Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Rods, lures and fall fishing for reds
Fall redfish love to hang out at bars and so do hooks and lures and flies, which is why the top-shelf shallow water angler always has a file or two handy to touch up hook points that may be damaged. Some folks can’t seem to get the finer points of filing so keeping a box of replacement singles and trebles handy, along with the various split ring sizes, takes care of business in short order.
If you like to tinker with lures, make lures or just resurrect oldies but goodies, make sure to include split ring pliers in your tool kit, which will save you trips to the ER for human hook removal, which isn’t free. I know. Trying to get a smaller sized but stiff split ring on to a hook hanger or the hook itself without using the ring pliers is asking for trouble.
If there is any doubt, change it out! Today’s anglers have a wide choice of out-of-the-box, high-tech sharpened super hooks but just one quick run-in with an oyster or rock can easily ruin a hook point and quite possibly the catch of a lifetime.
To test for sharpness, drag the hook point lightly over your skin. The point should instantly penetrate needle-like and not slide. Fish off!
Have you caught any redfish this month? Have you caught any on that nice fly rod that just sits in the corner like a graphite dust magnet that you’ve been meaning to finally learn how to use? For the latest 10 years?
If you’re not catching a percentage of your fish on a fly rod, you, my friend, are missing out on big time angling fun. Redfish love flies, just like tarpon, snook, trout, ladyfish, bonefish, sailfish, sharks, Spanish macs, etc.
Fly rod sizes are classifieds using a weight system. A 3 weight rod is an ultra-lite while a 12 weight is built for big game like tarpon and sharks. The fly line matches the rod weight. A 7 weight rod uses a #7 line. Fly lines also come in floating and sinking varieties. For most local shallow water flats work, a weight forward, floating fly line is the ticket: WF-7-F.
For general redfish angling with lite winds and smaller flies, a 6 weight rod will work and if you do get tied up to a 10-pound red on that 6, you’re in for a good time. For windier conditions, more distance and casting bigger topwater bugs, chuggers, sliders, gurgles and poppers, it’s good to have an 8 or 9 weight rod aboard. I typically carry three fly rods, including a 6 weight, an 8 weight and a 10. During peak tarpon/shark season I add a 12 weight.
When fishing large bass bugs or other fly surface poppers, try using stiff floating mono for leader material which works better than fluorocarbon. As the floating bug sits, the fluorocarbon sinks, often dragging the face of the bug downward, affecting the action of the lure on the retrieve sequence as well as making it much more difficult to pick up the lure from the surface when preparing another forward cast.
Dirty and untreated fly line ends or tips start to sink, dragging the leader and bug downward as well. Fly lines aren’t cheap but with proper maintenance can last a long time. After fishing, strip all the fly line into a 5-gallon bucket of warm water with a mild detergent mixed in. Gently hand-wash it, pour out then thoroughly rinse with fresh water. Towel dry the line then hang it in large loops to thoroughly dry. The next day, treat the line with commercial line maintenance products before re-spooling.
Top redfish lures used this past week included gold and silver spoons, DOA shrimp and paddletail bugs, Rapala Skitterwalks, Arborgast Jitterbugs, gold spoon and various keel flies and Seaducer’s with weed guards.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.