A little “red” article from Gulf Coast New Guy

Good afternoon to all-
I hope you fellers won’t find this little post too far afield for the forum, but it will tell you a little bit about the fishing down here where I live.
We have redfish, and we have red snapper, and they ain’t the same fish.
Red snapper live out in the deep Gulf open waters near wrecks and reefs most of their adult lives. They can get up toward 30 pounds- 20 pounders are pretty common. they eat anything that will fit in their mouths, and they are first-rate for eating- delicious fish. The red snapper in the attached photos came off a deep water reef- the jig in its mouth is a six-ounce jig. this fish went about fifteen pounds, and he ate well.
Redfish spend their growing up years inshore in bayous and creeks. when they get about 10 pounds, they leave the inshore and head offshore. they will form massive schools of spawning fish of 15 to 40 pounds in the nearshore Gulf waters, and they will eagerly eat anything. It’s a lot of fun seeing dozens of big redfish in the fall chasing your magnum sized Zara Spook back to the boat before one catches it and eats it. Redfish pull very, very hard. it’s not uncommon for a big one to take off on a hundred yard run when first hooked. Big old redfish are not so very good for eating- they’re protected by size limit anyway.
For those of you who have never fished the big salt water, there’s a couple of things you can count on- first, the fish will pull very hard. Second, most every fish here will have teeth.
You will want to keep both of those things in mind.

I hope you all don’t mind this post- I’d like to see you all on the water some time.

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

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Great pictures and thanks for sharing. What is your preferred rod/reel/line set up for going after redfish?

Good afternoon to all-
Rodwork- Lord, Brother, that’s a hard one to answer. For little baby rat reds in small creeks and canals, a standard freshwater spinning rig- with 10 to 12 pound test line will work fine. for slot reds- say 5 to 8 pounders, a heavier medium weight spinning rig with 20 pound line is good. for the big old bull reds, you’ll want a heavy as you can get spinning rig with 30 pound line. The same general line and rod actions will work for level wind gear, too.
For fly fishing, I like a 7 or 8 weight rod for most reds, but when I go after the big old good ones, I use my 10 or 12 weight fly rigs. For all fly rigs, you’ll want a good bit of backing line on the reel- a five pound red will run the whole fly line out in just a little bit when hooked- you need that backing line.
You generally won’t need fluorocarbon leaders with reds- they’re not leader shy at all. Many anglers in cloudy water use just straight braid to their lure or bait- no leader at all.

Rigging for reds is not hard, and if you’ve rigged too light for the fish, you’ll know it in just a moment after the fish is hooked.

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

Nice fish, Ed. I checked off a redfish from my list but just a baby one. Caught it in Folly Beach SC and it was the best fish I ever ate! Hoping to get a bull red someday.

My son and I took a party boat charter out of Galveston last summer for red snapper . 80 miles off shore , non stop action , fast as you could get the bait down it was fish on . Top notch table fare is right !