# Tore up the Redfish in PCB Fla on topwater!!



## hambone76 (Jun 9, 2011)

I went to St. Andrews Park in PCB Fla and I caught 15 or so redfish on topwater in two short outings.
	
	



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I broke the anti-reverse on a brand new Ambassadeur 6600 Brute.
My lure of choice was a Rapala Skitter Walk in the redfish color (the cannibals). I was using the baitcaster i mentioned til the reds killed it and went to a spinning reel afterward. I used 50 lb braid on the baitcaster and 30 lb mono on my backup spinning combo. Both rods had 100 lb Calcutta mono leaders purchased from a tackle shop. The leaders had 8/0 bait hooks attached to them with wire. I cut the wire just above the hooks and had just enough wire left to wrap the lure, ensuring that the first twist in the wire left a small loop to let the lure move freely. The wire allowed the lure to "walk the dog" without hinderance. 
I waited until the tide started to go out and I sat there on the jetti (about halfway down. There is a nice, flat slab of concrete amongst the rocks that you cant miss) waiting for surface activity. The reds weren't there much until the tide went out. (Between 1 or 2 o'clock pm) Once they get in there, they are feeding on crabs or whatever and they will be on bottom one minute and up on the surface the next. I would cast upcurrent of them when they came up and work the lure to them. They killed it. Once u get them close to the rocks it gets hairy, and I assure you they will get in them when hooked. All of the fish I caught were above the 18"-27" slot that Fla. has for redfish, with my biggest red pushing 40 lbs. A good alternative lure is the Mirror Lure version of a zara spook in 3/4 ounce, but the hooks are weaker than the Rapals. Bass Pro has the rapalas, so you may want to stock up prior to going or drive to Destin to get them. I can't post pics, but I will e mail some if y'all want to see a few of the reds I caught. I will be there from late June til early July if anybody wants to join me. Shoot a PM.


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## nickel back (Jun 9, 2011)

man sounds like you had a blast....40lb redfishsuper nice.

wish I could hook up with you but,I will be at Alligator point Fla. durning that time.


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## Stonewall83 (Jun 9, 2011)

I will be there from July 2-9....You still gonna be there???


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## illbfishin (Jun 9, 2011)

Thanks for the update. I'm going down Saturday and can't wait to hook into a Red. My son and I caught them last year at this time but i wasn't prepared and didn't have any heavy leaders. We couldn't get them past the rocks. We've got 50 lb mono this year so we'll be ready. I know the spot you described fishing. Watch the Racoons, they'll steal your bait. Any advice to help keep them from breaking off in the rocks? We're new at the Saltwater stuff.


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 10, 2011)

Ill be either there or the piers next week! How is the bait situation ? Anyonne know?


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## hambone76 (Jun 10, 2011)

PM sent Stonewall83. Shoot me an e mail 
hamby.mark@yahoo.com
 If I were you illbfishin, I would find a good 100 lb leader. I used the pre-rigged Calcuttas because it is hard for me to get a good, tight knot with 100lb. Those leaders held up great and did not cut in half on the rocks. They did fray however. Also, I stayed high above the water on the rocks so I could keep more upward force on the fish. Good luck. I sure wish I could post some pics of those reds for y'all to see.


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## SouthPaw Draw (Jun 10, 2011)

hambone76 said:


> PM sent Stonewall83.
> If I were you illbfishin, I would find some 100lb mono leader and use it. I broke off a couple before using them and lost none afterward. The Calcutta leaders I used had swivels on each end and had an 8/0 bait hook attached to the bottom swivel with heavy wire. I cut the wire as close to the hook as possible and wrapped my Rapalas with the remaining wire that was still attached. PM me your e mail and I will send you a pic of one of the rigs. Wish I could post some pics.....




Would like to see that rig too. PM'd you.


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## hambone76 (Jun 10, 2011)

SouthPaw Draw said:


> Would like to see that rig too. PM'd you.


E mail sent.


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## SouthPaw Draw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks Mark for the info and pics, nice reds you guys caught down there.


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## hambone76 (Jun 10, 2011)

Stonewall83 said:


> I will be there from July 2-9....You still gonna be there???



I will be there from 6-28 to 7-9. E mail me your # and we will go get on those reds. If anybody else wants to join us, holler at me. There are plenty of them out there.
hamby.mark@yahoo.com


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## jsimages (Jun 12, 2011)

i will be there from june 17th till june 25th. i have never fished from the jetties but may have to give it a try now. thanks for the post and info


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## hambone76 (Jun 13, 2011)

If the hooks I had on those lures would have been barbless, they would have pulled out for sure. I've had those big bull reds on barbless setups before and when the hooks started to straighten out a little bit the fish would come unhooked because there was no barb in place to help keep the hooks set in deep. Barbs won't even help a hook to stay in if the hook bends enough. If you hook a 40+ lb redfish on an outgoing tide at St. Andrews, you have a handfull of destructive fish and I have lures with ragged-out hooks to prove it. On some occasions I have taken the rear hook off of a spook type lure and added a larger treble and an extra split ring to the front. Some lures will walk the dog better that way and will not cause you to miss any fish- even with one hook. The extra split ring allows the hook to rotate even further around, thus helping to keep fish on. Try it on your next outing if you haven't already.


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 13, 2011)

hambone76 said:


> If the hooks I had on those lures would have been barbless, they would have pulled out for sure. I've had those big bull reds on barbless setups before and when the hooks started to straighten out a little bit the fish would come unhooked because there was no barb in place to help keep the hooks set in deep. Barbs won't even help a hook to stay in if the hook bends enough. If you hook a 40+ lb redfish on an outgoing tide at St. Andrews, you have a handfull of destructive fish and I have lures with ragged-out hooks to prove it. On some occasions I have taken the rear hook off of a spook type lure and added a larger treble and an extra split ring to the front. Some lures will walk the dog better that way and will not cause you to miss any fish- even with one hook. The extra split ring allows the hook to rotate even further around, thus helping to keep fish on. Try it on your next outing if you haven't already.



Great tip with the extra split ring!


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 13, 2011)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Yep good tip, been around for AWHILE, but no pics from the master Redfisherman . . .



You know how i like the pics!


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## hambone76 (Jun 13, 2011)

This is the two I took pics of before measuring them to see if they were in the slot. No dinner for me. I dont even bother to take a fish that I know I'm gonna release out of the water anymore. I tried to measure a red there one time to see if it was legal and I dropped it down in the rocks. Retrieving it out of the rocks was not fun. I have never considered myself a master at fishing, but I have been blessed to be able to tie into a few in my days. I hope you guys enjoy the pics. More pics to follow later this month.


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 13, 2011)

hambone76 said:


> This is the two I took pics of before measuring them to see if they were in the slot. No dinner for me. I dont even bother to take a fish that I know I'm gonna release out of the water anymore. I tried to measure a red there one time to see if it was legal and I dropped it down in the rocks. Retrieving it out of the rocks was not fun. I have never considered myself a master at fishing, but I have been blessed to be able to tie into a few in my days. I hope you guys enjoy the pics. More pics to follow later this month.



Nice pics! But you are in my spot!


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## Trizey (Jun 13, 2011)

Let's see the 40lb'r...those are the little ones.


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## hambone76 (Jun 13, 2011)

The 40 lb fish got landed over 100 yards down the jetti and promptly released. I dont even bother lifting the illegal reds out of the water. My backpack with my camera in it was lying where I started from. Too far and too dangerous on an outgoing tide to carry a fish across them rocks for a pic. I had to ask people I didn't know to take what pics I had cause I was by myself and then trust them with my camera on those rocks. I'll be there in July. Bring a rod, come join me and I'll let you pet the next 40# red I catch. Hey shakey gizzard- come join me next time I go. I will let you have the concrete slab.


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 13, 2011)

I'll be there next week, ill warm it up for ya!


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## jsimages (Jun 13, 2011)

man i hope i can get down to the jetties next week while im in pcb. thanks again for the info and tips. it will be my first time trying to fish for reds at the jetties so if you see a rookie please dont fall in laughing


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## hambone76 (Jun 13, 2011)

shakey gizzard said:


> I'll be there next week, ill warm it up for ya!


Save a few for me.


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## Trizey (Jun 13, 2011)

hambone76 said:


> Bring a rod, come join me and I'll let you pet the next 40# red I catch.



No need  I've only caught a couple hundred of them since I was 8 years old 

I'll be there in 3 weeks wearing them out.


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## Dupree (Jun 13, 2011)

Trizey said:


> No need  I've only caught a couple hundred of them since I was 8 years old
> 
> I'll be there in 3 weeks wearing them out.



quit lying




good luck. send me some pics.


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## Trizey (Jun 13, 2011)

4x4powerstrokesd said:


> quit lying
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I can't quit, I'm so good at it

When are you leaving?  I still haven't looked at what we talked about...


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## Dupree (Jun 13, 2011)

Trizey said:


> I can't quit, I'm so good at it
> 
> When are you leaving?  I still haven't looked at what we talked about...



not until 7-16, but I will be there for a week.

My wife is gonna be mad that I will be fishing the whole time, Im also gonna get up with DJ and talk about out west next year.


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## hambone76 (Jun 13, 2011)

Trizey said:


> No need  I've only caught a couple hundred of them since I was 8 years old
> 
> There's no need to stop now. I had never caught a red until 2005. They are sure fun!!!


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## hambone76 (Jun 14, 2011)

Here is a pic of the 100# leader I mentioned before in case anybody else is curious about it.


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## ChickInATree (Jun 14, 2011)

Nice fish, man


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## illbfishin (Jun 16, 2011)

Hambone, thanks for the PM and advice. My son and I caught 4 Red's Wednesday and had several more hooked. Our largest was 38" and we had a blast. They started running at the peak of the outgoing tide and it was non-stop action for three hours.


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## Joe "JC" Coots (Jun 17, 2011)

Looks like some really great fishing and bruiser reds. You're right about a big fish on a hot outgoing tide....makes tackle salesmen all over panhandle area giggle with excitement.


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## Hooked On Quack (Jun 17, 2011)

You ALL know it  . . . Tides, tides, tides ...


Awesome job young man!!


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## hambone76 (Jun 18, 2011)

illbfishin said:


> Hambone, thanks for the PM and advice. My son and I caught 4 Red's Wednesday and had several more hooked. Our largest was 38" and we had a blast. They started running at the peak of the outgoing tide and it was non-stop action for three hours.



That is awesome man. I'm glad that you guys had a good time. You are welcome.


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## JigNchunk (Jun 19, 2011)

I used your advise and caught the heck out of them Wed. and Thursday. I fished out on a small rock that I had to swim to from the lagoon beach.


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## duckman31822 (Jun 20, 2011)

im down here now.. thinking about trying it tomm.. the tide will be outgoing after the peak at high tide correct?


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 20, 2011)

duckman31822 said:


> im down here now.. thinking about trying it tomm.. the tide will be outgoing after the peak at high tide correct?



Be there at noon!


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## hambone76 (Jun 21, 2011)

shakey gizzard said:


> Be there at noon!


Keep that spot warm for me..... I will be back down there on 6-29.


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## duckman31822 (Jun 21, 2011)

it has cooled off since u left hambone.. i tried your spot today right after high tide.. caught 1 fish (hardtail i think) and that was it.. i tried spooks, gotchas, gulps, redfish spinners, basically everything i had and nadda... seen some small reds crusing but couldnt get a bite... not sure what i was doing wrong.. and btw that racoon wouldnt leave me alone haha


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## Ta-ton-ka chips (Jun 21, 2011)

Shouldn't have opened this thread, now I've got to try it!

Hopefully get some free time this Fri or Sat.


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## illbfishin (Jun 22, 2011)

Duckman, If you get to try again while your down there, wait until the outgoing tide hits it's peak. Like Shakey said start around noon. We didn't see our first Red until probably 2:00pm. Try the Redfish or Gold color Rapala Hambone recommends. They'll work. We caught them using a bubble float and floated a shrimp about 5 foot below it. We'd cast up stream and let the current carry it out. The Gulp Alive shrimp or Crab's worked in the New Penny. Good Luck.


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## biggabuck (Jun 22, 2011)

Ok someone needs to help me read the tide chart. Is the time posted when incoming starts or what? because the link on here says high tide is around 8 or 9. i know i may sound stupid but never really cared about tides much.


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## illbfishin (Jun 22, 2011)

The high tide is probably at 8 am for the Florida gulf coast. The Low tide is probably around 7:30pm. They only have one high and low tides in Panama City. The tide starts receding after the high tide but the current of the outgoing tide is strongest around the middle of the high / low tide period. In other words the outgoing tide starts slow and builds to a peak then slows down as it reaches the low tide point. The same for the incoming tide.


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