog but more often scared the fish. Or had the lure ignored. Hope this helps. Good Luck
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Just tell me where you are finding tailing reds and I'll help you catch them

Seriously, I've only seen tailing reds a few times. The last time we were down in Rockport/Aransas, they were feeding very shallow along the grassy islands on the intercoastal. We were casting popping corks a good distance away from them, and making a lot of noise with them, and they would find the shrimp. You could see them swirl to chase it, pretty exciting!

I would've thrown artificial, but we had 5ppl on the boat, so I didn't have the room that I would've liked to had.

I would generally give the same advice that TOO gave. You also have to factor in the sun, because fish have a blindside.

Take care!

Shawn

Thanks ya'll! Shawn-I'll give you a holler when I go red hunting. I like to target reds in September/October. We have awesome days when we run to Lousiana during that time frame. I just got to thinking about the one's I spooked last year and was trying to figure the best approach. I think I need to cast further in front of them than I have been judging from what ya'll have said.