How To Find Redfish in Florida in 60 Seconds or Less

Whether you’re fishing out of Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Cedar Key, or even all the way down to South Florida, this coastline is massive. And figuring out where the fish are feeding on any given day can feel overwhelming.

In an area this large, you need a way to quickly eliminate dead zones and FIND THE FEEDING FISH. Otherwise, you’ll waste precious fishing days (and lots of gas money) wandering aimlessly.

What makes it even more difficult is that FISH MOVE A LOT. Even in the course of a single day, they can be in ENTIRELY different spots. Which means the old school “spot maps” are not going to help you, and probably just leave you frustrated. It’d be like trusting a broken clock, yes, it might be right twice a day, but that’s it.

Instead, you need to find fish based on their BIOLOGY and TRENDS. A great angler can calculate where feeding fish will be stacked up based on the tide, wind, temperature, season, moon phase, and water clarity, just to name a few factors… This is why it can take some anglers 30 years to master.

If you don’t have 30 years or can’t be on the water every single day to follow the fish around, there is a solution.

The video below will demonstrate how you can take a massive section of the Florida coastline, and INSTANTLY identify the best spots to fish FOR ANY GIVEN TIME. Please watch below. This method is already being employed by thousands of Anglers in your area and it can help you too.

👉 Learn how to get the Smart Fishing Spots tool here

3 Steps to Find Feeding Redfish in Florida Fast

There is a proven formula for finding feeding fish that the best Florida anglers can recite in their sleep. The formula itself is actually quite simple; that’s the beauty. But the steps to implement it can be incredibly time-consuming without the right tools (that’s why we showed you the video above, please watch it!). Most anglers fail because they only know a couple of pieces to this formula, OR they don’t have the information they need to execute it. We’re going to cover both for you right now.

Step 1. Find Structure

Structure attracts fish. Bait congregates around it for protection, and big fish use it for an ambush. But just one piece of structure by itself doesn’t make it a good spot. Not all structure is created equal… The BEST SPOTS will have multiple forms of structure to maximize your success.

• Oyster Reefs: Start your search with oyster reefs—these are absolute fish magnets along the Florida coast, especially in areas like Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, and the Indian River Lagoon. These reefs offer ambush points for predators and attract all kinds of life. Using the Smart Fishing Spots App, you can see oyster reefs with the click of a button. No more having to pinch, zoom, squint, and scroll trying to identify them.

• Seagrass Beds (Where They Exist): Florida has some of the most productive grass flats in the country. From the Big Bend to the Space Coast, healthy seagrass beds create some of the best feeding zones for redfish, trout, and flounder. These grass flats are essential nursery grounds, holding tons of bait and attracting predators. But seagrass can be hard to spot when the water is churned up—that’s where satellite imagery helps you lock in these zones before you even launch the boat.

• Florida Shoreline Features: Along the Florida coast, there’s A LOT of shoreline to choose from. Instead of wandering up and down it all day, focus on unique features like points, creek mouths, docks, mangrove edges, and spoil islands. These unique features create ambush zones where big predators like to sit and wait for bait to come to them.

Once you find areas where multiple forms of structure come together—like oyster reefs near a spoil island, or a grass flat near a creek mouth—you’re stacking the deck in your favor.

Step 2. Find Depth Changes

Multiple Depths Hold More Fish:

Once you’ve found spots with multiple structures (like oyster reefs, spoil islands, and seagrass flats), the next key is to check for nearby depth changes.

In Florida, many of the best inshore fishing zones have a mix of shallow flats that drop off into channels, guts, or deeper basins. Redfish, trout, and flounder use these depth changes to their advantage—they can sit comfortably in deeper water and slide up onto the flats to feed when the conditions are right.

Look for drainage cuts, sand pockets, sloughs, and drop-offs along the edge of oyster reefs and flats. Even a small 2-4 foot depth change can be enough to hold bait and attract predators.

You shouldn’t have to waste time blindly trolling around or relying on your fish finder to locate these spots. With the Smart Fishing Spots App’s 1ft Contour Lines Layer, you can clearly see ledges, drop-offs, channels, and basins—so you know exactly where to start without spooking the fish.

So take your spots with multiple structures and then simply focus on the ones that have depth changes nearby. These 2 simple steps, done correctly, will ALMOST always put you on feeding fish.

Step 3. Fish at the Right Time

You’ve found the structure… you’ve identified the depth changes…
Now it’s time to layer in the final piece of the puzzle: current and timing.

Current is what flips the feeding switch on. It pushes bait into ambush zones and helps predators conserve energy while food comes right to them.

In Florida waters, this is especially true around:

• Passes and cuts between bays and the Gulf
• Drains flowing out of mangrove systems
• Wind-driven current along spoil islands and shoreline points

Some areas fire best on incoming tide, others on outgoing, and a few on both. But when the water is dead still, most spots shut down completely. Matching your timing to the right current flow is often the difference between sitting in a deadzone and finding a feeding frenzy.

Matching your spot to the right tide is crucial.

The Smart Fishing Spots App pulls in real-time Florida tide data right onto your fishing map—no need to bounce between apps or tide charts. Whether you’re on the water or planning your trip, you can see exactly when the current will be moving at your target location.

And if you’re not sure how to factor in things like wind direction, water temperatures, or moon phase, to know the best times to fish, the Strike Score Indicator takes all of those conditions into account and highlights the best windows to fish.

GET THIS PROCESS DONE FOR YOU

Discover the Hottest Spots with a Single Click: If you can remember the formula above, you’ll have the basis to find good spots. But, if you want the GPS FAST-TRACK SHORTCUT right to the smartest spots in your area, then you should be using the Smart Fishing Spots App.

Whether you’re launching out of Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, or down into South Florida, this app pulls in local knowledge, real-time data, and environmental factors to highlight when and where the bite will be best!

So even if you only get one trip a week, you can spend more time catching and less time guessing.

Trying to plan your Saturday morning fishing trip? At the Boat Ramp, and not sure where to go? Getting skunked at one of your “regular” spots and want to move?

Pull up the app and click the Smart Spots Layer to see where to go.

This is the most powerful Inshore Fishing Tool software ever created.

Click Here to See All the Smart Spots in Your Area (and start catching more fish).

Salt Strong Fishing Club: Match the Tech With the Tackle and Teachings

The Smart Fishing Spots App is available to all Salt Strong Insiders. The Salt Strong Fishing Club is the largest, most helpful Inshore Fishing Club in America, focused on saving you time and money on the water, catching more fish, and connecting with other friendly anglers in your area.

With the Smart Fishing Spots App, proven custom tackle, real-time fishing trends, and an active Community, you get a GUARANTEED SYSTEM FOR CATCHING MORE FISH.

Learn more and try it out risk-free below.

👉 Join the Club & Get the App

We’d love to see you in the club!

Joe Simonds
Salt Strong Cofounder