Crankbaits are deadly around docks and droopoffs.

Romeka still catches lots of largemouth bass on the St. Johns, and no one believes or has found evidence that redfish are displacing bass. But there’s no denying that plenty of traditional bass hotspots now harbor more redfish than any other species. For example, Romeka has a favorite ledge in the St. Johns within sight of downtown Jacksonville that for years has been a steady producer of largemouths, some pushing the 10-pound mark. That ledge today is stiff with redfish, many of the same size as the bass he has traditionally caught there.

I know a St. Johns shell point that drops from 8 feet to over 20 in a very short distance. It’s not a secret spot, as it’s shown with a channel marker and anglers have fished it for years for catfish, stripers, bream and bass. Today, the place is a sure bet for redfish, with an odd catfish occasionally thrown in, and that’s true summer or winter, spring or autumn. Grub jigs occasionally score well there for reds, and I’ve caught them regularly using jigging spoons tipped with shrimp or artificial scent attractant. When the fish are not aggressive, a whole shrimp or crab bait taken deep on a slip-sinker rig is deadly. By slowly maneuvering a boat along the dropoff, and keeping a bait in position, sooner or later you’ll find the redfish. Sometimes just a few, other times crimson schools.

The river today is loaded with bait, primarily finger mullet, shad, killifish and lots of marine shrimp—and that’s true from Jacksonville to Lake George and beyond (even for marine shrimp, which are thick all the way to Palatka). There also is an abundance of blue crabs in the freshwater reaches of the river, again to Lake George and south. All of these baits are relished by redfish, which surely must factor into the burgeoning river drum population.

In summer, eelgrass beds that line the shallow littoral zone of the St. Johns are alive with all manner of bait, and small blue crabs are especially prolific. Such crabs are easy to catch with a tight-mesh net, and they are extraordinary redfish baits. Slow-trolling them just outside eelgrass beds, as described at the beginning of this story using live shiners, is terrific on redfish, which can’t seem to resist a 3-inch blue crab. This bait also is a plus for redfish as most other river fish species refuse it. Use a short-shank 1/0 or 2/0 hook and barb the crab through the entire shell near a point. Breaking off both pincers helps keep a crab out of grass. Two crabs slow-trolled astern are plenty. In shallow water no weight is needed. In water over five feet a bit of splitshot or sliding sinker rig makes sense to get it down.

Falling tides are best for me when working St. Johns River eelgrass edges for redfish, just as they are in fishing marine creeks and the Intracoastal Waterway along the Northeast Florida coast. This is also historically the best tide phase for fishing shallow water for reds on Gulf of Mexico grassbeds. The reason is simple: Falling water pulls bait out of creeks and flooded marsh, and feeding redfish hold just outside of such places to ambush a meal as it’s sucked to deeper water. Anglers who slow-troll crabs, shiners, shrimp or other baits on the deep side of eelgrass flats, while casting lures into the grass, have the best chance of encountering redfish during falling tides.

During high water, reds surge into grassbeds, creeks and flooded cypress tree cover, chasing bait. Anglers can still catch redfish during high water (wading fishermen can do especially well, but the redfish are more scattered).

Some of the best shallow grassbeds I’ve tested for river redfish are also remarkably similar to spots where I’ve had great redfishing in the Gulf of Mexico and the Indian and Banana rivers. The most consistent places I’ve found for St. Johns reds have broken eelgrass bottoms. Big clumps of eelgrass, with patches of sand on the bankside, as well as between grass “islands,” seem best. This in effect produces sand holes near shore, which are well-known marine gamefish magnets. A few prized river spots have a kind of trough on the shore side of eelgrass patches, which I’m sure harbors bait during falling water and in turn attracts feeding redfish.

While redfish hit a wide variety of lures, 1⁄2-ounce gold spoons work best for me. A new model, offered through a national catalogue, has a painted finish on its convex side and a shiny gold finish on the concave side. I prefer the spoon in golden shiner, firetiger or perch colors—which show well in the eelgrass shallows of the St. Johns. Soft plastic jerkbaits also work well for reds around eelgrass beds, since they can be cast a long way and are completely weedless. At times crankbaits turn on reds, especially near weed-free boat docks, sandbars, rocky spots and bridge abutments.

It pays to use light tackle so that extra-long casts can be made to reds chasing baits far from the boat. For this reason I use 8-pound spinning gear (with a 20-pound shock leader), and 7-foot, fast-action rods. Fly rodders have their innings with river redfish, too, with weedless streamers imitating crabs and shrimp the most productive. I’ve not tried popping bugs yet, but that should attract shallow-grass reds, though they’re not especially adept at taking lures from the top (fun to watch, though).

Bear in mind that this is a new fishery, with much still to be learned. For example, I remember hearing stories years ago about commercial netters slaughtering redfish by the hundreds in deep water off points in the St. Johns River. This was legal, but done hush-hush to protect the fish for netters in the know. It was best in fall, primarily October and November, which also are choice months now for catching big reds in the St. Johns on rod and reel. But I’ve had great river redfishing spring through fall around grassbeds. Only in the very coldest weather and in the very hottest parts of summer do reds hold deep. Once you find them, St. Johns redfish greedily hit jigs, spoons and natural baits—with no fear of nets ruining school for the day.

FS