Dreaming of huge redfish on fly? The Florida Panhandle delivers.
Fly fishing for massive bull redfish is a different and challenging game, but the rewards of hooking and catching bull reds on a fly rod make the extra work involved with the long rod well worth it. Captain Baz Yelverton of Gulf Breeze Guide Service in Gulf Breeze, Florida (850-261-9035; [email protected]), has fished the annual bull redfish runs for many years, and he offers some great suggestions for fly rod anglers who want to get their rods bent and strings stretched.
The Key to Bull Redfish on the Fly
“The most important thing is finding the fish,” said Yelverton. “It’s all about sight-fishing. In winter and spring we fish outside the Gulf’s inner sandbar in four to eight feet of water. The fish will be near the bottom. We pole or drift with the motor off. When we see fish, we drop anchor and wait for one to move into range. The key to fishing along the beach is to get the fly down fast to the fish.
“During the running of the bulls—from say October to December—we look for pelicans diving on feeding fish and bait schools. Binoculars are crucial equipment for this search so we can see from horizon to horizon to find the birds over the feeding fish,” he added.
Gearing Up for the Bull Reds
Yelverton prefers 10-weight, 9-foot rods. “The reel doesn’t have to be an incredibly expensive unit,” he said. “Redfish will run strong, but their runs are slow and steady pulls—not scorching fast runs like some other big gamefish.”
Leaders for floating lines are standard 50-pound butt sections connected to 30-pound middle sections with a final three feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon tippet. Floating line leaders will be nine feet in total. For intermediate and sinking fly lines, the leaders will be…
