Redfish Fishing at Clearwater Beach

Redfish (red drum) are the other half of the inshore trifecta with snook and sea trout. They hold on shallow grass flats, oyster bars, and under mangroves — often in water so shallow you can see their tails sticking up. They hit hard, fight steady, and they're one of the most available gamefish around Clearwater Beach.

Redfish Regulations (Florida Gulf Coast, 2026)

• Slot size: 18" – 27" total length
• Bag limit: 1 per angler per day
• Vessel limit: 2 per boat
• Closed in Tampa Bay and portions of Pinellas: catch-and-release only — check current FWC boundaries
• License: Florida saltwater license required

Where to Catch Them Locally

• Honeymoon Island flats — classic redfish flats, easy to wade
• Dunedin Causeway grass — deep grass holds reds all year
• Island Estates seawalls — schooling reds patrol the docks
• Mangroves south of Caladesi — technical kayak fishing
• Oyster bars in Old Tampa Bay — bigger fish, short drive
• Surf line at dawn — cruising reds down the beach, sight-cast

Tackle

• Rod: 7'–7'6" medium to medium-heavy, fast action
• Reel: 2500–3000 size spinning with 10–15 lb braid
• Leader: 20–30 lb fluorocarbon, 2–3'
• Live bait: shrimp, pinfish, scaled sardines, finger mullet
• Artificials: DOA shrimp, gold spoons (1/4 oz Johnson), Z-Man paddle tails on 1/8 oz jig heads, topwater at dawn
• Fly: #1 or #2 shrimp patterns (Kwan, Borski Slider) on an 8wt

Techniques

Sight-casting (the fun one)

1. Pole or wade slowly through shallow water at dawn or an hour before sunset
2. Look for tailing fish (tail sticking out of water as they root for crabs) or pushing water (V-shaped wake)
3. Cast 5–8 feet in front of the fish, slightly past them
4. Slow, short strips with pauses — redfish hit pauses

Mangrove flipping

1. Cast live shrimp under a popping cork 1–3' off the mangrove edge
2. Pop the cork every 15–20 seconds
3. Reds stage just inside the mangrove shade

Gold spoon retrieve

1. Long casts over grass flats, steady retrieve just above the grass
2. Classic technique — covers water, triggers reaction strikes

Seasonal Patterns

• Spring: fish moving onto the flats, aggressive eaters
• Summer: early morning and late evening bite, fish move deeper midday
• Fall: bull reds (over-slot) schooling in passes and along the beach
• Winter: fish stack in deeper holes — slow presentations with live shrimp

The single best redfish tip: get there before sunrise. By 9 AM, the flats are too hot and the fish have moved to the edges. A 6 AM start in a kayak on the Honeymoon Island flats in October is as good as Gulf Coast fishing gets.

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