Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

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lahai1dj
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Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by lahai1dj »

I have noticed that schools of redfish seem much easier to spook than schools of trout. When approaching a redfish school, they tend to spook as soon as the first fisherman hooks up or when kayak gets too close ~15 ft. On the contrary, trout seem to be a little less concerned. I've hooked a trout that started leaping out of the water and raising hell and the other trout kept on feeding. I've also spoken with fisherman who pulled up to a feeding school of trout and pulled out a limit before the school scattered.
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txspeck
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Re: Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by txspeck »

In shallow water, fish will always get spooked easier than deeper water. Feeding trout are easy pickings when they are feeding but these schools of fish tend to be on the small size. Reds, on the other hand, seem to have larger fish in their schools and large trout will hang out with big reds from my experience.
Littlebear
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Re: Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by Littlebear »

My brother -in-law and I apparently have no idea what we are doing. We were fishing the deep hole in Moses Lake Saturday and large Redfish were breaking the water all around us. We were pretty pumped thinking we had finally found the fish! We tried live shrimp on the bottom, on a popping cork, soft plastic paddle tail lures, top waters such as Mirrolures of various colors, golden spoons, Flounder Pounders. We drifted across the are for hours but never got a bite!
I know this is an open ended almost impossible question but what should we have done differently? And what exactly were the fish up to? There were no birds working the area and no visible bait. Just a bunch of Redfish breaking the surface, large as in 30" to 40" fish!
Ok, I'm ready to be lambasted, go ahead.....
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kickingback
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Re: Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by kickingback »

The reds can see you. Plain and simple. Those eyes are located where they are on them for a reason. They are drum and feed on crustaceans a lot that means they need to look down as well as up to watch for predators like big birds and humans if they know the area and traffic.
Use the sun at your back or fish low profile and keep your eyes peeled way in advance scanning for bait or water activity and NO NOISE! The water will carry sound far more than the air.
Littlebear
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Re: Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by Littlebear »

Thanks for the feedback! I'm a sponge trying to learn!
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GoDoe
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Re: Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by GoDoe »

Sometimes reds just won't eat plain and simple. The good news is you found fish and generally reds will hang around the same area for a while so go back and try later in the day or on another day. A lot of times tide movement will trigger them to eat.
Littlebear
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Re: Behavior of Schools of Redfish vs Schools of Trout

Post by Littlebear »

Went back last Sunday and caught three small sand trout. My brother in law is still mad at me....he didn't catch anything. Good times....
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