For example: If the tidal charts are calling for a 6-inch low tidal movement at the Lake Borgne entrance, and for two days you have had a 25-m.p.h. south wind blowing, you might not notice a depth change at all. In fact, you might have water higher than expected because of the south wind pushing a bunch of water, which can spark redfish feeding.

If you have a big wind blowing, it'll often push baitfish against the north shoreline of a bay system, or concentrate them in areas, like a protected cove, in which the wind's effects are lessened. If the reds are feeding on a flat coming out of a marsh, you need to know if there'll be water on those flats; if you're expecting them to be feeding on the edge of an area to which baitfish are clinging on high tides, you'll want to find the tides that're high and falling.

If it's big reds you want, the mud lumps out of Southwest Pass are great spots at which to get them. "There are some huge reds out there, and that area offers some of the best chance you have for catching trophy-sized reds," said. Capt. Scott Avanzino. He does most of his fishing for bigger fare offshore, but recognizes the trophy potential of this area.

For extra-large reds, fishing live or fresh dead bait is the way to go. There always seem to be a few over-sized reds lurking in the deeper holes along the jetty wall. My favorite bait is a large live croaker rigged with a circle hook or Daiichi Tru-Turn hook. Using croakers means that smaller trash fish won't bother the bait, and the circle hook virtually guarantees a lip-hooked fish, in turn all but assuring the live release of the fish. Anglers shouldn't be afraid to use the largest croaker they can catch. I've caught bull reds using foot-long croakers. The bigger the bait, the bigger the fish.

For most of the year, bull reds dwell in spots like the mud lumps and hang around oil platforms and other structure in the Gulf of Mexico, but during the late-summer/early-fall period, the urge to spawn draws them toward high-salinity waters like those found in the surf in spots like Grand Isle.

According to a redfish profile created by Jerald Horst of Louisiana State University for rodnreel.com, "During this period, male red drum stake out, in large numbers, the prime spawning areas in and near the passes, being ready to spawn virtually every night. There they form large schools at night, called drumming aggregations, because of the drumming sound that they make with their air bladders to attract females.

"Females on the other hand, tend to appear at these areas only when immediately ready to spawn, which seems to be once every two to seven days. This means that the large majority of redfish taken during this time by recreational fishermen are males, rather than females."