‘Feels like a good one.’ Rains bring out the redfish to Tampa Bay | Outdoors column

As sweat poured down my face, Capt. Jason Hoffman raised an umbrella to provide a little bit of shade from the blistering hot sun. We were tucked close into a mangrove shoreline with the full-moon high tide flooding the flats.

Hoffman cut up frozen threadfins, rigged them on 25-pound fluorocarbon leader with a split shot and tossed them into little mangrove cuts for redfish.

“The fish prefer the shade, it’s not as hot,” he explained. “They’re not going to be very aggressive and come out away from the shoreline to eat if they don’t have to.”

It made perfect sense. Much like we wanted shade on the boat, the fish wanted shade in the water. It was nearly 1 p.m. on an August afternoon. Air temperatures approached the mid-90s while water temperatures also crept into the 90s on Tampa Bay.

The “fingers” Hoffman looked for in the mangroves were spots the branches didn’t reach into the water. Casting toward these allowed our baits to get further into the shade.

“The split shot keeps the bait in place,” Hoffman said. “The more still the better. They’re lazy in the middle of the day.”

We worked stealthily down the shoreline when Hoffman stuck his duel Power Poles into the soft bottom and pitched two more baits back into the mangroves. This spot had a noticeable amount of life with mullet jumping and tide flowing through the mangroves.

Hoffman tossed out two baits and left them in rod holders. After just a few minutes the first rod doubled over.

“Feels like a good one,” I said after grabbing the rod. “I think it’s a red.”

Not long after our target showed up on the surface. Hoffman netted a mid 20-inch redfish that we quickly revived and released. He tossed another bait out and repeated the process, this time hooking a bigger redfish of his own that we landed.

When the second fish was released, the skies opened up on us and thunder clapped nearby, signaling the end to our redfish hunt.

Capt. Jeremy Rzonca has noticed redfish showed up in large numbers a few weeks ago.

“The first time it rains each year for five or six days in a row it brings the redfish out until the fall,” he said. “That was a bit later than usual this year. They’ll stay here until it gets cold in November or December.”

Rzonca, much like Hoffman, sticks to the mangrove shorelines to find redfish when the tide comes in.

“On high water we’re in the trees. On low water we’ve been getting limits of snapper on hard bottom in the bay. We’re beating down the bushes until we find fish. Usually get 8 or 10 in a spot, then move down and find more.”

Both Hoffman and Rzonca agree in the closure of flats fish for the foreseeable future. Redfish, snook and trout remain prohibited from harvest.

“I’m definitely pro closure,” Rzonca said. “If people want fish to eat we can go catch snapper, mackerel or grouper. These redfish are my livelihood.”