A few reds for the table

[deceiverbob]

Slept in a little and left Pass Christian about 8:30, and headed south to the Louisiana Marsh. Spent some time with a bait caster looking for some speckled trout but they didn't cooperate. I did mange to hook and land a 43" bull red.for trout. I rigged my 7 wt One with a black redfish crack and went hunting for reds.
Saw a one right away at the first stop and hooked up. I fought the fish for a few minutes and the hook pulled. I never saw the fish streak away so I watched the mud cloud it had made. After a minute it came swimming out slowly so I made another cast. And it ate the fly again. A few later I got it in the net. It measured right at the top end of the slot so I boxed it. I continued deeper into the cove I was fishing but it got to shallow for the bay boat so I headed to spot number two. The tide was too low there also. I decided to work the shore line at the mouth of the cove and started seeing a few more reds with an occasional drum thrown in. I managed to get two more reds to take before I headed home.

 

[karstopo]

Nice fish! I can’t recall a red once hooked and getting free coming back to the same spot and then eating the fly again, but I don’t think I hung around to see if it would happen. What’s the slot there? You wouldn’t happen to have a photo of your black crack fly? What size redfish crack do you like and what hooks?

I don’t use a lot of straight up black crack flies although black might be part of the colors used. I did tie some all black recently. I do a lot of them on size 2 Gamakatsu SC-15. Those hooks a pretty short shanked, small and very light wire, but seem to be quite strong. I also like the heavier wire and longer Mustad big game light hooks in 2 and 4.

I’ve had some pretty good luck with speckled trout using redfish crack. Not so much sight casting but casting to sign and structure. I usually do some up in whites and silvers for the trout. I did some up in two tone Texas Chicken (pink and chartreuse). I haven’t done any two tone in the tail, but thought I might give it a whirl.

 

[deceiverbob]

I have pulled hooks on a few reds and got them to bite again, usually on soft plastics. In one case I saw a friend hook get the same fish to eat 4 times in less than a minute. The slot in Louisiana is 16-27" with a 5 fish limit. In Mississippi it is 18-30" with a 3 fish limit. Both states allow one fish over slot. I don't have handy photo of a black crack. I tie mine on 34007s in size 2 and C68SS in size 1/0. The C68SS is a Mustad tarpon hook that I think has been discontinued. I like the tarpon hooks because I see a lot of large bull reds. It also gives me a strong hook if I happen to see a nice cobia. I tie them with black craft fur, black estaz and black EP dubbing brushes with a few strands of pearl crystal flash in the tail and weight them with lead or brass barbell eyes. I have caught trout on all white cracks. I tied them unweighted and used them last year under lights during the white shrimp run

 

[dylar]

I've had fish on grassflats break off, stop as soon as they feel the pressure end and resume feeding. At times I can still see the fly stuck in their faces. I've switched out patterns and then caught at least a couple of those fish.

 

[deceiverbob]

Karstopo, this is the fly I have been catching the reds on. I caught 4 more on it yesterday at Curlew Island. A small island in the Chandeleur chain.
By now this fly particular fly has caught between 8-12 reds. When I was straightening the fly out for the picture I noticed I didn't use any estaz on
this one, just craft fur, EP brush and some Crystal flash.

 

[karstopo]

Karstopo, this is the fly I have been catching the reds on. I caught 4 more on it yesterday at Curlew Island. A small island in the Chandeleur chain.
By now this fly particular fly has caught between 8-12 reds. When I was straightening the fly out for the picture I noticed I didn't use any estaz on
this one, just craft fur, EP brush and some Crystal flash.

View attachment 9003

Looks good. I see you use red thread. I use burgundy on a lot of my darker ones. I'm not sure it helps, but it's a confidence thing.

I use a couple of wraps of dark Estaz in front of the tail mostly as an anti-fouling measure. I usually tie in 2-4 strands of dark flash but will often pull them out in clear water places. I put in 3 wraps of rootbeer, purple, or black eyelash yarn before the EP. The EP mostly covers up the eyelash yarn and I'll pull out most of the shiny parts of the yarn if the water is very clear. It's just easier for me building in flash if needed and then tearing it out when it's detrimental.

I make my own EP collars with a dubbing loop. I don't like the pre made brushes very much. The loop lets me put in the amount and length of material I choose and there's a lot more variety in EP packs than in pre made brushes.

Thanks for sharing your fly photo. I'll probably have to tie some now that use red thread and no estaz or eyelash yarn!

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[karstopo]

Karstopo, this is the fly I have been catching the reds on. I caught 4 more on it yesterday at Curlew Island. A small island in the Chandeleur chain.
By now this fly particular fly has caught between 8-12 reds. When I was straightening the fly out for the picture I noticed I didn't use any estaz on
this one, just craft fur, EP brush and some Crystal flash.

View attachment 9003

And your EP looks a lot longer than what I tie in.

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[rufcaptain]

Good job on the reds! I use a blue and purple or black and purple pattern occasionally.

 

[deceiverbob]

Some of the guides like to use a big black and purple mullet fly tied with EP fibers for bull reds in the marsh