This month will hopefully complete the last of the winter cold fronts that bring days of high winds behind them to central Florida. Both air and water temperatures will begin to stabilize making the fishing more consistent. Redfish and trout will continue to be the main species for this month. Hopefully the cleaner water conditions we have been experiencing will stick around for a while. Sunny skies and clean water mean it’s time for sight fishing on the shallow flats. The low winter water conditions combined with the now limited areas with grass left means there are fewer and fewer places to fish traditional grass flats. If the grass is sticking out of the water, it is too shallow for most of the fish. Sandbars, drop offs, depressions, and points are all holding fish when they cannot get to the grass. As is the case for much of the winter, nothing beats a 3” DOA shad tail on a jighead bounced along the bottom.
Many of the redfish will still be in schools this month. Some schools have 5 or 10 fish, some have hundreds. One thing they all have in common is they know their food does not fall from the sky and plop into the middle of the schools. Do that with your lure or bait and most times you will end up scaring them all away. Land your baits 5-10 feet away from the school and then reel up to the edge of them for better results.
Georges Bar, Hong Kong flats, Plantation Island, Orange Island, Turtle Mound Creek, and the flats off Slippery Creek are all great places to find shallow water schools of redfish and some gator sized spotted sea trout as well. Approach them with stealth or you may never get close enough for a cast.
