Under and Over Reds at Rudee

[Jman]

I fished at Rudee Inlet before the cold and rain came through yesterday. You can see here in this photo that the water level was high due to the full moon, wind, and storm (1.5 hours before high tide).IMG_1443.jpg

As Joe mentioned, I used a similar set up to his. I tied a bobber on one line and a popping cork on the other with about 36" of 10# fluoro to a 1/8 oz jig head. I added a Zman ShrimpZ (rootbeer/gold) to the jig head and tipped it with some shrimp for extra scent. I anchored in a deeper section within casting range of a shallow channel. When the wind pushed the bobber out of the strike zone I cast them back. I tried to twitch both baits occasionally to spark some interest. Due to the water levels, the reds had expansive hunting grounds and I was worried I may never see them come out of the marsh.

The bite was consistent until the wind picked up and the rain began to pour.
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The largest fish I caught was a hefty 27" and the second largest was 26.5". I lost one of comparable size to a leader break when it spooked at the boat. I had about 8 more that were between 17.5" and 17.9".

Video:

[Mark]

Jake,

Congratulations on an excellent outing and thank you for the report.

Do you know what the water temperature was?

Redfish mystify me. I know they like warmer waters but there must be reasons besides temperature that they don't routinely travel in numbers to the mid-Chesapeake Bay area.

Surely your water was cooler than Annapolis/Kent Island waters in spring and summer.

[ronaultmtd]

Warms my heart to see they survived the cold winter...means we will have a few over-slot fish up our way in July/August time frame...been three years since I caught one up here that I was required to release by being over the slot...last year my biggest was 25 inches...hopefully the specks made it, too...we had a banner year last year with citation specks...

[J.A. Veil]

Nice report. Reds of that size are great fun on light tackle.

[ComeOnFish]

Jman,
Yes, it is difficult to find fish during the high tide. I usually wait until the water subsides to certain level so I can figure out the locations of edges, and bottoms (oyster beds/weeds).
I think a 10# leader is a bit too light. I use 20# test mono for any species and sizes in Rudee. My minimum braided is 12#. But I usually use 15# on a windy day for casting distance or before Specks are in full force (with bluefish). Once specks are in full force, I use 20# test braided. But I always keep the 20# test mono for the leader in Rudee.

I hope you catch some keepers next time.

Joe

[Jman]

Jake,

Congratulations on an excellent outing and thank you for the report.

Do you know what the water temperature was?

Redfish mystify me. I know they like warmer waters but there must be reasons besides temperature that they don't routinely travel in numbers to the mid-Chesapeake Bay area.

Surely your water was cooler than Annapolis/Kent Island waters in spring and summer.

Not sure on the exact water temperature (transducer pins are down). Based on NOAA reports and how it felt, I would guess between 46-48 degrees.

[Mark]

Jake,

Thank you.

That's colder than I thought they would prefer.

Again, you had a memorable outing.

Congratulations.