Gone Fishin`: Redfish Are Runnin`

High tide on Sunday the 9th was at 1:10pm. My party of 4 and I shoved off from the dock in Cedar Key at 10 a.m. It felt a little late in the day to get out but the tide was coming in and that was real important, so out we motored into the fertile fishing grounds of the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge.

That`s right. All the little islands are included in the refuge. The waterways too. I was hoping to catch speckled trout out on the flats in around 6 or 8 feet of water, in all that live green grass and sandy bottom. Trout love it.

As soon as we anchored up and threw down a few fresh shrimp, folks started yelling and crankin` their reels. Big dissappointment. Catfish. Lots of Catfish. Big ones and the smallest you can imagine too. Both Channel Cats and their cousins the Sail Cats.

We hauled in 3 silver trout in about the first hour. I looked at my watch to see how long it would be before the tide was high enough for us to slide up against some of these mangrove islands and the oyster bars surrounding them. 2 more hours. Wow! A long wait.

Well I just had to get away from all those Catfish, so we up anchors and motored over to Deadman`s Key. I hooked us up on solid ground far enough away from the key so my guests wouldn`t cast onto the oyster bars and just get hung up and snagged and their lines break off. So we tossed fresh shrimp with 1/4 oz. weights on 251b. test mono leaders out towards the bars.

WOW! It must have been just right. Tom`s wife Leah hooked something very large and feisty. It zigged and zagged all over the place. Unlike a shark or a big ray. Then it broke the surface throwing a saltwater spray to reveal that beautiful sunset, rusty color that a redfish has. Oh yeah!

After a while the big red got a little tired and Leah could maneuver him over close enough so I could reach down and dip net him up and over the rail. No need to measure this one. It was obvious he was over the 18 inches needed to take him home. I did lay the yardstick next to him and saw 24 inches of beautiful redfish.

Leah Benton of Lake Butler with her fine catch.

We edged up a little closer to the key and caught 4 more keepers, the smallest 22 inches. I tricked one into biting a lure, (that we just finished eating), but all the others were caught on fresh shrimp on the bottom in about 4 feet of water.

Five beautiful Reds

We ended up with 5 nice redfish and 2 sharks. The sharks were 28 and 30 inches long. A Shovelnose shark and a Blacktip. Good eating, fresh. A big fat Whiting and 3 Silvertrout filled up the fishbox pretty well.

As soon as we tied up at the dock back at Cedar Key, I rigged up my fillet station and got to work. Tom and Leah and Regina and JJ went home with a lot of fresh seafood. They had a smorgasboard of fish meat. No bones, no skin. All packed in ziplock bags and buried in ice. I feel strongly about preserving that good meat. I tell everyone to eat it that evening. Fresh is best.

JJ & Regina of Lake Butler

Ya`ll call me at 352-486-1656 to go catch some of those Redfish and I`ll provide the rods and reels and fishing license, bait and ice and a comfortable 24-foot pontoon boat for 4 hours of inshore florida fishing. Capt. Dan