Reds in the grass

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zehtx6767
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Reds in the grass

Post by zehtx6767 »

Went marsh fishing today. Saw three reds from less than 3 ft away. Only caught one. Two of them wouldn’t move from the spot they were in. I even hit them in the head with my lure with no response. I could see their fins moving so I know they were alive. Has anyone witnessed this before? Were they sleeping?? Managed to take some pictures. It just seemed so weird to me. Less than 6” of water. And I was able to get less than a foot away from them in the kayak. ImageImage


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screwston420
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by screwston420 »

should have grabbed their tails lmao that might get their attention
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karstopo
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by karstopo »

Nice job finding them in that thick grass. Yea, I don’t know if they sleep like that, but it sure seems like they are asleep. I can’t remember reading or seeing anything about how much redfish sleep. I’ve sort of given up trying to chase them into the grass very far. It’s so dad gum hard to get something to them. I see people chase them into the grass on the east coast, but their grass from the photos I’ve seen appears to be a lot thinner than the grass I fish near.

I have seen redfish be completely immobile other than the fins moving. I’ve done the same thing you did by trying to interest them in what I was using, in my case a redfish crack fly. I kept bring the fly closer with zero reaction. I remember one time in a little deeper, more open water, the redfish eased off finally when I literally put the fly on its nose.

They probably rest up in that grass to feel safe. It’s probably hard for a dolphin or a shark to bother them buried in the weeds like that. Go up into the grass, have a little snack of some crab and then take a nap. Sounds about right.

Thanks for the post. Another example of how interesting fish are.
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Crusader
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by Crusader »

I've seen it few times -- at the height of summer, when they are cornered and nowhere to go they could stand like that or move in circles and refuse to take anything. I remember standing next to a pair that had their backs sticking our and "vertically jigging" trying to get them to hit the lure. Nope. Poked one with my finger -- he took off, made little circle and stopped again.

I think if they are spooked to the extreme and believe there is nowhere to go -- they start behaving this way. Or maybe heat of summer and very shallow water?
Tombo
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by Tombo »

I call it the "Leave me alone syndrome" . My opinion is just like a previous poster. Only reaction I get most of the time is eventually they move on or get spooked.
CopanoCruisin
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by CopanoCruisin »

I have seen similar over in the marsh on my side of the creek, although I have never got that close before, maybe 6 to 10'. That is some awesome pics and narration, very interesting
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TroutSupport.com
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by TroutSupport.com »

after hunting little tiny stuff in the grass they're probably fed out, probably wouldn't hit anything except a fly anyway if they hit anything. I've seen them like that plenty, just something they do.
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TexasJim
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by TexasJim »

You guys need a long-handled landing net for those situations! TexasJim
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by Kayak Kid »

Lived in Corpus way back in the early 70's. Spent most week-ends fishing the Baffin Bay Area. Wading the flats, a surprisingly large number of reds fell to our Johnson weedless gold spoons, in spite of the darned gill nets that the criminal commercial fishermen spread across the lagoon flats. Most reds we caught were sighted before casting.

One week-end found us fishing one of our favorite spots, known then as the 'Graveyard'. Usually it was about mid thigh high water with a grassy bottom from one end to the other. That particular week-end, there was only about a foot of water and less in the Graveyard. We discovered this when we came off plane and bottomed our boat (took us two and a half hours to put-put back to the channel).

We got out of the boat and proceeded to wade South. Within forty yards of the boat, we began to see hordes...,heards....,massive schools of closely packed Redfish. And, they were mostly just staying in place. We excitedly cast to the edges, to the front, the back, and even right into the middle of the schools....,with no success. Hit them on the head and they hardly moved.

We could walk through the fish and they would move aside and let us pass, but they simply did not spook. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they were all sleeping. Had I been so inclined, we could have filled the boat by gigging them. Three of us never got a single take the entire day. I've never seen anything like it before or since.
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by osochuck »

Playing hide and seek


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bigbuzzard
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Re: Reds in the grass

Post by bigbuzzard »

I drifted up to a flooded grass edge. Looked over my right shoulder and a red about 2' was laying there. Spooked him I guess cause roared out. Drifted about 5' and a smaller red was laying up in the grass. About 16". He took off also.

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