November gave us some great fishing for bull redfish just as we expected. December and January should be even better with the cooler temps. I prefer a north wind for the best redfish activity. The cool fronts will push the bait near the coastline and the bull redfish should follow. Watch for diving birds and especially the pelicans. The redfish will push the bait to the surface and the birds will attack the bait from above.
After seeing this, you may choose to cast a curly tail jig into the school of redfish. I prefer light spinning tackle with 20 pound test line and a 1 – 2 ounce lead head jig with a red, white or green curly tail grub. You may cast and retrieve or jig slowly vertically. When these bull redfish are feeding they will attack quickly. When you see bull reds on the surface, cast a topwater plug into the school and twitch it with a medium retrieve and hang on. This can be awesome. If you see no birds, bait or fish, then you may place trolling lures such as stretch 25’s and 30’s behind the boat and troll at 4 to 6 knots.
This will often help you to locate a school of redfish when they are not feeding on the surface. Also remember, the typical north wind usually provides nice calm seas nearshore where we fish for these big bulls. The bull redfish should be around through the winter and into early Spring.
Offshore Fishing
Offshore fishing should be good through the winter. I would recommend fishing 100 feet and deeper in the cold months. You can still catch amberjack, vermillion snapper, white snapper, triggerfish, scamp and red grouper through the winter. Always try cut squid and whole squid. Live bait is good when you can find it. Watch the weather forecast and find you a nice day between cold fronts.
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