As featured in the December 2024 issue of Marsh & Bayou Magazine. Check out marshandbayououtfitters.com for more.
Sight fishing for upper- and over-slot fish in Louisiana and Mississippi coastal marshes is a truly unique fishing approach and not always the most sought out. Opportunities can be limited, and its rewards don’t necessarily result in more fish in the livewell. It can’t be rushed, or forced. When the conditions grant opportunities and it all comes into place, all an angler can do is be prepared to take advantage. Just don’t let the fish hear your knees knocking together, or your hand shaking – buck fever isn’t just found in the woods this time of year.
My charter’s primary focus is sight fishing in the fall, winter and early spring months for redfish, sheepshead and black drum. These fish spend the cold months of the year in shallow water, following bait like shrimp and mullet up into shallow ponds, bayous and bays in search of water warmed by the sun. Calm, sunny days in the marsh yield some of the best saltwater sight fishing opportunities in the country, but even the best conditions don’t necessitate success. Here’s some notes from my days on the flats that might help to find success.
Conditions
Some of my favorite fishing conditions are light wind, big tide swings or low tides, clear water and full sunshine, with low or falling pressure. Most of my fishing happens in water between one and three feet deep. Being able to see the bottom means seeing everything throughout the column, and that is oftentimes imperative. Redfish are particularly good at hiding themselves in 20 inches of water, when visibility goes 12 inches deep.
Approach
One’s mental approach to sight fishing is important to finding success. It is a rare opportunity to become immersed in the environment, when the calmness of the marsh comes to life all around the boat. Stingrays and turtles cruise past, mullet shimmer in the shallows and shrimp pop along the bank. It’s magical. Observation and focus is key: slowing down and eliminating “noise” allows anglers to be a ready to capitalize on close-quarters interactions with fish.
Solo anglers can definitely have success sight fishing, but a good teammate goes a long way. Two sets of eyes can cover more area, and boat positioning is a full time job. The odds of success increase with a partner to push pole or run the trolling motor and look for faraway targets, while the angler focuses on up close encounters. My friends and I play “baseball” – getting a hit or three strikes means a new angler takes to the casting platform.
Finding Good Fishing Water
There are miles of shoreline in the marsh and it can be overwhelming to know where to start. I fish in ponds and shallow bays with a few key characteristics, the most important one being safe access. Running aground or getting stuck on a falling tide can happen in a hurry, so understand your boat’s capabilities. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box – some folks take a pirogue or a paddle board approach when the big boat can’t get to where the fish are. Redfish make it their mission to get really, really shallow sometimes – more on that below.
Effective sight fishing means finding areas where the fish want to be, but they can still be seen. When bull red fishing, I look for areas of shallow water in close proximity to deep water. This could be a pond stemming from a deep creek, or the shoreline of a quarter-mile across bay with good depth. Sight fishing with the sun at your back will help to minimize glare and maximize visibility. Fishing leeward banks with minimal surface disturbance helps every detail to stand out, and tailing or belly crawling fish are often found here. Occasionally I find aggressive fish cruising windward banks in search of bait, but it’s much tougher to see.
Reading the Fish
Once a fish has been found, the angling can begin. Reading the fish refers to analyzing its position, direction, speed, distance from the boat and its body language. These are critical factors and each fish is different. Sometimes it has to happen fast, too! Especially in stained water, some fish can’t be seen until the boat is just a few rod lengths away. Be decisive and communicate with your angling partner to take the best approach to feed each fish. I think of fish behavior like a Rolodex: every fish’s unique behavior can be presented to differently, and uncovering nuances or watching fish do something new is an absolute treat. Whether it’s belly crawling in inches of water, tailing on a calm bank eating crabs, or “floating” high in the water column, every fish is unique.
Presenting the bait or the fly is the last step to successful sight fishing. The fish in the marsh are particularly gracious and willing to eat just about anything they can find- so show them a meal! I advise folks to “lead” the fish: cast out in front of a fish’s path and beyond it, then retrieve so that the bait crosses in front of the fish’s face. In dirty or deeper water, the bait can land closer to the fish. Presenting to fish takes anticipation and understanding that fish’s body language.
Tackle and Rigging
I keep tackle pretty simple. In a foot of water, less is oftentimes more. Sight fishing effectively means the angler shows the fish the bait, rather than the fish having to go find it, so there’s no need for anything too flashy. A soft plastic shrimp or minnow up to 4” long on a 1/8 oz jighead covers most applications. Flies are typically weighted shrimp, mullet or crab flies from 3-5” long. I throw natural colors in clean water conditions, and darker and bigger flies in dirty water. Mostly it is important to fish a bait with confidence, and show it to the fish. A 30lb fluorocarbon leader section works well – lighter can be helpful in clean water or for spooky fish, but it’s a risky endeavor with the abundance of overslot fish in the marsh.
Sight fishing can be a lifelong pursuit or a passing chance to capitalize on a unique element of the fishery. For anglers looking for a new challenge it is intensely gratifying to stalk a big fish in shallow water, and our home waters are full of those opportunities. Good luck out there!