Entry 223-4
Sleeper Lures for Redfish with Ray Van Horn
Editor’s Note: On October 7, 2007, Ray Van Horn of Tarpon Springs, Florida, Strike King Pro Team member, and his partner, C.A. Richardson of St. Petersburg, Florida, finished in third place in the 2007 Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup tournament in Morehead City, North Carolina. Van Horn has learned to convert Strike King’s bass-fishing lures to salt-water lures and then fish those lures to catch tournament-size redfish. This week, he’ll tell us about the sleeper lures he uses to catch redfish.
Part 4: The Pitch Bait
Quesion: Ray, how do you fish a pitch bait?
Van Horn: We use a baitcasting reel with 50-pound-test braided line. We’ll have 1- to 1- 1/2-feet of 30-pound-test fluorocarbon line tied directly to the braided line. On the end of the fluorocarbon, we’ll have a 1/16-ounce Saltwater Flats Jig Head. If the redfish are spooky, we’ll use an unpainted head. If the water is a little cloudy, or the redfish are aggressive, we’ll use a chartreuse head. Then we can see the head of the jig. Our baits will either be a Zulu, a Z Too, a Zero or a tube. If we want a really-stealthy presentation, we’ll use the Zero because of its bulk and its slow fall. If the fish are really aggressive, we may use a Z Too, which falls a little faster. Our favorite colors are watermelon-red and avocado-red. If the redfish are feeding on mullet, we’ll use either the Glass Minnow or the Zulu. If there aren’t pinfish around, we’ll fish a tube. But if pinfish are present, we’ll either use a Zero, a Zulu or a Z Too. In deep water, we’ll usually fish a Z Too because it drops slower than the Zero.
This is sight fishing at its finest. We’re either poling our boat or using our trolling motor on a very-slow speed, seeing the fish and then pitching the bait to them. We’re usually pitching 30 feet or less, using an underhand roll cast like bass fishermen do when they want to shoot the bait across the surface of the water only 2- or 3-inches above the water. We want to put the bait right in front of the fish’s face, so it will charge hard and eat it. When we’re using this tactic, we’ll cut the 5-inch Zero to about 4 inches.
For more information about catching redfish with Strike King lures, check your local TV stations to watch “Flats Class,” TV show, or visit the Flats Class website.
Next: Opposites Attract
Contents:
- Part 1: The Redfish Magic and the Pure Poison
- Part 2: Fishing the Glass Minnow
- Part 3: Drop Shotting for Redfish – Power Finesse Fishing
- Part 4: The Pitch Bait
- Part 5: Opposites Attract
