OFFERINGS FOR THE WADER
Wade-anglers might try the new islands formed northeast of the Louisiana boat cut near the LNG plant. The spoils from the plant's dredging operation have cut a few large barrier islands perfect for wade-fishing and catching redfish. In 2007, anglers tangled with 30- and 40-pound redfish on typical trout fishing gear. In most cases, the gear suffered more than the fish, but the occasional brute got boated. Hit this locale with stout casting rods rigged with 40-pound braided line, and use 1/2-ounce gold spoons; make long casts to intercept reds you see feeding along the shorelines of the islands.

Moving back inland, anglers can find great topwater action just north of the jetties along the Louisiana shoreline. If you can find anything related to inshore fishing that's more exciting than catching a redfish on a topwater plug, call me: I'll have to see it before I can believe it. The raw force and determination behind the average redfish strike on a topwater lure is the kind of thing that keeps many of us on the water for hours when the fishing is good.

MARSH REDS
The marshes in the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge are topnotch sites for topwater redfishing this month. My mentor, the late Ed Holder, taught me about fishing this hotspot and shared what may be the most important thing to keep in mind about reds on top.

Holder counseled redfish anglers to be mindful of their quarry's "cone of vision," as he called it: the zone to try working around when sight-casting to reds. If a redfish's head were a clock face, its eyes would be at 2 and 10 o'clock; the fish can basically see to 4 o'clock on the right side to 8 o'clock on the left, but 5, 6 and 7 o'clock are blind spots. An angler should always try to throw the bait directly in front of the fish or even with its head. The fish may strike at the bait if it hears it hit behind the eyes, but, Holder advised me, the combination of seeing and hearing the action of a topwater plug is what will drive a redfish to hit most of the time.

This in mind, it's worth noting that it's almost a miracle of physics for a redfish to strike baits on the surface. The mouth of a red is designed to descend downward to feed on crustaceans on the bottom, not extend outward to gulp up schooling fish. If you watch closely, you can see the fish turn slightly to the side so it can strike the bait. Either the reds have evolved this ability over the years or Mother Nature goofed up somewhere along the line.

Another point of interest shared by Holder concerns the movement of schools of redfish in marshy lakes like those in the Keith Lake Chain slightly southwest of Sabine. Holder, who was a veteran airplane pilot, said that, while flying over these areas, he could easily make out long mud trails in the water that reveal where schools of redfish are rooting up crabs and small baitfish.

By wearing polarized sunglasses and paying attention to subtle changes in water clarity, an angler can make out these trails and may actually be able to follow the schools. As fall cold fronts begin to move through, redfish schooling activity may be such that almost anyone can find them. When aggressively feeding, a school of reds may look like more like an emerging submarine than a bunch of fish. This isn't always the case in late spring, but it can happen.