I prefer the Sabine River Cut-Off, Shell Cut and the last half-mile of canal west of the Hackberry Bridge. Targeting these zones requires electronics. There are, after all, no openly visible markers to go by. Underwater, however, there are plenty of signs that point to possible redfish "holds," or areas in which the fish congregate.

The ideal hold is a small spot or shelf on the edge of a steep dropoff. This hold might be a 20-square-foot area in 15 feet of water that borders a 30-foot dropoff. In most situations, the 15-foot zone will gradually get shallower as you move toward the bank, but then drop off suddenly into the main channel. Such shallow-to-deep scenarios provide a specific zone in which reds, much like flounder, can feed on baitfish that might also move to this spot. Likewise, areas like these provide reds with a place in which to trade between the deeper main channel and the shallower shoreline.

Locating zones like these is only half the challenge; once you find the habitat, you're faced with the added hurdle of devising a strategy for getting the fish out of the water and into the boat. Position the boat so that the anchor is right on the edge of the hold, which makes it easier to fish vertically.

Use a stout casting rod and a high-caliber baitcasting reel spooled to the brim with a "superline" such as Berkley Fireline or SpiderWire braid. The terminal rig is simple. It consists of only a 1 1/2- or 2-ounce jig head. Finding such specialized jigheads may require a visit to a top-end tackle store, but the trip will prove well worth the effort.

I tip my jigheads with live mullet up to 8 inches long or larger croakers that can be purchased from bait camps. Remember: Big reds have a big mouth that can swallow big bait. I discovered this method for targeting big ship-channel reds by targeting channel flounder -- so don't be surprised if you catch a few of those as well!

Capt. Buddy Oakes of the Hackberry Rod and Gun Club declared the Intracoastal Waterway near Calcasieu to be a great standby spot in the spring. "It's almost always fishable and is a great spot to find reds when other spots aren't producing," he said.

On the eastern side of the state past Lake Pontchartrain, some of the best fishing is around the rigs docked for repair in adjoining channels and marker buoys. As most anglers know, structure is a key component in any fishing venture, and these massive constructions are great places for catching redfish at night under green lights.

I've had some experience fishing these types of buoys in recent years and have learned that it's vital to position yourself exactly where the fish are holding. For example, a couple of years ago I was fishing one of these rigs and there was another boat tied off on the opposite piling. We had the same kind of light and were using the same kind of bait. As the other team of anglers hammered trout, I watched haplessly, catching only a couple of stragglers. When the other boat departed, I targeted their spot and ended up bringing home a limit of fish to grill the following day. The same scenario often plays out with reds, and in most cases, they will hold even tighter to a particular structure -- and often deeper -- than will trout.