WINTER FISHING

In the heart of winter I often spend my time getting my flats tackle ready.  I re-line reels, fix broken rod guides, and stock up on bargain sale lures.   I’ll often spend hours pouring over Google Earth looking for a new honey hole, or reorganize my tackle box for the hundredth time.  All of these are just distractions, of course, a way to calm me down for when the flats come alive in the spring.  My favorite time.

I love fishing the grass flats that stretch across the northwest coast of Florida between Keaton Beach and St. Joe Bay.  Nothing pleases me more than to drift the flats in the spring tossing soft plastics to speckled trout, redfish, flounder, and many other species.  Sometimes the fishing can be so good fish can be caught on nearly every cast.  This changes in the winter. 

Redfish and trout like to bunch up in deeper holes in the coastal rivers and creeks.  This is not a bad thing because if they can be found, the fish can be caught in bunches.  Hole hopping is not my favorite way to fish, but is the only way I know to catch these flats dwellers when the water turns cold.  There are some good areas to try around Ochlocknee Bay, St. Marks River, East River, and the Aucilla River. 

In the winter I prefer fishing live or dead shrimp, or some type of cut bait like mullet.  Winter fishing requires more patience, and the fish don’t react to a plastic bait jigging around like they do in the spring.  My basic rig is a medium 7ft spinning rod with a 440 SSG Penn spinning reel.  The line is 15-20lb braid Carolina rigged with an egg sinker and a 2 ought circle hook.  Preferably I’ll fish an incoming tide, and hope for the best.  I generally give each hole around thirty minutes or so before moving to another location. 

This week I’ll be heading to a hole my brother told me about in Ochlocknee Bay.  I’ll be in a kayak as opposed to a boat, so if the fish aren’t there I will not be able to move around to another hole.  Hopefully my plan will come together.  Happy fishing everyone!