in Fishing, Inshore Fishing

The 11 Best Redfish Lures of All Time

best redfish lures

There’s nothing like hooking up with a big redfish on an artificial lure. It’s a much more rewarding experience than simply throwing out a live bait and letting it sit.

Not all lures are created equal though. Some of them are much better than others for reliably catching fish.

This guide is all about the best redfish lures available. If it’s on this list, it’s been personally tested and has been proven to catch fish.

There’s something here for every fisherman and every style of fishing.

#1  Strike King Redfish Magic Spinnerbait

strike king redfish magic lure
About the lure

The Strike King Redfish Magic is the best of all worlds for targeting redfish. It’s a spinnerbait-style lure that combines the benefits of a soft plastic with those of a gold spoon. As its name implies, it is one of the most consistent lures for catching redfish.

All Redfish Magic lures come packaged as a soft plastic shad preinstalled on the spinnerbait system. A tiny gold spoon hangs from the top of the bait to add some flash to the presentation. It’s really easy to change out the shad to any other similar soft plastic, even though the setup comes with one already hooked.

This is a very versatile lure that excels in almost every inshore setting that redfish inhabit. There’s just enough flash to make it highly visible and the attached shad keeps the lure performing well even when anglers are switching to soft plastics during colder months.

How to fish it

Fishing the Redfish Magic can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. You really can’t go wrong and it’s always best to experiment until you find something that will work for you on any given day.

The most common way to fish the lure is with a steady, medium paced retrieve. This is about as easy as it gets, as you don’t have to do anything other than reel at a decent enough speed to keep the lure from the bottom.

In addition to a standard retrieve, the Redfish Magic also works well with a jigging style. The goal here is to bounce the lure up and down slowly on the bottom. Feeding redfish are usually looking for easy meals on the bottom and this is a great way to put the lure right where they want it.

You can really be as creative as you’d like. Play around with speeds, twitches, etc until you hit the sweet spot. You can talk to a handful of redfish anglers and they’ll probably all give you slightly different advice on how to work one of these lures.

It’s also worth noting that the Redfish Magic is especially good for fishing grass flats. The lure’s design lets it move mostly weedless through the grass. Yeah, there are plenty of other “weedless” lures, but it’s nice when you find one that actually delivers on that statement.

#2  Rapala Skitter Walk

rapala skitter walk lure
About the lure

Rapala’s Skitter Walk always makes an appearance on my top lure rankings for redfish, snook, and trout. The sheer number of fish I’ve caught using this lure makes it impossible to leave off.

The Skitter Walk is a “walk-the-dog” style topwater lure. It has a small internal rattle that clicks as you work it back and forth across the top of the water. It sounds awesome and, in my opinion, it feels better than any other topwater when you’re working it.

It’s fun to use and it produces some great strikes. There’s nothing better than watching a redfish blow up a topwater.

The Skitter Walk also makes the #2 spot in my list of The 11 Best Speckled Trout Lures of All Time.

How to fish it

Fishing a Skitter Walk effectively isn’t complicated, but it does take a little bit of practice. The goal is to keep a steady walk-the-dog motion where the front of the lure moves from side to side as you bring it in.

You want to use a rod with a fairly fast to medium-fast tip if you want to get the smoothest action. Cast the lure out and leave yourself just enough slack to “pop” the lure. The goal is to leave yourself with the same amount of slack you started with before the pop. Follow up with another pop and then another after that.

You’ll know you’ve got it right when you’ve nailed down a good rhythm and the lure is bouncing from side to side while the interior rattle satisfyingly clicks in unison. Keep the same cadence up all the way through your retrieve.

If a redfish strikes and misses, keep working the lure. Fish miss topwaters often and the worst thing you can do is abandon your retrieve. The fish will often circle back around and make another swipe as your lure if you keep your rhythm going.

#3  MirrOLure Mirrodine

mirrolure mirrodine

About the lure

MirrOLure’s Mirrodine is probably my favorite overall inshore lure. It’s great for redish, especially during warmer months.

The Mirrodine is a suspending twitchbait that comes in a wide variety of colors. It has an awesome motion in the water that closely resembles a wounded baitfish. You can fish it all throughout the water column by adjusting your retrieval style and retrieve.

This is a very flexible lure that works as well as any hardbait I’ve ever used. I never leave shore without a handful of Mirrodines in the boat. They’re not too expensive, which is great considering how many fish bite them on a regular basis.

How to fish it

While you can change your retrieve style to fit your needs, the best Mirrodine retrieval method is one that is made up of nothing but slow twitches. The suspending nature of the lure means that it sits nicely under the surface without sinking too fast. At a standstill, the lure will fall ever so slightly. This makes it perfect for mimicking a struggling baitfish.

Once you’ve casted the Mirrodine out, give it just a moment to sink a foot or two under the surface. From there, you want to give the lure between one and three quick twitches. This will cause the lure to dart erratically through the water. After the twitches, let the lure sit for a few seconds. This lets the lure slowly fall back into place before you resume your retrieve.

You’ll find that most of your redfish strikes will come after the twitching as your Mirrodine sinks. Fish see it as an easy meal and scoop it up on its way to the bottom.

A Mirrodine is perfect for fishing variable water depths. It’s very easy to control depth by simply speeding up or slowing down your retrieve. Flats are one of my favorite places to fish the Mirrodine with how easy it is to keep the lure just above the grass.

#4  Bass Assassin Saltwater Sea Shad

bass assassin saltwater sea shad
About the lure

The Bass Assasin Saltwater Sea Shad is a soft plastic, paddletail shad that comes in a whole host of colors. It’s a simple lure, but it’s awesome for redish. Jerkbait styles are also available and work equally well.

Soft plastics are the go-to choice for targeting redfish in the late fall and winter. The fish are a little less aggressive during these months and change their feeding habits to focus on the smaller baitfish inside coastal waters.

There are plenty of good soft plastics on the market, but I prefer Bass Assassin. They are inexpensive, durable, and I love the color selection.

How to fish it

There’s an almost endless number of ways to fish these types of soft plastics, but my favorite way is with a simple jighead.

The most important thing to do when rigging a Sea Shad on a jig (or any other hook) is to make sure that you’ve hooked it correctly. It’s easy to throw off the motion of the lure if its rigged off-balance.

In order to get the hook placement right, start by holding the Shad up to the jighead and looking at the approximate point at which the hook would exit the plastic. This is much better than blindly inserting the hook and letting it come out at a random spot. Make sure the exit point of the hook is at the dead center of the Shad’s belly.

Working the lure is really up to you and you should change your retrieve up until you find what’s working. Sometimes the best thing to do is a simple, straightforward retrieve that involves nothing but reeling. Sometimes it’s best to jig the Shad off of the bottom or use it as a jerkbait. There’s no wrong way to use it and there’s a time to employ each of these methods.

#5  Johnson Silver Minnow

johnson silver minnow spoon lure
About the lure

The Johnson Silver Minnow is a weedless spoon. It’s an absolute staple for targeting redfish and its the #1 choice for tons and tons of anglers. There are tons of colors to choose from, but gold is the tried and true for redfish. If you polled a room full of veteran redfish anglers, I’d wager that 90% of them would tell you to choose gold.

This is a lure that’s as easy to use as you’ll ever find. Its classic design creates a perfect motion in the water with little effort. Redfish (and plenty of other inshore species) love it.

I’ve listed the Silver Minnow here because it’s the classic option and it’s available at almost any tackle shop, but there are plenty of other good spoons out there. H&H is another company that makes a good gold spoon for redfish with a built-in swivel.

How to fish it

Cast it out and reel. Done. That may be a little bit oversimplified, but it’s not far off from reality. Spoons are one of the easiest lures to work and it takes very little effort to make them move perfectly in the water.

The primary thing to worry about when fishing a spoon is speed. Almost all spoons have a “sweet spot” speed where the lure wobbles back and forth perfectly. Too fast or too slow can keep it from performing optimally.

You can add some twitches, jerks, or pauses to your retrieve if you’d like. There’s nothing wrong with mixing it up, but simply reeling it in at a medium speed is almost always the most productive approach.

A final word of advice for spoons is to check the hook when you pull it out the package. The Silver Minnow is a sturdy lure and it’s a great bargain, but sometimes the hook sharpness isn’t what it should be. You may want to sharpen it a bit if you happen to get a dud.

#6  Gulp! Shrimp

berkley gulp shrimp
About the lure

Typically, I’d give my top five lures and then move on to five more honorable mentions. For redfish, I felt like I specifically needed to add a sixth option with the Gulp Shrimp.

Gulp is a Berkley product that consists of special absorbent soft plastics that come submerged in a tub of scented fluid. The extra scent attracts fish in a big way. So much so that some fisherman will avoid using it because they’d rather not deal with pinfish and catfish.

Love it or hate it, the Gulp Shrimp can’t be denied as a surefire way to put redfish in the boat.

How to fish it

Redfish are the #1 fish that I target if I’m using a Gulp Shrimp. This is because the Gulp is just as good laying on the bottom as it is being actively fished.

“Dead sticking” a Gulp is a perfect way to catch redfish if everything else has failed you. The pungent scent of Gulp makes it work like cut bait on steroids. Sometimes the best way to fish these baits are to throw them out and let them sit, i.e., dead sticking.

Other than that, Gulps work very well when they are fished like any other soft plastic on a jighead or a hook. You can work them just like you’d work any other similar lure.

As much as some folks hate to admit it, it’s hard to beat a Gulp Shrimp for its overall effectiveness catching redfish. If you need further proof, know that Gulps work well enough to have been banned in plenty of inshore tournaments.

(Honorable Mentions)

#7  Sebile Stick Shadd

(Check current Sebile Stick Shadd price on Amazon)

The Stick Shadd is a twitchbait/jerkbait lure. You fish it similar to how you fish a Mirrodine. The lure has a keel that runs along the bottom, giving it a very erratic motion when its pulled. It’s one of my favorite hardbaits and I use it almost as much as I do the Mirrodine. The only downside to the Stick Shadd is that Sebile lures aren’t cheap and they’re often hard to find.

#8  DOA Shrimp

(Check current DOA Shrimp price on Amazon)

DOA Shrimp are a tried and true inshore workhorse of a lure. You can use them on ever species that eats shrimp, i.e., just about every game fish. They are super easy to fish and redfish love them. The best way to fish the DOA is to reel it as slow as humanly possible, crawling it along the bottom with the occasional twitch.

#9 Zara Spook

(Check current Zara Spook price on Amazon)

The Zara Spook is a super popular topwater lure. Like the Skitter Walk, the Spook has a walk-the-dog motion. I use these often, even though I do prefer the Skitter Walk. Plenty of folks use Spooks exclusively though for redfish, trout, and snook.

#10  Popping Cork Rig

(Check current Cajun Thunder Popping Cork Rig on Amazon)

A simple popping cork setup is another great way to catch redfish. All you need is a good cork and something like a Gulp or DOA Shrimp. Using it is as simple as throwing it out and give it a few jerks, followed by pauses.

#11  Yo Zuri 3D Inshore Minnow

(Check current Yo Zuri 3D Inshore Minnow price on Amazon)

The Yo Zuri 3D Inshore Minnow is a lipped, floating lure. It sits on the surface and ducks under when you work it, making it a great choice for shallow water. I always like Yo Zuri lures for their level of detail and how they move in the water.

Conclusion

These lures are the ones that I can 100% recommend for anyone who wants to go out and load up on redfish. There’s not a single lure listed here that hasn’t reliably caught redfish for me.

Take the lures’ numbered order with a grain of salt. The ranking is simply my personal preference based on my own usage. The last lure on this list could easily outperform the first lure on any given day. A good fisherman is always going to adjust lures to fit what’s needed. Always aim to “match the hatch” by using lures that are similar to what redfish are naturally feeding on.

Got a personal favorite redfish lure? Let us know what your go-to choice is!