We fished offshore on some close in wrecks this week looking for sheepshead. Like the redfish, they will migrate to close in wrecks and artificial reefs this time of year. We did find some sheepshead, but we were treated to some awesome redfish as well!
These breeder reds school offshore this time of year preparing to spawn. As the water warms, the spawn takes place and literally thousands of these thirty pound and up fish can be seen in huge schools going through their spawning ritual on the surface.
It is precisely this spawning ritual that almost wiped the redfish out not too many years ago. Before they were protected by limits and the net ban in place in many states, commercial boats would use spotter planes to locate the huge schools in the Gulf of Mexico. It didn’t take long to put a huge hole in the breeding population, and accordingly, the stock went down quickly.
Made popular by a New Orleans chef, redfish were really not that sought after commercially. But, once the popularity of “blackened redfish” soared, the redfish population dropped quickly.
We caught a number of these fish this week, fishing on the bottom. They would readily take any bait we presented. All of them were oversize – over the 18 to 27 inch slot limit, so they all had to be released.
There is a serious problem with catching these huge reds in deep water. Redfish are normally a shallow water species, and they have great difficulty regulating their air bladder when coming to the surface. Most bottom fish caught in less than 90 feet of water can be released unharmed. If the water is deeper than that, the air bladders on the fish will expand into the fish’s throat, and it has to be pricked with a small hole to allow the fish to return to the deeper water.
Redfish lack the ability to keep up with the changing water pressure as quickly as other fish, and these big reds come to the surface often with their air bladders coming out of their mouth.
We use a small ice pick, pierce a small hole in the air bladder and release the big redfish. They swim right off and return to the bottom, and as far as we can tell, their survival rate is high.
That said, I have an issue with going directly after these big fish during the spawn. Perhaps the best thing we can do is avoid them until they return to shallower water. Allow the big ones to breed and create a larger stock for the fishery!
We caught a number of other fish on this trip, and they should be available in good numbers until the water begins to warm. Until then, I think we need to target anything except the big reds. I talked to several guides, and all of them said they could make good money taking clients out to catch these “logs.” All of them also said they leave the reds alone when they are out on the reef because they are spawning.
Turns out our guides all know not to bite the hand that feeds them! I hope the rest of us can take a lesson from them!
