Gulf Coast Fisherman Magazine Vol 39 No 2 - Spring 2015 | Page 32

Shallow Reds
(Continued from page 14.)

to respond to either of the first two
techniques, we go to Plan C – a weedless
rigged Berkley Gulp Shrimp or Jerkbait,”
Randazzo said. “Here, we accomplish
several key goals. We want the lure to
stop/pause in the fish’s scope of vision.
If the fish doesn’t see the lure at some
point he usually won’t engage it.
Therefore, we use the weedlesss rig to
allow us to set it on the bottom a few feet
ahead of a slow moving redfish.”
“We wait for the fish to approach the
lure, given his angle and speed. We may
have to twitch it ever so slightly to get
the attention of the redfish if he doesn’t
see it at first – just enough to say, ‘look
over here.’ If we move the lure, we don’t
want it to be hung in the grass; we want
it to stay clean and not get lost in the
muck.”
The reason Randazzo uses the Gulp
bait as his closer is that their scent keeps
“fishing” even when left stationary. Even
spooky reds, he said, will zero in on the
enticing aroma, so this gives him and his
anglers every opportunity to attract the
not-so-eager fish.
Holeman adds a few bait tips of his
own. First, gold spoons are renowned for
their search bait prowess and windcheating castability, but reds get wise to
them after seeing too many. When he
wants the dynamics and performance of
a weedless spoon without the flash
liability, Holeman spray paints the lure
black. Reds don’t seem to mind the da