What Redfish Are REALLY Doing On Grassy Flats
- By: Capt. Peter Deeks
- on
From above the water, grass flats can all look the same…
But when you combine drone footage with what’s happening below the surface, you start noticing patterns most anglers completely miss.
In this video, Captain Peter Deeks shows you how redfish move across shallow flats, how they use grass edges and potholes, and why certain sections consistently hold more fish than others.
If you’ve ever felt lost on a giant grass flat, this breakdown will help simplify what you should actually be looking for.
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Inside, Captain Peter Deeks goes DEEP into what inshore saltwater fish are actually doing below the surface around:
- Inlets & Passes
- Bridges & Piers
- Flats
- Open Water Structure
- Shoreline Structure
If this preview blew your mind a little… just wait until you see the full thing!
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Featured Gear
- Lure: Prawn USA JR
- Rigging: 3/0 Hoss Helix Weedless Hook 1/8 oz
What Redfish Look For On Grass Flats
Redfish rarely spread evenly across an entire flat.
Instead, they tend to move through specific areas that give them easier feeding opportunities and better protection.
Some of the highest percentage areas include:
- Grass edges
- Sandy potholes
- Slight depressions
- Current flow
- Areas holding bait
The drone footage in this video makes it much easier to visualize how these zones connect together.
How Redfish Move Across Shallow Flats
One of the biggest misconceptions anglers have is thinking redfish randomly wander across shallow water.
In reality, they often follow subtle lanes and routes across the flat.
These travel paths can be influenced by:
- Water depth
- Tidal movement
- Wind direction
- Bait movement
- Thickness of the grass
Once you start identifying these travel corridors, it becomes much easier to predict where fish are likely to show up.
What Most Anglers Miss On Grass Flats
A lot of anglers focus only on visible wakes or tailing fish.
But many redfish move quietly and blend surprisingly well into the flat.
The drone perspective helps reveal:
- Small pushes of water
- Subtle directional movement
- How fish use grass edges
- How bait positioning affects fish movement
These are small clues that can completely change how you approach a flat.
Best Areas To Cast On A Grass Flat
Rather than blind casting across huge open areas, focus your casts around:
- Potholes
- Transitions between sparse and thick grass
- Current seams
- Edges with better water flow
- Areas where bait is concentrated
These spots naturally funnel fish and often produce far more bites.
How To Find Productive Grass Flats Faster
One of the fastest ways to improve your grass flat fishing is learning how to eliminate unproductive water.
Instead of fishing everything equally, focus on:
- Areas with clean water flow
- Nearby depth changes
- Bait activity
- Grass variation
- Points and drains connected to the flat
Mapping tools like Smart Fishing Spots can help identify many of these subtle changes before you even get on the water.
Final Thoughts
The drone footage in this video does a great job showing that grass flats are far more structured and predictable than they appear at first glance.
Once you start recognizing how redfish move through these areas, it becomes much easier to position yourself correctly, make smarter casts, and stop wasting time on dead water.
Watch the full video above and start looking at grass flats differently on your next trip.
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
This is a good video, but I feel it applies more to incoming tidal patterns vs. outgoing. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts, but my experience is on an incoming tide, the reds behave just as you described. They roam around looking for food on the newly available real estate and soaking a cut bait either where the mullet are running or in a pothole is a sure fire tactic. However, on an outgoing tide, they seem to station in potholes in more of an ambush pattern. I don’t notice them roaming around as much looking for food,but rather retreating (usually from the mangroves) to strategic locations that are deeper and stopping in potholes for ambush opportunities along the way. They spend more time stationary in potholes vs. moving around. I personally find it much less productive soaking cut bait on the outgoing because you’re rolling the dice they’ll stop in your pothole. I think casting lures on an outgoing allows you more opportunities to run a bait past more potholes, increasing your odds of an ambush strike. Agree or disagree?
In Jacksonville area the tides have been very high making finding reds very difficult. And we have mud flats, but not grass flats. So, where are the reds going/hiding, and how to fish those areas?
High water in Jacksonville is a very challenging situation when fishing for redfish. They flood up into the grass and shallow grass flats and spread out. I have done best focusing on dock pilings, jetty’s or herd bank edges when fishing high water high tide in Jacksonville. I would recommend scheduling you trip around low tide and fish the oyster bars on edge of intercostal.
Help I have a 25′ center console I do not know how to distinguish where the pot holes are. I do not have a tower. Is it local knowledge or is there a trick to finding potholes in the flats
Brian, Good morning! You need to use the Fish Finding App on your phone for satellite imagery first off and that will guide you closer in the flats. Also, a 25’ boat draws a lot of water and will limit your ability to get closer to the fish Peter is talking about in this video. I have a 20’ KeyWest and have to slowly and carefully work my way across the 2’ water.
Have a blessed day!
Scott
Scott Thank you so much. My robalo 246 draws 12″. Not like a skiff but I can get fairly skinny. Plus I do not mind putting down the power poles and wading in The Fish finding app you mentioned. Is that the satellite feature in Smart Spots you are referring to.’ Thank you again
Brian
Hey Brian, the potholes are the sand spots on grass flats…. Look at the satellite images on the smart fishing spots app….you’ll see “mottled” colored bottom along natural shorelines. These are the areas that redfish like especially if you find mullet.
Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge. See you out there