Red Emperor Depth

[devocean]

Really want to get one of these this year and I want to pick the brains of some of the red fishermen on this site. I have a pretty good secret spot where I have caught them up to 42cm before. Its in about 45 foot of water open reef about 7 mile offshore on pretty decent pinnacles. Do you think it is possible to catch them in this type of spot? If so what is the best bait?

Cheers Devocean

[Kiktz]

Live Yakka's

[Leo_N.]

Good question Dev, reds fishing remains an enigma to me as well.

[kleiny]

live stripey or big flesh baits

[agnes_jack]

Mullet flesh, squid and yakkas.

Regards, Tony

[dfox]

Dan- im not saying you wont get one there but id be more inclined to try areas further out in 60-90meters. Fish away from the major reefs and on smaller structure, small rocks or gravel patches are the areas to look for, fishing the heavier bottom structures produce, but you tend to have more problems with sharks and vermon like red bass. Reds are commonly found in the deeper more isolated areas and to a much lesser extent around reefs, such areas are harder to locate but try areas on the ocean side and well out from the reefs in your area where the water is this depth, dont be to fussy about bait, a well presented fresh bait is all that is required .Dont overlook small showings, a rise of as little as a few feet may hold fish. Watch the sounder carefully, enlarge the bottom zoom and keep the sensitivity up. Good hunting...foxy

[noodlemantra]

Devo,

All reds that I have been a witness too, pulled up on the reef have been in deeper water, 150-170 feet. Slashers reef namely. As foxy said, bait doesn't seem to matter when your in a spot. Pillies/squid/strip bait all work fine. Haven't caught one myself, I was too busy pulling up cobia on handlines love that sh#t!

[Reefmaster]

Devo
No doubt if you fished there all the time you would pull a legal red sometime. But that sometime maybe a long time away. I have caught reds upto 44cm in moreton bay but i would never think that i would pull a legal red with in the bay but thats not to say it would never happen. As others have mentioned they prefer deeper water away from the main shallow reefs and this sometimes means you need to travel big distances to find any good numbers of reds. Big Reds can be caught without travelling big distances in heavily fished areas where most common species can be caught but usaully not in schools and most times just 1 big red will be caught. Most reds i have caught in big schools are no bigger then around 12-13kg but it seems to be the lone or small schooled reds that are the better fish from around that 13-18kg mark. As dave said the reds are more prone to come from smaller isolated patches of reef, small flat reefs with a good show of coral or weed on them and even dead flat gravel and mud areas. Its not to often we pull reds on big pinnacles and large reefs but fishing around the base/edges of these reefs can produce. Red Emperor are a real traveling fish and what might seem to be a bad non eventful spot could soon turn into mayhem with big reds being pulled aboard as they move through the area. The hardest part about finding reds regularly is finding the areas that they inhabit and move around on a regular basis. Its not easy but i guess thats why Reds are one of the most sort after fish on most fishermens list. Bait isnt a real big issue as reds are really not that fussy and will just about nail anything put in front of them. Big flesh baits and whole dead yakkas are amoung my favourites.

Heres a pic of an area that shows only a slight rise and a good weed/coral growth on the bottom. You can see the fish scattered above this area but more importantly the fish sitting almost hard against the bottom. In this instance its hard to tell the difference between the coral/weed and the fish but if you look closely you will see there are slight gapes between the bottom and the fish. Running the sounder on bottom discrimination mode will show the difference between the two alot easier but i haven't got a pic of this spot in this mode. We pulled reds straight away and but most we were no bigger then around 8kg(as shown in last pic) This depth of 65 mtrs is around the depth we pull most reds in (+ or - 5 or so mtrs)

Regards Greg

[Reefmaster]

The red that came off the pic above 2 minutes after it was taken.

[finding_time]

Great post greg thanks for that!
Mate i run the ff50 also and am interested to know if you always use the bottom discrimination mode i have used it a bit but these days tend to use just full screen. I've set the bottom to show white and this generally is enough contrast ,also the white gives you an extra colour.
Ian

[adds31]

G'day all,
What time of the year is best for targetting reds. Have caught a few just under legals in the bay but have witnessed one keeper around 6 kgs caught at Harries during summer. Don't know whether it was lost or not but the ones i have caught that arent legal have been in the northern part of bay.

Cheers, Adds...

[Mick]

Dan, one was speared at camp island last week end. Dave and I saw photo on email at dive shop outlet in townsville.

[devocean]

Well get your boat fixed mick so we can go. By the way thanks for the advice guys I havnt caught a legal red in about 12 years. Sorry about the lateness have been in Tassie for 12 days playing with the trout