Rubber worms-They’re not just for Largemouths anymore!!!!
November 25th, 2008Greetings all,
Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away, but the winter Redfish bite is in full swing. November through January will provide some of the best Redfish fishing that you will find all year. The water is cooling off, the fish are feeding heavily in anticipation of the cold days and nights to come and they are schooling on the flats. The story that follows will depict my 20+Redfish day that I had this past weekend. If you’re up for a good story, then continue on reading, you might learn something new. If not, just be aware that the Redfish are biting and now is the time to go fishing if you want to have lots of bites.
This past Sunday, I took advantage of a bluebird day and hit the flats early in anticipation of finding schooling reds. As I arrived on scene at one of my favorite Redfish flats, I eased the trolling motor into the water and quietly began stalking my prey of the day. It didn’t take long to see the tell tale sign of waking Redfish as they felt my presence and began to move away from the boat. Not one, not two, but three different schools. With my trusty buck tail jig, tipped with a Berkley gulp swimming mullet cocked and ready upon my 7 foot spinning rod, I cast in front of the closest school and set the hook as the braid came taught!! As the fish started stripping line off my 30 series spinning reel, I forgot about the cold chill of the morning and soaked in the rays of the early dawn.
After doing battle with chunky Redfish for several minutes, the fish finally came along boatside. After I removed the jig from the fish’s mouth, I placed the fish back into the water and began to slowly push it back and forth forcing the oxygen filled water across it’s gills, bringing life back into it’s chilly body.
This was one of hundreds of fish I would see today, though most would not bite until the ebb of the afternoon. As the temperature ascending into the lower 50’s and the warmer ocean waters began to flood the flat, I knew things were going to turn around. Once again, I returned to the flat where I had seen so many fish first thing in the morning, but was forced to retreat from the fading water or risk being stuck high and dry for the next 6 hours. I timed my return perfectly as I had just enough water to slip back onto the flat and reach the grass beds and I still have several hours of ebb left.
As I quietly slipped along the grass bank, I once again spotted rippling water from a Redfish gliding along the grass. I cast my jig up ahead of the waking fish. As I slowly began to bounce the jig along the bottom, through the braid I felt the familiar “thump” of the Redfish inhaling the tiny jig. As I set the hook, the scenario of the early morning once again repeated itself. I continued to play out this routine eleven more times over the next hour and a half or so. When I would hook up, I would stake down and work the area until the bite ceased, then I would move a little further. It wasn’t until I had fish number twelve in the boat that I decided to change tactics, and let me tell you, I sure am glad that I did.
When you get into feeding fish, it’s easy to “forget” about trying new things, and stick with what works. However, this is the best time to try new things to see if they will work. You know that the fish are there. You know that they are feeding. What you don’t know is, “will they eat this? Or will they eat that?” I have often said, that if you can catch a Large mouth Bass on it, a Redfish will eat it. Live bait, soft plastics, top water plugs, spinner baits; all of these are well known large mouth bass catchers. But what is the most famous large mouth bass bait? A rubber worm of course! Rubber worms have been catching Large mouth Bass for as long as anyone can remember. Well folks, i am here to tell you that rubber worms aren’t just for Large mouths anymore!!
The night before as I was rigging my tackle for the days fishing to come, I decided to rig up a rubber worm on my bait casting rod Carolina style. As always, with all of my rods, I spliced in an 18-24″ piece of fluorocarbon to the Power Pro braid that spools all of my reels. A uni-uni knot is my knot of choice for making this connection. To the fluorocarbon leader, I slid on a 1/4oz bullet weight and then tied on a 5/0 Gamakatsu black nickel worm hook. I rigged the rubber worm so that the point of hook was barely embedded back into the bait, weedless style.
By this time, the ebb had the water depth along the grass bank up to about two feet or so. As my Minn Kota trolling motor slowly propelled me parallel to the shore line, I cast my rubber worm up to the grass line. I slowly bumped the worm along, feeling the scattered oyster shells across the muddy bottom. Again, I repeated the cast, but to no avail. On my third cast, I had twitched the rubber worm two or three times when again, I felt the familiar “thump” of a Redfish and watched my line as it began to swim away from the grassy bank. I reeled up my slack and jerked my rod hard as it bent double while the hook drove into the fishes jaw. The fish immediately turned on the after “thrusters” as it bolted toward the grass, in a futile effort to break the braid against the abrasive grass line. My suspicions were confirmed, rubber worms aren’t just for Large mouth Bass anymore.
Over the next hour, eight upper sized slot Reds and a few pups fell victim to the rubber worm, and a few more were lucky enough to either throw the hook or miss the hook set before becoming my next release. The action was fast, furious and fun. If I had only had clients on board to share it with, it would have been priceless. One thing you can count on though, A box of rubber worms, worm hooks and bullet weights will be part of my tackle box staple from now on. The next time you think about heading out for Redfish, take along some rubber worms and get ready for some drag screaming, rod bending fun.
Tight lines to all!!
Capt. Brent
