Last week I explored the Crystal River waters along Florida’s panhandle and took a day to target redfish with Captain Danny Allen out of Cedar Key Florida.

I’ve fished for reds plenty of times in Mississippi, Louisiana and other such locales containing arenas of flat muddy bottoms, but this spot was a little bit different.

The Crystal River waters are a combination of sandy flats that lead into grassy banks, but with the added sticky structure of submarine limestone chunks and mussel beds in the muck. The snaggy structure required we utilize lures that would bounce over the rocks, thus we went for spoons. ” I’ll set the Power Pole down about 50 feet off the banks, it allows us to stay in one spot and work an entire area over well,” said Allen. “Make the cast right to the grassbanks, especially in the little cubby holes that have that limestone rock, that’s where the reds push up on the flats on the flood tides and hang.”

We launched Johnson Silver Minnow spoons in ¼ to ½ ounce sizes chartreuse/silver, black/sliver and straight up gold colorings. For gear, as Crystal River reds generally range between 2 to 15 pounds or so, go with a 7 to 8 foot medium power, fast action rod fit with a medium power reel to fit the bill, such as an Okuma EVX-S-711Mb, 7 foot 1-inch rod rated 6-12lbs matched with a Penn 2500 Battle reel or an Okuma Inspira 40B. Spool with 30-pound Yo-Zuri Braid, uni to uni knot a 6 foot section of 25 to 30-pound Yo-Zuri TopKnot Fluorocarbon Leader, to which a loop knot tied directly to the spoon.

Regarding method, Allen adds, ““I like to slow roll the lure, meaning I bring it in at a slow to moderate pace so it wobbles just above the seafloor. If I’m really bumping stuff, I will reel just a hair faster so as not to snag up.” The slow, mesmerizing flash of the spoon gets shellacked by redfish; they simply cannot let the attraction pass by unmolested. In a two hour session, we dialed in 15 redfish from schoolie size up to slot at 26 inches long, and left them biting. The spoons hit their mark, and are the perfect lure when hitting structure areas for reds.

Southern Salt Charters
Captain Danny Allen
352.215.3686
www.cedarkeyoutfitters.com