Fishing During Low Tides
During the Winter, the water levels in Tampa Bay drop well below the mean low range. On top of that, the water temperature drops into the upper 50’s to low 60’s. These drastic changes force anglers to modify their tactics.
At the first of the month, the grass flats are basically devoid of fish. Heck, at times they’re devoid of water, too. So where did all the fish go, you may ask? Considering you can see land in many places, the obvious answer is in the creeks, rivers, channels and residential canals. They are all loaded with fish right now. Whatever species you’re looking for, they’re there!
During the Winter, fishes’ metabolism slows down, making them more sluggish. They also seem to prefer shrimp over live scalded sardines. When buying shrimp at the bait shop, I always go for the medium-sized. The selects are just too big and too hard for most fish to easily consume.
When fishing in the Winter months, I rarely use a float, because I’m fishing in deep water with no grass for the shrimp to get buried in. When free lining shrimp, I prefer to hook them in the head under the horn, just in front of the black dot, which is its brain. Hook it in the brain, it’s D.O.A. When you cast a shrimp out, just let it swim around naturally for the best presentation and wait for the strike.
Chumming with pieces of shrimp helps trigger a bite and draws fish to my boat. After a day of fishing, I don’t throw out my remaining shrimp, I bag it and freeze it to use for chum. The next time I go fishing, I let them thaw out and break them into pieces to broadcast them into my fishing spot.
Another thing you’ll notice about Winter fishing is that different species seem to mingle more. I guess it’s because there are so few other places with water–there’s no other choice. Clients are catching snook, redfish, seatrout, sheepshead and small black drum in the same spot.
Regarding sheepshead, even though the sheepshead spawning season doesn’t start until February, the cooler water temperatures have them feeding very aggressively. On a recent charter, my clients specifically requested sheepshead, and the day did not disappoint. On the very first cast of the day, they reeled in a 16-inch keeper. Throughout the charter, we must have caught close to 30 sheepshead, along with numerous redfish, seatrout and snook. At the end of the day, they went home with six nice sized keeper sheepshead.
Like I mentioned last month, if you enjoy catching redfish, now is the perfect time to catch plenty. Even though most are rats, (under slot-sized redfish) they are still fun to catch.
The same can be said for seatrout. Clients have been catching some of the largest seatrout of the year, recently. Seatrout school up in the Winter, so when you hit the right spot numerous fish in the 15 to 19-inch slot range can be landed. One thing to keep in mind when handling seatrout is to do so gently. Of all the inshore species in Tampa Bay, they are the most delicate. Unless you’re keeping some for dinner, it’s best to leave them in the water beside the boat, and use a de-hooker to release them. When taking pictures of fish that you plan on releasing, also wet your hands so you don’t remove the protective slime on their bodies. Never, ever, handle a fish with a towel.
Snook are also making their presence known. I’m finding snook mixed in with the redfish and seatrout. Just remember, snook are closed to harvest until March 1st, so it’s strictly catch and release.
With no water on the grass flats, fish only have one place to go–that’s deep. The same can be said for dolphins. If you’re out fishing and one or more dolphins move into your area it’s time to leave–game over. Please do not do what I see too many people do. They will continue to fish and every fish they release gets eaten by the dolphins. Sadly, some people seem to get a kick out of it. It’s best to move on and not continue to train dolphins to target boats with anglers.
Afishionado, “Adventures in Fishing.”