by John N. Felsher
Blades of Fury!
A NEW SPIN ON REDFISHING
R
ipping tides flowing out toward
the Gulf of Mexico formed
riffles along the rock jetty, but
also created tiny slack spots between the
rocks. In these small eddies, nervous
baitfish flickered on the surface as they
crowded together as close to the rocks as
possible as mutual protection against an
unseen predator.
The angler tossed a spinnerbait
parallel to the jetty and ran the bait as
close to the rocks as possible. Relatively
snagless, spinnerbaits can navigate
through entangling structure where
traditional jigheads and other lures would
hopelessly snag. Reflecting sunlight, the
wobbling gold blade flashed in the clear,
green water. As the lure passed a tiny
eddy, the gold glint disappeared as a
powerful predator engulfed the swirling
temptation and headed for open water
with the reel screaming for mercy.
“Redfish sometimes chase bait in
open water, but normally, they’re ambush
predators that wait for bait to come to
them,” said Jimmy Dooms, a
professional redfish angler who also
guides in Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay
near Corpus Christi, Texas. “Anything
that can get in the way of normal tidal
flow could make a good ambush place
for a big redfish.”
Much to their chagrin
when fishing tournaments
in coastal areas, many bass
anglers discovered long
ago that spinnerbaits not
only attract largemouths,
but big redfish. In fact,
anglers frequently catch
largemouth bass and
redfish in the same waters
at the same time when
throwing spinnerbaits.
“Fishing for redfish is
a lot like fishing for bass,”
said Stephen Browning, a
professional angler who
has fished both bass and
redfish tournaments. “A
redfish will hit anything
that a bass will hit. I’ve
caught redfish on
spinnerbaits and many
other bass lures.”
The
whirling
blades reflect sunlight,
mimicking baitfish.
That attracts big spottailed marauders patrolling along weedy
shorelines, jetties or
other cover looking for
baitfish. Churning
blades may even annoy
lethargic redfish into
striking reactively. The
wobbling blade also resembles the
rounded rear swimming legs of crabs —
and big reds love nothing better than
crunching crabs!
“Redfish eat anything, but they love
crabs,” advised Bobby Abruscato, a
professional redfish angler and guide
from Mobile, Al. “I’ve probably caught
more redfish on spinnerbaits than any
other bait. With the blades spinning, I
believe redfish think a spinnerbait is a
crab. The flash from the blades might also
produce some reaction bites.”
Spinnerbaits generally fall into three
categories — conventional “safety-pin”
lures, in-line spinners and
beetle spinners. Commonly
used for bass fishing, safety-pin
spinners employ a bent “arm”
that suspends one or more
blades over a usually skirttipped head. An in-line
spinnerbait uses a straight wire
extending from the head with a
spinner rotating around the wire.
Most commonly used in
salt water, a “beetle” type
spinnerbait resembles a safetypin bait, but usually consists of
a wire harness temporarily
attached to a standard lead
jighead tipped with a plastic trailer. Also
called a “harness” spinner, this bait gives
anglers considerable versatility. Since the
components separate, anglers can quickly
switch blades, jigheads or trailers without
retying to adapt to changing conditions.
Baits also come with varied head
shapes. Round heads sink faster and
bounce off objects better than elongated
“minnow head” baits, which may lodge in
crevices between shells or rocks. Some
minnow head jigs almost look like natural
baitfish and slither more easily through
thick vegetation. Some heads look like
shrimp and work best with shrimp trailers.
Blades also come in
many shapes and sizes, but
generally fall into three
categories. A nearly round
Colorado blade displaces
the most water, gives off
good vibrations and can go
deeper quicker. Not
entirely weedless, a long,
slender willow-leaf blade
won’t cut through solid
vegetation mats, but can slip
through small openings in
broken weed patches. An
Indiana blade resembles
something in the middle and
combines aspects of each.
“I usually use a single
Colorado blade for redfish
(Continued on page 20.)
Redfish often hit conventional safety-pin spinnerbaits typically used for largemouth bass. Lisa Snuggs shows off a
Photos by author.
redfish she caught on a spinnerbait while fishing in the marshes near Cocodrie, Louisiana.
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GULF COAST FISHERMAN
W W W. G U L F F I S H I N G. C O M