The plan was simple, give the trout a break and take a look along the shoreline to see if any redfish were pushing bait. The water was clean and clear, giving us the perfect opportunity to try a little sight casting.

We shoved off on the evening of 4/26 with only a couple hours of daylight left, just me and my son, no pressure, just scouting. The weather couldn’t have been better: light wind with a moderate chop, just enough to keep things moving without hurting visibility.

We started easing down the shoreline, keeping a close eye on the water. It didn’t take long before we saw what we were hoping for, nervous bait flickering about 30 yards off the bank. With the wind at our back, we let it do the work, and the boat drifted perfectly past the school. A couple casts into the bait, then we saw a solid wake that definitely didn’t belong to a mullet. That was all the confirmation we needed.

We worked through a few different combinations of spinners trailing H&H tails and Matrix Shad baits. I missed my first two strikes, both looked like they came from 20+ pound reds. Not long after, my son hooked up, Matrix Shad IndiGleaux did the trick. Right away, you could tell it wasn’t a small fish. Good drag pull, steady run, classic redfish. After a solid fight, we had a thick, healthy red at the boat. From there, it just turned on.

For the next stretch, it was about as consistent as you could ask for. Not every cast, but the bites weren’t far apart. Most of the fish were just off the shoreline, keyed in on bait. Finding mullet pushing water or the flickering of pogies was a must, no bait-no fish. We also noticed that every point, cut, or slight change in the shoreline seemed to hold fish.

We found a good numbers of solid, quality fish, exactly what we were hoping to see with the water and bait conditions we’ve got right now in the lake.

We headed in with tired arms, a good feeling, and a pretty clear plan moving forward.

So if you feel like giving the trout a break, don’t pass up chasing reds. It may not always be as glamorous, and you do have to stay on the bait, but when the combination comes together, it can be a whole lot of fun.