By: Capt. Dave Stephens
With winter arriving and the water cooling down, this is the time of year we get some of the lowest tides. Many days these tides are so low the flats are completely exposed. I hear a lot of complaints or just hear that people are not even going fishing. Well folks it’s not the end of the world I promise. This is a great time to venture out on the water. There are a lot of fish out there still especially when the waters begin to cool down for the winter. It takes a little exploring but that’s the fun of it. You might even find new places to fish, here are a few tips that can help you locate some deep-water winter fish. First thing I look for is depth. Locating deeper holes is key to locating fish. Also, structure, when I look for docks that I want to fish I like that they should have a condemned sign on them, and have oysters growing on the pilings, oh yea those are my kind of docks. If you can find this kind of structure with deep water, you just may have found a gold mine.
Redfish fishing has been good, the deep creeks and mangrove shorelines have been productive. I have been doing very well fishing with shrimp. Make sure you bring some extra, you will lose a few to the smaller to bait thieves. Gulp shrimp fished on jig heads have been doing well also. A slow presentation will be key to getting more strikes. New Penny and Pearl is a couple of my favorites. As water temperatures drop Snook fishing will begin to slow down. The deeper water structure will be holding good numbers of fish. A very slow presentation will help
with your success. On warmer sunny days Snook will become active, if you plan to target Snook I recommend watching the weather. Larger shrimp free lined will catch the attention of Snook that are willing to bite.
Trout fishing will be very good. Pending weather conditions will have a big difference in where to locate fish. The magic number seems to be 70-72 degrees. Fish deep on the minus, and shallow on the plus. All the well-known bars are great places to locate them. As the water clears, I have had very good success sight fishing them. Your local tackle shops will have everything you’ll need to have a successful day fishing.