How To Catch Redfish From A Pier [Mastery Course Sneak Peek]
- By: Wyatt Parcel
- on
Now let’s talk about how to catch redfish from a pier.
Redfish are a popular species to target from fishing piers.
While catching redfish from the pier is a lot of fun, it is also extremely challenging.
Take a look!
How To Catch Redfish From A Pier [VIDEO]
Get the Pier Fishing Mastery Course
Redfish Behavior Patterns
Redfish are designed to feed faced-down to the bottom way up in the shallows.
So we tend to find the majority of redfish in the Surf Zone feeding on crabs, pinfish, croakers, or whatever bait is in your area.
The exception to this are the large schools of redfish we often see in the spring and fall times of the year.
At that time, you can find redfish up and down the pier and even in the Bullpen.
When & Where To Target Redfish
You can target and catch residential redfish year-round.
These are fish that live right at the pier and hang out down near the pilings.
Residential redfish are a bit tougher to catch.
However, those migrating schools of redfish will be a bit further away from the pier and in larger numbers.
When it comes to timing, you should structure your day around the tides.
Redfish tend to feed about one hour before an incoming tide and one hour after an incoming tide.
The same applies to an outgoing tide.
If you see a neat or slack tide on the chart for that day, you might want to just stay home!
Keep your eyes peeled for those migrating redfish schools a little ways off the pier.
More often than not, there will be lots of action on the surface and sometimes birds flying overhead trying to pick off an easy meal.
Lures & Baits
The schools of migrating redfish are hungry and aggressive.
Swimbaits are the perfect lure to use when targeting these redfish.
Any kind of live bait to put in the middle of these schools will immediately get slurped up as well.
The residential redfish in the Surf Zone closer to the beach are a bit more tricky.
Lots of times you’ll have to scale down on your tackle and use a lighter line.
A small live bait or small live shrimp is your best bet for the residential redfish.
Using light line is better for residential redfish, however, using light line around heavy structure is a risk.
These fish are likely bunched up close to the structure so it can be tough to pull them out without breaking off.
You should go heavy or light on the mainline depending on the fish behavior on that given day.
My personal rig of choice is a 20lb monofilament leader into a #4 Mutu Light Circle Hook and a small egg weight.
Related categories:
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- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
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- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
My 1st and still biggest red was caught off of the Reddington Shores pier many years ago. A 54″ beast in the middle of the night
Very excited for the full course! I love fishing from the pier. There’s always been a great sense of community in my experience.
Thanks Joel!
I’m confused when you say to fish “one hour before an incoming tide”. The incoming tide lasts several hours. An hour before the incoming tide starts you have the end of the outgoing and then slack tide. So when do you fish? One hour INTO the incoming tide? Sorry for not getting it, but I don’t get it.
Join the club, also confused by tide comments
Me too. Half the time its incoming and half the time its outgoing. Do you mean one hour before it changes?
You should start fishing one hour before the tide changes in either direction. I typically fish for about 3 hrs during those periods. So I’ll fish one hour before the tide change until about 1.5 – 2 hrs into the change. Then I pack up and head home for the day.
The good news is in the course we cover these EXACT types of questions and even show the resulting tide charts to highlight the exact part you want to be out there.
Looking forward to the full course. Looks like a lot of fun!!!
It’s chock full of a LOT of good info!!
Pretty cool! I’ve never fished from a pier before. I have walked out on them (we have 3 or 4 in my area) and mostly what I’ve seen at the piers is a bunch of people standing around waiting for a fish to hit. This looked like fun.
This course does teach how to do that a lot better but it also teaches how to actively fish as well!!
Great Video! I have always fished for the Red’s in the surf in the OBX of North Carolina between Rodanthe and Hatteras Village. Always wanted to try the piers. Looking forward to the full course. You mentioned you are using a custom made pier rod. I am in the market for a good pier rod. Mind giving a little more detail?
He covers it in the tackle module of the course!
Great snippet and really looking forward to the full course. This is great for those of us who don’t have a boat and target piers and banks.
This one of the many many reason I am a member of Salt Strong.
Fantastic
Thank ya Ron!!
Pa-POW! Can’t wait for you guys to see the full course.
Very informative video. Nicely done! How much will the mastery course cost?
You can check it out here: Access Course Now