Find the food… find the fish, maybe the most obvious pattern anglers can use to locate prized game fish. And when I’m on the water with my Flats Class Charter clients, I constantly re-enforce to them that they must focus on bait activity first to remain in the area where game fish are feeding. An experienced angler knows what signs to look for when he approaches the zone he intends to fish; conversely if these “signs of life” are not present he’ll know he’s probably wasting his time and needs to look elsewhere.
Some of the prime indicators that a flat or body of water is holding game fish are working birds, active mullet, glass minnow or pilchard schools at the surface, and finally visual confirmation of ample shrimp or crab populations in the area. These visual cues on the flat, tell me that game fish are likely around and give me a big head start on how to “match the hatch”. When you hear the term “match the hatch”, it simply means mimic the predominant forage in the area… here’ an example, I prefer tube baits to match shrimp and top water plugs to correspond with mullet.
I’ll break down the signals for you that I consider crucial “signs of life” activity and what they should mean to you the angler. We’ll look at wading birds first, these types of birds in numbers on a low-tide flat usually indicate plenty of grazing forage for tailing redfish & sheepshead… lots of marine worms and small shrimp life should be available when you see wading birds actively working. Choose lures that imitate these crustaceans and fish them slow to maximize your results when you see this scenario at hand.
Now let’s tackle diving birds, when I see brown pelicans and terns diving on bait fish, I know for certain they’ll be numerous predators such as Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, ladyfish, jacks, bonito, and even sharks. After a few minutes of observation I’ll match my lures to mimic the flashing bait fish being attacked from the diving birds… some of my favorites include silver Clark spoons, Mirro-dines, and small sharply retrieved white buck tail jigs. An up-tempo retrieve is usually required in this particular situation to duplicate the frenzied bait fish!
When I notice heavy mullet activity on an incoming tide, I feel confident that redfish, snook, and big trout will be in the neighborhood. Big active mullet schools provide the perfect recipe for anglers to toss a variety of artificial lures with good success because of the mud and turbulence the school creates as it moves across the flat. Lures like spoons, 5” soft plastic flukes, and top water plugs get the attention of all the hungry predators using the mullet school to turn up a morsel or two. Game fish using big mullet schools are often distracted and are very aggressive… just be careful not to spook the mullet and you’ll catch plenty of fish.
Small glass minnow pods and pilchard schools (sizzle bait) over grass flats are key signs that the flat is alive with ambush predators like speckled trout, ladyfish, and snook. This is a textbook opportunity to employ a Mirro-dine or a Mirro-minnow suspending twitch bait… these lures do the best job of matching the hatch in this scenario. In fact, it has to be one of my favorite patterns in the spring and summer… bar none.
Even during the tarpon run, I look for big boiling threadfin schools (big baits) along the beaches, shipping channels, and bridges… this is an undeniable protein source that the tarpon are following during the late spring and through the summer months. Net these big baits (threadfins) up and launch them in front of a slow rolling school of poons and hang on! Big threadfin schools are also magnets for schoolie kingfish, big Spanish mackerel, and cobia.
Finally the crustacean pattern… it’s not as apparent as the above signals. You have to pay close attention for occasional fleeing shrimp hopping along the grass shoreline or for crabs making paddle signatures on the surface at low tide. Tuning in to this pattern requires a little more visual awareness on the anglers part… here are a few tips aside from the obvious ones above. Ask yourself do you see other predators that target shrimp or crabs like herons & egrets, big southern stingrays or sheepshead working the flat? Time of year also can be a factor… is there a crab hatch or shrimp run happening right now even if it’s not that evident where you are currently fishing? Once you determine that there is a proliferation of crustaceans in the area, often times the color and tempo of the retrieve is more important than the bait profile! Colors based around browns and greens usually excel in areas where the fish are tuned into the crustacean pattern… some of my favorite lures to use in this scenario are tubes, Rage Tail shrimp & crab soft plastics, and a dark colored buck tail jig.
In closing, I re-iterate to my charter clients, trip after trip, you need to find the food source first and the predator fish you are targeting won’t be far behind… it’s simple math “find the prey = find the predator”.
Keep’em Bent,
Capt. C.A. Richardson
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Really great article. Taught me some new things & confirmed some old ones.