The 90-10 Fishing Rule That Will Catch A Ton Of Redfish
- By: Wyatt Parcel
- on
What exactly is the 90-10 rule?
How can you use it to catch more redfish this fall?
The 90-10 rule states that 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water.
But how does this help you catch more fish?
Learn more here!!
90-10 Rule That Will Catch A Ton Of Redfish [VIDEO]
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Equipment Used:
- Rod: TFO Professional M Fast 7’6″
- Reel: Daiwa Fuego 2500
- Line: 10 lb PowerPro
- Leader: Ande Monofilament Leader
- Lures:
- Hooks:
The 90-10 rule lets you predict where the fish may be and it allows you to focus your efforts on specific areas.
Fish will be where the bait is and that is often up against the shoreline in the grass flats.
They will start to move off the shore with the tide and as the day progresses and the sun rises.
Redfish will not just sit in random places, rather they will hold in areas with specific structure.
Structure that provides protection and ambush opportunities.
The ambush zones are where we will find a lot of the 90% part of the 90-10 rule.
If you are fishing a mudflat, these zones are potholes scattered along the bottom.
On the other hand, grass flat ambush zones are the white, sandy areas without any sea grass beneath.
Targeting potholes are an extremely effective strategy for fishing.
Fish are able to sit in or around them and use the depth and color changes to ambush bait.
They also can be waiting for bait to emerge out of potholes to strike.
If you know where the fish are going to be, you can catch fish a lot faster.
Gameplan For Fishing A Flat
As the day moves out of morning and into midday, the sun will rise and heat up the water a bit which will push the redfish off the shoreline and into potholes.
At this point, the fish will prefer to be in slightly deeper water for hunting opportunities.
Redfish will be less willing to attack above them and strike a topwater lure so the best choice would be a paddletail lure to bounce along the potholes.
The 90-10 rule shows you how to focus your efforts on casting where the fish will be instead of blind casting areas hoping for a bite.
Fish cruising along a flat may be moving from one pothole to the next to feed.
However, if that is the case they are not in a feeding mode and are less likely to hunt while changing areas.
The redfish will wait in its pothole or protective structure until it must feed on a meal.
Conclusion
The 90-10 rule is all about finding those potholes and concentrating your casting to areas of potential interest and spots that may be holding fish.
Potholes and little structures throughout the flat or area you’re fishing represent the 10% where the fish will be holding.
Be sure to focus your casts and presentation on specific areas with potholes and structure that create ambush zones for predatory fish.
If you have any more questions on the 90-10 rule, please let me know down in the comments!
And if you know someone who wants to learn more about the 90-10 rule, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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Love the drone footage! It really helps give you an idea of where they like to hang out to ambush your lure. I’m a “Big Picture” kind of person and this is definitely that! Good work, son!
Haha, glad you enjoyed it!! More to come soon… we’ll have to get the crew out on the water again sometime soon!!
Thanks Wyatt!
It’s nice to connect the different aspects of the same fishing trip in this series of videos.
I also loved the drone views of our Texas middle coast. They really help understand the topography & structure on our flats and how the fish are relating to them.
Keep up the great work and content!
I really hope see you down there one of these days!
The drone angle really can tell us a lot. Unfortunately the conditions usually don’t allow for footage like this… when they do come around though, I usually end up spending most of the day flying instead of fishing because the teaching power of the footage is unmatched! Thanks so much for watching Neal!
The 90/10 rule applies to fishing in general. I first heard of concept back in early 70’s applied to freshwater, primarily bass, by Buck Perry who came up with concept back in 60’s. Great drone footage.
Glad you enjoyed this! Thanks so much John!
It appears as if the current is flowing from right to left and you are casting diagonally against the current. Am I wrong ?
For most of the day it was pretty windy and I was having to mainly work with the wind to get distance on my cast, causing me to work against the current. Early in the day when it was calm, I fished with the current. Sometimes the conditions don’t allow us to follow all of the “rules” but I will always fish WITH the current if the wind allows me to make a good cast with decent distance to the target zone. I will work against the current only when the wind dampens my casting range and doesn’t allow for me to work with current. Luckily when it gets windier, the bait is blown everywhere and the fish don’t seem to mind as much.
Perfect sense I just could not see the wind that’s why I asked the question. Enjoy all your videos thoroughly you bring a lot to the table thank you for your quick response 👍👍👍👍👍
do you usually use the Texas Eye Jig head over the Trout Eye? Thanks
Yes, especially when fishing around a lot of sea grass, the weedless Texas Eye Jig is a huge advantage. I’m spending a lot less time picking grass off of my lure or ruining a retrieve by dragging grass the full distance… I can’t recommend them enough! Once there’s grass on the hook, the presentation becomes much less realistic and fish are way less likely to hit it. I definitely have seen much more success when I switched to weedless presentations.
I notice you cast your leader knot through the guides
I might have done it once or twice but I try as hard as possible to not cast the knot through the leader as much as I can… it will weaken the integrity of the knot and can cost you fish. That being said, I oftentimes get locked into making cast after cast and will sometimes take my eye off the leader knot… can’t make every cast a perfect one!
I love the drone footage – very valuable!
Thanks so much Dave! Glad you enjoyed this one!
Thanks Wyatt, But we do not have any grass In Galveston, Texas
I fish grass flats at crystal beach all the time. Surely a ferry ride over isn’t too much trouble!
I’ve fished in Galveston over grass beds a few times since I’ve moved to Texas. They’re definitely not as plentiful as south TX, but they’re there and if you use the historical imagery tool in Google Earth (available only on desktop) you can spot these by checking out images taken in the winter months, when the water is at it’s best clarity.
Also, as I mentioned in the video, even if there’s no grass, there’s still potholes and depth changes fish will hold to on flats, they’re just not as immediately visible as white patches in sea grass. Look for dark pockets along the yellow or brown bottom, and these will indicate deeper pockets. Polarized sunglasses are an absolute necessity!
Wyatt, that was once again a very good video and great coaching on using the 90/10 rule for improving the number of catches on an outing. For people who don’t know Wyatt Parcel, he is a Saltstrong fishing coach based out of Corpus Christi, Texas. Wyatt moved from NC to Corpus Christi to fill that need by Saltstrong for an onsite expert on the Texas coastal bend. Wyatt has been an outstanding addition to the Saltstrong staff.
Ya’ll’s gain; our loss!
Miss you guys over in NC, Bill! Hope to get back out that way sometime soon!
Mel, thanks so much for the kind words!!! Expect more videos like this coming soon! New angles like this will hopefully shed some more light and bring new perspectives to improving our tactics out on the flats!
Great footage Wyatt!!!
Thanks Luke!!