Best Times and Tides for Catching Redfish in Florida
If you spend time on Florida’s inshore waters, you’ll quickly learn that redfish don’t bite at random. These powerful gamefish are creatures of habit, and their feeding activity is directly influenced by light, tide movement, and seasonal changes. By planning your trips around the right conditions, you’ll stack the odds in your favor and put more fish in the boat.
Early Morning and Late Afternoon
One of the most productive times to target redfish is during the low-light windows of dawn and dusk. In the early morning, redfish push onto shallow grass flats and along mangrove shorelines in search of crabs, shrimp, and baitfish. This is a prime opportunity to throw topwater lures or a weedless soft plastic across skinny water. The late afternoon offers similar action, especially when the sun begins to soften and bait starts to move toward shallower edges again.
Fishing the Incoming Tide
As the tide begins to rise, baitfish are pushed into shallow water, and redfish are never far behind. They take advantage of the rising water to explore grass edges, oyster bars, and mangrove roots. This stage of the tide is excellent for fishing a popping cork with a live shrimp or soft plastic lure suspended beneath it. Casting near points or creek mouths as water floods in often produces quick strikes.
Working the Outgoing Tide
When the tide starts to fall, redfish set up at ambush points. As water drains out of the flats and creeks, it carries baitfish and crustaceans right into the waiting mouths of hungry reds. The best strategy is to target creek mouths, sandbars, or the deeper cuts where water funnels out. A jig head tipped with a soft plastic paddletail or a piece of cut bait bounced along the bottom is hard for a redfish to resist during an outgoing tide.
Seasonal Patterns in Florida
Spring and fall are considered peak seasons for redfish across most of Florida. Moderate water temperatures and active feeding patterns make them highly accessible. In summer, redfish are still active, but the heat of the day can drive them deeper. That’s why fishing early in the morning before the sun climbs too high is so effective during hot months. In winter, redfish school up in deeper holes, channels, and along sun-warmed flats. Targeting areas with slightly warmer water, like the lee side of islands or under docks, is often the key to finding them when temperatures drop.
Putting It All Together
Success with redfish fishing often comes down to a combination of timing and location. If you can line up a strong incoming or outgoing tide with a low-light period, your chances of hooking up go way up. Add in the seasonal behaviors of redfish, and you’ll have a clear game plan before you even launch the boat. Many experienced anglers also consult a solunar calendar to identify the major feeding windows of the day, which can give you that extra edge.
By understanding the rhythm of the tides and the habits of redfish, you’ll spend less time guessing and more time catching. Whether you’re fishing from a skiff, kayak, or the shoreline, these timing strategies will help you connect with one of Florida’s most popular inshore targets.