Getting to the redfish when they're really shallow: That's half the battle. Photo by Pete Cooper, Jr.

Having spent 40 years avidly pursuing redfish, I've concluded that they rank among the most adaptable creatures ever to inhabit salt, brackish or, at times, even fresh water.

I've caught them in depths ranging from mere inches to almost 150 feet, and on so many different artificial lures and natural baits that the largest tackle box on the market at present wouldn't hold a single member of each type.

Yet amid all this variation, a single factor has governed whatever success I've had with reds: First I had to find them.

I fished for fully a decade in waters widely acclaimed for their redfish populations before I finally caught one. After that momentous event, my previous dearth of action appeared all too explicable: I'd been fishing for them in water that wasn't shallow enough. Often that's indeed the key to consistent action with inshore reds.

What you define as "shallow," however, can get pretty extreme from time to time. So what can you do when normally-productive flats almost go dry, but still hold fish? If any water at all remains on such flats, two options are viable: In areas where the substrate is firm enough to permit wading, do it! But where the bottom's soft, float it with paddled craft like a canoe or kayak, both of which can either serve as a means of primary transportation or be shuttled to and from a given area behind a larger craft.

While bay-boats are very popular along the Gulf Coast, a lot of folks have recently begun using Florida flats-boats to pursue ultra-shallow reds. The favored types are 16 feet long, weigh in the neighborhood of 500 pounds, and are adequately powered by outboards in the 60-horsepower range. So low to the water that they'll float on a heavy dew, they're easily push-poled and therefore quite stealthy. They're also a bit pricey -- but should you desire to take your dusty redfishing to extremes, they're a very worthwhile investment.

Regardless of your chosen craft, the following tactics apply. But just be aware that the much more inexpensive paddlecraft have served as the means for reaching several thousand of the reds I've caught over the years!

GOING SHALLOW
Redfish can frequently be found in water too skinny to cover them completely, exposing their dorsal fins and even part of their backs. Appearing to be in some danger of sunburn, these fish (occasionally referred to as "crawlers") simultaneously create an easy solution to the first-you-have-to-find-them problem and bring into play a few considerations that'll usually have to be dealt with if you're going to have any chance of catching 'em.

"Dusty" areas are often created during a low tide alongside grass shorelines that have been eroded by wave-action, leaving shelves of sorts. This form of structure extends from the present grassline to a dropoff into slightly deeper water. Reds commonly move from the adjacent deeper water to the top of those shelves to feed, and in doing so, their dorsal extremities can become exposed.