I’ve always felt that the more of the fish’s senses you can appeal to, the better your chances of a strike. Poppers appeal to both sight and hearing, and again, are good choices when it’s windy and the water is rough.

These flies are made from deer hair, plastic foam, balsa wood, cork and other materials. What you choose depends of your personal preference or what’s available.

I like both deer hair and foam, but tend not to use cork and balsa. Certainly the floatability and durability of foam fly-rod lures is unmatched by any other material.

TECHNIQUES
Regardless of the type of lure you prefer, here are some common tips for using them.

The first is to keep the bait moving. Redfish are not largemouth bass; they have no interest in a stationary lure. If a red follows the bait and doesn’t take it, continue at a steady pace or speed up the retrieve, rather than slowing down. If you slow down, the fish usually veer off and won’t take. They may not take when you speed up, either, but the odds are much better that they will.

Second, when a redfish commits to the lure, he eats it 80 to 90 percent of the time. Short strikes are almost always caused by a fouled lure, most often when the hooks have caught some floating grass or other debris.

Short of modifying the plug by changing the hook arrangement, there’s nothing to be done about this, but to clean off the hooks and try again. At least you know that there’s a fish out there, and that it’s interested. If the problem persists, change to a single-hook soft-plastic bait.

Reds may have a hard time getting the bait in their mouth, especially when in very shallow water. Again, surface lures may not put as many fish in the boat as other types, but the visuals frequently make their use worthwhile anyway.

If there’s a lot of floating grass, I find that short casts are more effective, simply because the plug doesn’t have as much time to foul before you cast it again. Sometimes there’s so much floating grass that you have no other choice but to use jerkbaits or subsurface bait!

Third, use a loop knot to attach the lure to the line. The loop gives the bait maximum freedom to swing and sway, especially if a shock leader is used. Never use a snap or a swivel. Not only are these pieces of hardware unnecessary, they adversely affect the action of the bait.

Next, if the water clarity permits, try to actually see some fish before beginning to cast. Look for tails, wakes, cruising fish, or best of all, fish attacking bait. It may take some time to locate them, but you can always fish harder and with a lot more confidence if you know there are fish in the area where you’re casting.

Lastly, experiment some to see which plug and retrieve combination works best for you. When I fish with friends, often we’ll both be throwing the same lure. One person usually outfishes the other. I think the major reason for this is minor variations in our style of retrieve: The fish just find one retrieve with that particular bait more appealing. So develop a relationship with your favorite lures. You catch more fish with them that way!

“When I see a wake,” Capt. DePaiva explained, “I cast beyond the wake and retrieve in what is almost an intercept path. I want the lure to almost approach the fish. I actually want it to cross his path up in front of him a foot or so, so he can just accelerate a bit and nail it.

“If I see a group of fish tailing -- eight, 10, 12 fish -- I first see what direction they’re moving in,” he continued. “Our fish tend to move when they tail, and not sit in one place grubbing. Once I know where they’re going, I again want the lure to intercept them, out in front of them.

I don’t want it to approach them directly or come right through them, because a lot of times that will spook them. You have better success by leading them.

“I usually sight-fish for reds with these lures. But you can have good success blind-casting too. It’s not just heaving it out and hoping for the best, though. You cast past sandy potholes in the grass and retrieve the bait over the hole. In June, it’s still best to do this on a low incoming tide. The fish concentrate in those potholes, and it can be very effective.”

Of course, some days when you have a chance to fish, you don’t have a low, incoming tide.

“You can get redfish on higher tides by fishing around the mangrove islands,” the captain assured. “You almost have to use soft-plastic baits for this, though. What you want to do is skip the bait up under overhanging limbs. Since Hurricane Charlie, it matters how alive the trees are. The fish like the bushes that have a lot of leaves on them, since they provide more shade.