No, but anecdotal story anyway. I don't have kids of my own yet, but I take a couple of my good friends' fishing every now and then because my friends aren't much into fishing themselves. I've gotten close with one of them over the years, and when he was about 8, I started taking him redfishing. I was also in my early 20s and didn't really know much about kids/life/whatever (maybe I still don't

). I brought him sight fishing like 5 times without success. I didn't get frustrated in the least, but he would get very aggravated with himself and lose interest very quickly. It got worse throughout the trips. I was just too dense to really realize what was happening.

Thankfully, one of my buddies made a comment to me about it, so I started taking him bait chunking (even though I hated it). He'd load up a box with sheepshead and redfish and have the time of his life. Fast forward 8 years or so to now, and he's 16 wanting his dad to buy him a poling skiff so he can pick up fly fishing for redfish

. So, all's well that ends well, but I learned to take the baby steps the hard way.

As someone that spends as much time and energy sightfishing redfish (maybe you're the same), I often lose sight of how much difference experience makes when it comes to being successful to that end, and how much harder it is than going out and throwing a spinning rod with a popping cork. Again, not that there is anything wrong with bait chunking, because there absolutely isn't. It just took me a while to realize that taking other people fishing is a lot more about them than it is about me. Kids or otherwise.

TL;DR: baby steps.

I see you're in Abita. I'm in Covington. Where is your primary fishing area and what kind of boat do you have?

This post was edited on 5/4/20 at 6:14 pm

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Posted by Friedbrie

Abita Springs

Member since Jun 2018

1519 posts

Posted on 5/4/20 at 6:36 pm to bluemoons

quote:
I see you're in Abita. I'm in Covington. Where is your primary fishing area and what kind of boat do you have?

Yes sir.

I use a Wilderness Ride 135 with an air max pro seat (very comfy). It's a bit heavy, especially since I car top it, but I love the stability and it is great for sight fishing. As far as the the fishing area, primarily Buras. I've caught many nice reds there the past couple of years. Ive been thinking about trying Reggio soon. A friend of mine has been doing well there. Also, I wouldn't mind trying some spots closer too home.

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Posted by bluemoons

the marsh

Member since Oct 2012

5500 posts

Posted on 5/5/20 at 7:20 am to Friedbrie

Give Reggio a shot. It’s very kayak friendly. Lots of grass around there right now but kayaks can get a lot of places boats can’t.

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Posted by keakar

Member since Jan 2017

29862 posts

Posted on 5/5/20 at 11:53 am to Hog Zealot

quote:
I wade and kayak fish a large flat for reds. I’ve had that experience a few times where the bait action wasn’t bringing them in.

Most of my successful bites on those types of fish are to throw my soft plastic way up in front of them and just let it sit on bottom. As they tail and work their way across the flat I’ll lightly twitch my bait on the bottom to kick up some mud/grass. For a fickle fish that subtle action brings it over for a look.

In my experience a tailing red is a feeding red but not always “aggressive” to a bite.

this ^^^^^

sometimes the wrong color or shape of bait will just be ignored completely. i was having a similar day once and the black and the chartreuse plastic colors got no reaction but as soon as i put and amber color with red glitter it got nailed on every cast. some days color isnt that important and some days its very important.

and yes, tailing reds are feeding, you see the tail because they are nosing into the muck digging up snails and critters to eat, slack tides can cause them to be more at rest and not feed as actively to chase baits so your slack tide helped to cause them to be less interested in your baits

This post was edited on 5/5/20 at 7:39 pm

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