There's room for spinning and fly tackle alike for flood-tide redfish.
October 22, 2025
By Terry Lacoss
It’s one of Florida’s most exciting redfishing opportunities: targeting flood tides in the Northeast marshes on foot or with a skiff. Dedicated flood tide anglers plan their moves by watching for the next full or new moon, or when a hard northeast wind pushes ocean waters into large expanses of spartina marshes. Back in these fields of grass, spotting a tailing redfish, then approaching within casting distance, is addictive.
What does this fishing look like? At the Fernandina Harbor Marina, we loaded Jeremiah Joost Miller’s shallow water skiff with fly and spinning gear and were off. It was a perfect morning for fly fishing, with a light southwest wind and a flooding tide that would peak at mid-morning. The sky was without a cloud and a rising sun showcased a nearby spartina marsh on Amelia Island only a few minutes boat ride from the historic town of Fernandina Beach.
Jeremiah climbed onto his poling platform with his long push pole in hand. He had the rising sun on his back to better sight fish for his favorite gamefish, redfish. “I have been doing really well fly fishing for redfish during the past few days with this early morning flood tide,” he said. “I also like the fall season, when there is an abundance of forage in the spartina marshes, mainly fiddler crabs which are a redfish delicacy.”
A spoon is a classic marsh offering. Spot Redfish Tails Flood-tide reds will feed head-down and tail up, where their tail protrudes from the marsh, as if waving to the angler. Minutes after Jeremiah had poled his skiff into the flooded marsh, he spotted a redfish tail. “Terry, there is a tailing redfish at one o’clock!” Jeremiah announced with lots of fish-catching energy.
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After poling within casting distance of the fish, Jeremiah quickly climbed down from his platform and loaded his 7-weight fly rod with a pair of skilled back casts. He cast his hand-tied redfish fly just beyond the fish.
With a few sharp strips of his 8-weight floating fly line, Jeremiah brought his black/purple marabou fly in front of the tailing redfish. A large boil in the spartina marsh indicated that the redfish had been tricked into taking the feathered hook.
“Got him!” Jeremiah said. “This is a good redfish, Terry, looks to weigh over six pounds.”
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At the hookset, Jeremiah applied a straight, hard strip to his fly line, ensuring that his fly was well set. Solid pressure with his rod held high minimized the chance of the hooked redfish becoming tangled in the thick marsh grasses.
Slowly, the redfish came to the side of the skiff and Jeremiah gently secured his golden colored catch, photographed and then gently released it. We saw several other redfish on the flooded flat but could not get close enough to cast.
Reds that roam the flats enter and exit by way of channels and creeks. These kayakers are in position to score. Reds Love Crab Departing the downtown Fernandina Beach marsh, we ran a mile or so past the SR-200 “Shave” Bridge and were now poling on our second, beautiful, flooded marsh. “I have been doing real well fly fishing on this particular marsh flat with my clients during the past few days as well during these high, flooding tides,” Jeremiah said. “There has also been a lot of mullet on this flooded marsh and water birds, too. Both are an excellent indication that redfish should be feeding here as well.”
Redfish tailing on a flooded spartina marsh will typically be feeding on fiddler crabs and small blue crabs. The crabs are bottom-dwellers for the most part, which explains why redfish will take them head down and tail up on flooded spartina marshes.
Fiddler crabs make their home on both saltwater and brackish mud flats and are the main attraction for redfish migrating onto flooded spartina marshes. The male’s claw is much larger than their smaller claw, while the female claws are both small and of the same size. Fiddler crabs are continually shedding their shells as they grow and when a claw is lost a new one will grow.
Fiddler crabs will also turn dark in the day and light after sunset.
Many flood tide fly fishermen prefer an 8- or 9-weight fly rod with a weight forward floating fly line. A 9-foot tapered monofilament leader with a 20-pound-test tippet will hold most flood tide redfish. Popular flies when targeting tailing redfish include the Dupre Spoon-Fly , crab patterns, and a variety of shrimp patterns.
Baitcast and spinning gear includes spoons and frogs. Reds on Traditional Gear Spinning or casting tackle also works well for flood tide redfish with 15-pound hi-visibility braided fishing line as a main line. The hi-vis braid helps keep you in touch when your redfish is running in the flooded marsh—although in many cases, a highway of torn grasses and mud will point the way. A 3-foot length of 20-pound fluorocarbon monofilament fishing line is attached to the braided fishing line using back-to-back uni-knots.
My favorite lure is a 3⁄4-ounce, gold Johnson spoon retrieved slowly into the strike zone where redfish are tailing. Also, a ¼-ounce chartreuse lead head jig rigged with a plastic shrimp or swimming mullet in the darker color patterns works well.
Locating the right spartina marsh is key, and having a good pair of binoculars is advantageous for spotting those waving tails. During a Cabela’s redfish championship, my son Terry David and I keyed in on the portion of the day when a flood tide was arriving late afternoon. We had 30 minutes before it was time to stop fishing and weigh what we hoped would be two redfish limits. It was also a full moon with a 15-knot northeast wind, perfect conditions for flood tide redfishing.
We had done a lot of research on which marshes were holding flood tide redfish on the two days of the event. Using Google Earth helped tremendously—we were looking for areas where there is a major creek that feeds the marsh, as well as mud bottom with several oyster mounds. Finding mullet schooling in the open waters close to the marshes also indicated there was a lot of algae and plankton in the nearby bay. We suspected this close-by food chain would migrate into the flooding marshes.
Prior to the flood tide, we had little success in landing two legal redfish. However, within a few casts with a ¾-ounce gold spoon when the flood tide arrived, we had boated our two redfish limit and won the championship. A similar situation happened in Louisiana with a full moon and a flood tide: Two casts and we won the ESPN championship when we’d had little success during the day.
Wade fishermen are recommended to wear long pants as marsh grasses have sharp points which may inflict annoying stings. A good pair of thick rubber sole shoes is a must, as oyster shells and other crustaceans will pierce an inferior shoe.
There are many suitable patterns for fly-fishing for redfish. Hot Fishing When It Cools The best flood tide redfishing comes during the fall when water temperatures are at least 65 degrees. In some places, wade fishermen can park their vehicle alongside a flooding roadside marsh in Northeast Florida and wade right in.
There has also been more interest in this fishery among kayak fishermen in recent years. Fishermen can float their kayak in only inches of water, allowing them to paddle right up within casting distance of a tailing redfish. Paddling or poling onto a flooded spartina marsh is also easy on the environment, saving the vital marsh habitats from an electric motor or outboard propeller. No sense tearing up the bottom and spartina grasses. (A pushpole is an excellent tool on a skiff.)
Northeast Florida has many public boat ramps where kayakers can launch and be casting for flood tide redfish within a few paddles. In many cases, unloading your kayak just off from a highway located next to a large spartina marsh gives access to tailing redfish where powerboaters have little or no access. Kayakers be prepared! A broad-shouldered tailing redfish is capable of towing both kayak and angler. Keeping your rod tip high during a redfish tow will help from keeping your line and hooked fish from becoming entangled in the spartina grasses.
October and into the first week or so of November is among the better periods for targeting flood tide reds. However, late spring and summer will find redfish feeding in the flooded marshes as well. A 5.4-foot tide or greater is ideal for the spartina marshes to flood high enough for the redfish to move up and feed. This typically comes during a full or new moon phase and can last three to four days. If there is a strong sea breeze, which can raise the tide height to as much as 7.4 feet, the higher water level in the marsh can produce great conditions for tailing redfish.
Anglers work into a marsh with pushpole, attentive to signs of fish. Also in Redfish Roundup Read more about red fishing in Florida.
This article was featured as part of "Redfish Roundup" in the October issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe .
