Candy Canes, Cold Fronts & Cooler-Filling Catches
Santa’s sleigh is full of sheepshead, black drum, and big ol’ yellowmouths! December is “the most wonderful time of year” for holiday cheer and for the inshore anglers to fill their coolers with plenty of delicious and sustainable (more on that later) table fare. Water temps in the 60s and below signal the time to load up your bucket with shrimp and fiddlers and head to the bridges, deep holes or shallow water rock piles that are abundant in the New Port Richey/Hudson area. Clear winter water calls for using light gear. I don’t use more than 15-pound fluorocarbon and size 1, or smaller, hooks. If you fish lower tides, you can find pockets of deeper water back in the Salt Springs area, or fish the neighborhood canals, which tend to be deep in our area. Using a split shot or a very light jig head, drop the fiddler or small-to-regular size shrimp down into the holes or dock pilings and get ready to pull out plenty of black drum, sheeps and small-to-medium sized redfish that are stacked up in there trying to stay warm.
Big trout are a different story entirely. They like to hang back in the creeks, where the water is moving quickly and feed on bigger baits. Think baits that you would use to fish for big snook. Jumbo shrimp and medium pinfish will work, if you don’t like to throw a cast net; but, I like to use large greenbacks and finger mullet to keep the bycatch to a minimum. Drift them back with the current under a popping cork to keep your baits off the bottom. Large trout can lay up to 10 MILLION eggs per spawning event! With that knowledge, please take care of these fish by wetting your hands before grabbing them, and giving them ample time during the release to come back to life. I know you are allowed to keep one over 19 inches in our area, but that doesn’t mean you have to.
Captain Bill is a Florida native who grew up fishing the Gulf Coast. Being a proud Army Vet himself, he founded a charity called VetCatch that takes disabled veterans on cost free fishing trips in the Tampa Bay area. He guides out of New Port Richey fishing a 24-foot Shoalwater tower boat as well as the custom 25-foot VetCatch pontoon if needed for elderly/disabled fisherman. www.rustybucket.fish.