Tailing Redfish

Well, I got my speckled trout poppers and mullet flies in the mail, but I am now completely distracted by what happened while fishing last night.  I received word from a friend that he had seen tailing redfish on his way home from work.  I checked out where he had seen them, couldn't find them myself, but decided to go fishing elsewhere anyway.  Walking down the shoreline somewhere on the Mississippi Gulf Coast I could not believe my eyes.  On a section of beach, redfish were feeding like crazy, within a foot from the shore, the tips of their tails sticking out of the water, and every once in a while, a back would break the surface as a fish got in real shallow chasing something.  I'd been dreaming of this ever since I moved down to Mississippi, but somehow I hadn't managed to see tailing redfish before, and I never really thought I'd see them from an accessible part of the shore.  I figured you needed to be on a boat in the marsh to really have a chance at them.  My first approach resulted immediately in splashes and v lines away from the shoreline as redfish scattered to get away from me.  I located another group of fish, and this time approached on my knees, but stayed about 10 yards away, casting almost parallel to the shoreline.  The next hour was some of the most exhilarating yet frustrating fishing of my life.  With so many redfish in sight, my casting went to pieces - tailing loops, snagging grasses, and missing my target.  But even when I got it together, they mostly ignored my offering.  I switched from a Clouser to a crab pattern, and got a couple follows and one take that resulted in a very brief fight, but I could not bring a fish to hand!  I thought tailing redfish were supposed to be easy to catch...  I'll be back tonight.