Do redfish generally school with similar-sized redfish?

[Stoic_J]

In my limited experience it seems that schooling reds are going to be about the same size.

Sneaking up on a school of reds, I can see enough of the fish to get a good idea of how big they are. I'll throw out in front of them, and I'll pull a fish out. The school will take off, but maybe go back to feeding, and if I pull another fish, it'll be about the same size as the previous one.

Now, if it's just a handful of reds tailing, I've seen a big difference in sizes. Might be a big 28"feeding with some sub-20"s or smaller. But in the bigger schools, they seem to be closer in size.

Again, I've only hit big schools a few times. What has your experience been?

[Kayak Kid]

I have cast to many a school of redfish. My hookup ratio of casts to boated fish is unrecorded, and consequently unknown. I just remember the fun and excitement that each produced.

As far as an answer to your question, I haven't a clue. Each hookup whether to a large or small red was equally relished...,especially so if on a fly rod. For the past 19 years I have released all fish.

I understand that in some cases size does matter. However, that doesn't matter to me when it comes to the size of a fish or whether it came from the same school or not.

[Prof. Salt]

Generally they'll be in the same ballpark, but I have seen a few fish that were much larger than the rest of the school. I also learned by accident that closely following the visible fish will sometimes be trout. If hooked they thrash on the surface so much that they usually spook the reds.

[Tombo]

Not always but my rule is "Birds of a feather flock together".

[Ron Mc]

Redfish are always in pods - they just don't like to be alone.
They've grouped up since they were alevin, so it's common to find similar-sized fish together.

This time of year, however, approaching the spawn, their instinct is to herd up. It's possible over the next month to find 300 redfish together, and there's no way they're all going to be the same size.

Something else to keep in mind, juveniles in the bays are rarely over 3 years old - they head to the gulf, so you tend to find redfish in two sizes - small and large.

A couple of weeks ago, these two fish were in the same pod.

[mwatson71]

Back in May 2021, Shoffer and I were headed back to the launch after a fairly disappointing day when we spotted a group of birds working in the distance. We managed to catch up to them and found that deep beneath the birds was a school of bull reds. For the next hour we caught 39" bull reds one after another to the sound of birds chirping and stripping drag.

[Neumie]

Back in May 2021, Shoffer and I were headed back to the launch after a fairly disappointing day when we spotted a group of birds working in the distance. We managed to catch up to them and found that deep beneath the birds was a school of bull reds. For the next hour we caught 39" bull reds one after another to the sound of birds chirping and stripping drag.

Well, that sounds like an awful trip.

[Kitsune]

They can be found together with all sizes, hanging with drum, rays, trout, and other redfish. When they are in the Gulf, the large Redfish tend to group up because they are all on the same mission and reached that age of maturity to do so. This is my understanding of it in my location. This will change from location to location along with other factors.

[Kitsune]

Generally they'll be in the same ballpark, but I have seen a few fish that were much larger than the rest of the school. I also learned by accident that closely following the visible fish will sometimes be trout. If hooked they thrash on the surface so much that they usually spook the reds.

The rat reds or the dinks always beat the big slow ones… this too has been my experience. I almost like blind casting more than tails because of this lol.

[Kitsune]

I was reading this and thought I would share.. it’s LA based but probably accurate to many situations in Texas.

[DHardy]

The bulls seem to keep together. Slots also seem to keep together. You find a lot dispersed in the shallow areas ranging in different sizes. When they’re not biting or spooky, I throw and finesse a Ned rig with a smaller floating bait to sand patches or bring them up out of grass that way.