Last week we experienced higher than normal tides. The combination of a new moon and ocean swell caused by hurricane Bill helped push in enough water to allow the marsh to flood. Flooded marshes in Northeast Florida mean tailing redfish in the spartina grass, hungry fish nosing for fiddler and marsh crabs on hard-bottom flats normally not covered by water. This style of fishing is as exciting as it gets since you are stalking and sight casting to redfish. Friday and Saturday we had a late morning high tide around 5.4 feet, which is the minimum height for flood tide fishing. I took a friend who had only fished sal****er one other time on Friday, so he had no idea on what to expect or how to catch these spooky fish. We rigged our rods with Berkley camo tube lures and Exude crabs, both rigged weedless. We pulled up to a likely flat and waited for the remaining water to flow in. Within 15 minutes, we saw the first redfish tailing.
After some coaching and a few missplaced casts, Joe was able to drag the lure close to a nice tailer and crash, fish on!
