Gold Spoons For Redfish

It pays to use gold spoons for redfish this time of year.

For some reason redfish just love to eat gold spoons.

I've asked several guides and have done some research on the web but no one seems to know why redfish in particular go crazy over the color.  All I know from experience is that gold spoons for redfish during the winter months will hook you up when everything else fails. 

I listened to politics this morning and didn't bother to wet a line until about 5:30 pm.

My wife went horseback riding so I packed up a few spinning outfits and headed for the areas where I picked up some reds yesterday afternoon.

The air temperature was 78 degrees when I entered the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and like yesterday, there was no appreciable wind on the water.

The marsh areas were almost dead calm and the river was flat.

I decided to use gold spoons for redfish this afternoon to cover more water so I tied on a modified Johnson Sprite Spoon - 3/ 4 oz and started blind casting to likely looking spots around the submerged grass.

I began modifying my spoons with a small split ring and a small barrel swivel to give them more of a wobbling action at slow speeds.  I got the tip from a professional guide who usually gets his share of fish.

The first couple of spots I targeted apparently had no fish, but the third spot where I nailed a 31" redfish the other day produced a hit on my first cast past a grassy point.

The fish nailed the spoon and made several strong runs in the shallow water of the marsh canal before it got tired enough for me to land it.

  

The water in the area where the fish hit the gold spoon was flat as glass.  Most fishermen would have passed up fishing the spot but I knew that towards evening the reds hang on that point to feed on baitfish.

I skinned down the bank and used the boca grip to lip the redfish.

The fish was smaller than what I thought it was but it still measured in at 28" to the tip of a "squeezed" tail.

I took some pics and released the fish to fight another day.

I forgot about daylight savings time and realized that it was getting darker faster than usual.

I hit two more spots and missed two fish.  One was probably a sea trout but the other was definitely a redfish.  The fish swirled on the gold spoon, bumped the lure with it's nose and showed me it's broad tail before taking off up the marsh canal.

I spotted a couple of fishermen on the Indian River anchored in a flats boat in very shallow water but I couldn't see if they were catching anything.

 

I met up with one other fisherman and his wife who read this website and I apologize that I don't remember his name. He was using a Chug Bug and was releasing an under size sea trout as I passed by.  His wife said he caught a redfish earlier on the same bait a bit farther up Peacocks Pocket road.

I wished him luck and decided to head for home.

I hit one other spot on the way out of the refuge, but nothing seemed interested in my spoon or the Chug Bug that I started using near dusk.

The bugs weren't too bad this evening and it was a beautiful sunset which capped off another great fishing trip in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

 
If you haven't tried them lately, you might consider using gold spoons for redfish in the marsh canals or in the Indian River shallows.

Till next time, Tight Lines.