The Reds Are Running Hey folks, it`s the truth. Redfish are all over the oyster bars and shallow water around the mangrove islands here in Cedar Key. Recently, I took five guys from the Villages out fishing on my pontoon boat. I had heard of some good catches of speckled trout so I rigged up five rods with floats and leaders and headed out to some grassy bottom where we popped and jig`d and floated for about an hour with no results. We`d left at 9 a.m., and the tide would be high at 11:30, so I figured if the redfish are feeding, right then would be the time to strike. I motored over to a favorite spot of mine, Dead Mans Key, and threw out both anchors, stern and bow, to give my fishermen the best access to two oyster bars on the western side of the key. The bait fish were flopping all over and different species as well. Birds hitting the water and fish below attacking them. It looked just right for a red or two. 
Mark Henn with his prize redfish.
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We hadn`t been there more than a minute when I heard that `whirrrriizzzz` from someone`s reel. A big fish was pulling line out of one of the spinning reels mighty quick. A man on the bow choked out, "what in the...." Well, that started it. Soon all reels were singing that song I love so much. It was one after another, sometimes two at a time. These were all big redfish with the exception of one shark. I had to release three reds that were too big to keep. Over 30 and 31 inches. We had six reds in the cooler between the 18-inch and 27-inch legal limit within 20 minutes. I was all over the boat netting and measuring and taking pics of fishermen and their catches. 
Ray Johnson with his beautiful "keeper."
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You could look over the side and see reds swimming by as well the ones on the hook. We caught 12 altogether in an hour`s time. A lot of action. A lot of pictures and everyone would have redfish for dinner. It started to slow down a bit so I suggested we slide out into the grass and see if we could top off the cooler with some trout and we headed there between Dead Mans and Seahorse Key. I think the trout will be here soon because in the last minutes of our trip we caught several trout just under the legal limit and just one keeper; six in all. The water temperature was 83 degrees and although the reds are here I think the trout will show up when it hits 79/80 degrees. I took one group shot back at the dock before I filleted everybody`s fish and here they are from left to right: Ray Johnson, Mark Henn, Dick Crowl, Frank Fassino, Butch Ballot. Check out the pictures on my website http://www.inshorefloridafishing.com, or give me a call at 352-221-5463 and I`ll take the whole family out for some great fishing. Capt. Dan | 
