When I moved to Pensacola Florida nine years ago, I studied the waters and did everything I could to become an expert on fishing this area.  I had no intention of becoming a guide, but as time passed by, I couldn’t avoid it, and now I’ve been a guide for the past 5 years.  

I first stumbled across a Mann’s bait lure when I first moved to Florida, and an old-timer showed me that live bait is not always the best choice.  He pulled out what looked like a lure from the dark ages with bite marks along its sides and some of the paint worn off.  Being from the north and seeing a lure over 6 inches long looked very strange to me. The hooks were much larger than any bass lure I had used up north, but I was eager to learn, so I put the lure he handed me on my line, and a few minutes later I was hooked up with a spectacular 25 lb golden redfish.  The redfish was hooked on a Mann’s, and from that day forward, so was I.

One of my favorite fish to go after is redfish.  I can still remember one of my best redfish trips ever:

It was early November 2006, and I was eager to get out on the water and catch some big monster redfish.  I had four clients from up north on the boat that day and three of them had never been saltwater fishing before.  They were about to get the fishing lesson of a lifetime!

The day started out great, with calm winds out of the north and bright blue sunny skies.  We made our way out around the pass. I didn’t see any birds working, so I headed east down the beach looking for any birds working the bait from up above, and I kept a lookout on the bottom machine as well.  Nothing on the bottom machine and nothing in the sky, perfect seas and weather, and we were ready to fish!  It was time to pull a rabbit out of my hat.

As long as I have been fishing, I have always stockpiled a few deep diver plugs in my tackle box.  Many overlook these hard body baits, but if used in the right conditions with the proper technique and tackle, they can often outperform live bait. That’s right, even live bait.

 I was in 22 – 30 ft of water and pulled out two lures that have gotten me out of jams in the past; Mann’s Stretch 25’s have always had a magic way of finding those hard to find fish, and I was counting on their mojo to come through again for me now.

Before you go out for redfish, you must learn the three basic rules for lure selection:

First is speed, or how fast you troll.
Second is color choice.
Third is the most critical, and that is how much line you deploy.

First off, the speed at which you troll really depends upon what type of fishing you are doing.  If I’m going after big bull redfish, then I like to troll as slow as possible, around 2 to 3 mph.  If I’m going after wahoo or kings, then I step it up a bit to 5 – 7 mph, or even up to 10mph.  I have found that it helps to vary your speed from time to time to see how the fish react.  Some days they want it fast and other days they want it slow.

The second rule when trolling is to make the right color choice. To decide what color is best to use, it depends on the clarity and depth of the water and what type of fish you are targeting.

Lure companies make many different colors, and some people say that they do this to hook fishermen, who may want a variety of colors in their arsenal of lures.  I have just about every color that Mann’s makes, from the older colors to the new textured colors, but my favorites are the Pink, Cabo, Bonita, and Menhaden.  These colors have put more fish in the box than I can count.  I have found that when the water is stained, that a darker color with a rattle works best, like golden/black combo or purple/black combo.  If the water clarity is clear, then I try to match the hatch, which means try to pick a lure that matches what the fish you are targeting eats.  For example, if you’re going after wahoo, pick the Bonita color, or the Dorado color. Whether I’m trolling plugs or throwing soft plastics on the flats for trout and reds, I keep a variety of colors on the boat for different conditions.  After I troll through an area and I don’t get a strike, I switch out the color and pull out something completely different than any color that day. I have found that when the natural colors don’t work like the Bonita or the Mackerel colors, I'll have success with a Red & White or Silver and Black.  My first choice is always pink.   Pink is one of my favorite colors, for lures that is, and although I have yet to see a pink fish other than a Red Snapper, I have caught more fish on the Pink Mann’s Stretch than any other color. I’ve caught everything from kings, wahoo, to big bull reds.  My second go to color would be the Cabo Sunset; anything with stripes on it like the Bonita or the Cabo Sunset work well on a variety of species.
  
The third thing I mentioned was how much line to put out. I like to deploy the lure around 120 – 150ft behind the boat depending upon whether I'm using mono or braided line. Mono stretches more than braided line, so when using mono, you may need to let out more line, because it causes more drag in the water.  When trolling with two different Mann's baits, I like to stagger the baits at different lengths behind the boat, so that one is ahead of the other. This is called staggering your lures which is a very good thing to do as you don’t want your lures running side by side.
  
Getting back to the redfish, starting in late October and lasting until the middle of March, large schools of bait like blood minnows and menhaden congregate in our bays and just off the beaches.  Monster schools of reds, (sometimes as many as 500 fish to a school), feed on these bait pods.  When these massive schools of reds start feeding, you would swear that the water was boiling, and if you ever get a chance to see it up close, it’s an awesome sight to behold.  Red fishing is one of the most popular types of fishing in Florida, and because of that the fish get a lot of pressure.

As for the magic hat trick, I pulled out two Mann's Stretch 25s.  These lures dive down creating sound and vibrations that entice a fish to come over and strike the lure.  The great thing about the Stretch lure is that you can cover a lot of area quickly.  Once I hook up with a few good fish, I start jigging the area with a variety of different style jigs, while also making sure I work the entire water column. It didn’t take long until we had a double hookup.  I circled back around, deploying the same lures in the same area, and Hocus-Pocus, we pulled up two more giant reds!  The old saying, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it”,well, I wasn't going to mess with success.  We continued trolling our Mann's until we were too pooped to reel any more, and we lost count after 50 fish.  Mann's lures worked their magic that trip, and would again and again and again. 

Till next time here’s wishing you bent rods and screaming drags.
Capt. John Rivers

www.megabiteinshore.com