Redfish Tales: Close To Home

I've made a change to my strategy to streamline my quest for sight fishing redfish. No more Caladesi Island. No more Fort Desoto. No more traveling an hour for the best turtle grass and tides.
I'm staying close to home. Legion Flats and Picnic Island are less than 20 minutes from my house. It makes sense that I fish those places. And if I want to cross the Gandy Bridge, Weedon Island is just about as close as Picnic or Legion. After fishing consistently for the past year and a half or so, I've realized one thing: Find water close by, and you'll get out more and if you get out more, you'll become a better fishermen, because you'll eventually pattern the fish --- where they move and why. And you can't do that in the car.
Put it this way: If I got to Caladesi, it's an hour drive (each way) and a 30-minute paddle. That means I've invested three hours driving or paddling without so much as a roll cast. Trips to Picnic and Legion involve far less time in the car, which means more time on the water. And time on the water is what matters. I don't care how good the habitat is.
I hit Legion hard Saturday and Sunday. The first day I fished the last of the outgoing in the early a.m. The second day, I hit the incoming in the early afternoon. All told, I put in roughly 7, 8 hours on the water. My conclusion: It's still to damn hot and because of that, the fish are holding deeper. Can you catch them with a fly rod? Yes. Is it ideal? No.
For a few more weeks, it's a early morning/late afternoon gig. The windows for sight fishin' success are tight, maybe an hour or so. Schedule accordingly.