Redfish and the shrimp fly

This time of year, we focus on mainly redfish and spotted sea trout. Truth is, our snook are truly a subtropical species and do not like cold weather. In fact, if the water temperature gets down in the 60’s they struggle. So, we try and leave them alone. Especially the big ones. However, redfish tolerate cold weather real well and though a more technical fishery than our trout, they’re a great target during the low clear water conditions we see this time of year. Too, we’ve been seeing some good fish lately and getting some shots. As the prey species for redfish have transitioned from larger bait fish to small local bait fish, shrimp, and crabs we’ve had to switch out and downsize fly patterns. In particular, small #1 and #2 size brown and beige shrimp patterns have been working best. We knew it was time to switch flies when we saw tiny shrimp jumping out of the water trying to escape hungry redfish. Sometimes, it pays just to take some time and observe what’s going on around you. When we scout, we may not even fish. We’ll just head to one of our favorite flats and just hang out and observe through an entire tide cycle.