Catching pressured, finicky redfish
Lessinger and Totten put on a three-day clinic in approaching one of the toughest inshore fisheries
If ever there was a template for chasing highly pressured, finicky redfish, the 2009 Redfish Cup tournament in Charlotte Harbor, Fla., foots the bill.
Local anglers Ozzie Lessinger and Jeff Totten put on a three-day clinic on how to approach one of the toughest inshore fisheries in the country by leading from start to finish in the event and taking home the $40,000 top prize.
Their final day stringer of 13.64-pounds was more than 3 pounds heavier than second place Joe Crosby and Rick Steckelberg.
Third place belonged to Richard Freund and Derek Carlson, with a final-day weight of 9.60 pounds. Kevin and Cajun Phil Broussard were fourth with a two-fish limit of 9.39 pounds. Rounding out the top five were brothers Chris and Ron Hueston, with one redfish at 3.10 pounds.
In years past redfish tournaments in Charlotte Harbor have provided more heartache and frustration than anything else. Very seldom do you see any team that can hold up consistent weights over a thee-day period. But when you look at the top two teams specifically and how they approached their competition days it is easy to glean a lesson or two on how to approach a tough inshore fishery.
Each of them had entirely different game plans. Both worked well, obviously. But they were so widely opposite of each other that just about any angler can tailor make them to fit their own style. If they had one similarity it was making sure that their casts with artificial bait were as close to looking and being real bait as possible.
Lessinger and Totten had experience on their side. Nothing beats that for a day on the water.
"Where we fished is a flat I guide on everyday,'' Lessinger said. "I know it intimately. That helped more than anything. Knowing the fish and how they may or may not react is key to everything. But it takes a lot of time, you just don't go out there and figure it out."
What helps, though, and can be relayed to anywhere and any body is the mental attitude Lessinger and Totten utilize every day.
"You can call me crazy if you want, but I firmly believe that biggest difference is when I cast to a fish, I believe it is going to bite,'' he said. "Having confidence is so important. You have to think as soon as you see a fish that you can make him eat."
Anglers who have spent a day in a flats boat in tough, pressured water may agree. But it's hard to build that confidence if you aren't getting bites. Areas along the Florida coast are renowned for that type of fishing. The image of a flats boat with two stooped anglers one on the bow of the boat, one on a poling platform sneaking around in shallow water is one that lives on.
Stealth is key. But while dozens of other of the top redfish anglers in the country were struggling as they sneaked around, Lessinger and Totten concentrated on other things. They fished their flat in a 24-foot Century boat, with trolling motor down in 18 inches of water. It's not the typical scene. They believe in stealth, utilizing the trolling motor only when they have to, hoping the wind will push them quietly when possible.
"On Day One we caught seven keepers, while another team was right there with us and they never caught a keeper,'' Lessinger said. "They asked at the end of the day, 'What are you doing that we're not doing?'"
Lessinger's first response was about having confidence. The next is the meat for being able to catch the most finicky of fish, even in those areas where finicky quickly transforms to downright spooky.
Like many anglers in Florida waters, Lessinger and Totten are sight fishermen, passing as quietly as possible through an area, spotting a redfish and making a skilled and precise cast to it. They go in knowing that it is not a high-percentage game.
"I feel like if I see 15 fish on a pass, I will catch maybe four of them,'' Lessinger said. "That's just the way it is."
Within that 15 he is looking for a combination of factors to come together at the same time. "Ideally, I like a fish that is moving,'' he said. "And I want that fish to be moving from left to right or from right to left. It's hard when they are moving away or coming straight at me." But the real key, regardless of the direction the fish is moving, is a precise cast.
"I want my jig to go in front of that fish's nose within 3- or 4-inches. If I can do that, one of two things will happen. He will either run for the hills or he will eat it."
Sounds simple enough. And for those anglers who are accustomed to watching redfish run for the hills it's almost fanciful. But there is a method to Lessinger's tactic. That method is within the precise nature of the cast.
"If you bring a bait that doesn't make noise across the top of a redfish it will probably spook him,'' he said. "You have to remember the mindset of the fish you are fishing for. They are, for the most part, bottom feeders so they are concentrated on the what is in front of them and specifically what is below them."
In an inshore environment full of predators, including birds that can and do swoop in from above, a redfish's first reaction will likely be run for the hills.
"If you are sitting in your living room watching TV and a bug flies by your ear, you will likely jump because that's not what you were expecting,'' Lessinger explained. "But if you see a bug come in front of you, you will likely act in a different manner.
"When I'm casting to a redfish, I want to slip my jig into his concentration area, where he's moving along and getting ready to pounce on food. If I'm as much as 6 inches away from his nose, often that's far enough for him to get too good a look at that bait. But if it comes in where he's ready to pounce, where he's looking and I can get him to react, I will catch him."
Lessinger and Totten's tactic relies on skills that have been honed by countless hours of casting to a precise target. If that's not within your skill set, then listen to how Crosby and Steckelberg approach those tougher than average scenarios.
"We immediately eliminate sight fishing,'' Crosby said. "I feel like by the time I see a redfish in those waters, it's already seen me and it's already spooked."
The feeling is common among anglers who sometimes lay down the artificial and go with live bait. That's not possible in competitive events like the Redfish Cup, where live bait is strictly prohibited. And for anglers who want the challenge of fishing with artificial, Crosby's advice is real simple.
"When I'm in those waters I go back to the basics of fishing,'' he said. "Instead of looking for fish, we're looking for places where fish should be, making long casts to cover and fishing the edges of it.
"Punta Gorda has some of the most pressured water out there. Those fish feel you even thinking about going fishing for them, so you have to be quiet and stealthy. We still get on the poling platform and sneak around. But we're not specifically looking for a cruising redfish.
"We concentrate on grass pods or sand holes. We know redfish feed around those and you can see those much further than you can a redfish that is not only trying to hide from you but from the things it's wanting to eat."
The basics of fishing — and all wildlife really — is that these creatures are edge oriented. Knowing and understanding the predator/prey relationship and how fish utilize cover is a big step in putting Crosby and Steckelberg in a position to catch them.
"We stick with the edges on everything,'' Crosby said. "We don't waste our time casting across the middle of sand hole, we make long casts to the edges. That way we are able to trigger a reaction bite for fish that shouldn't even know that we are around. We're putting our lures right where it is natural for a bait to actually be and taking advantage of the predator within the redfish."
Crosby and Steckelberg may make more casts than the average redfish sight-fishing angler but in highly pressured areas, they feel nothing can replace the idea of simply stepping back to the basics and concentrating on the edges.
"Most of the time, even when you see redfish they are cruising the edges of something — sand holes, grass edges, mangroves — it's just up to us to keep fan casting and putting our bait where the redfish know the real bait is actually living."
In the case of the Redfish Cup tournament, the pair actually caught several of their keepers by casting spoons to weed edges and ripping it out. That type action doesn't normally jive with how anglers approach tough conditions.
"But that's exactly how the real thing works,'' Crosby said.
