Capt. Dave Stephens
This has got to be the longest hurricane season I can ever remember! It just seems like these storms will not give up. Well maybe December will finally put all that to rest, and we can start focusing on our winter fishery. I would like to share with you one of my biggest concerns of the upcoming winter. We have had several warm winters, I’m predicting that this winter maybe much colder and wetter. After the past couple great warm tropical winters, I think we are due. So, what do we do in a situation like this? Well we do what the fish tell us to do. The colder the winter, the deeper the fish tend to move. Charlotte Harbor has miles of deep-water access for fish to migrate to during the winter months. As winter moves in the water cools from the surface down, so this gives the fish time to adjust to the cooling of the water. Some of our game fish can handle this much better than others. Probably the fish that is least likely to handle a cold winter is snook. Quite a few years ago we got hammered by back to back major cold fronts that drastically dropped our water temps. As a result, we lost a large amount of our snook population. When water temps drop below 58° for over 24hrs that is a recipe for disaster. I’m not predicting a winter as major as that, I’m just nervous about the fact we have not had a cold winter in many years. While some of our fish can’t handle the cold, we are fortunate to have fish that can. In fact, it tends to make that fishery even stronger. Trout is one of those fish. When the mercury drops these guys tend to school up in deeper pockets and are willing to still take a bait. Shrimp will be the bait off choice, due to being a slow-moving bait. A slow presentation is a must! I prefer fishing a jig head with a shrimp right on the bottom. Jig sizes will depend on current flow and depth. The deeper the water and current the larger the jig head; anything from a 1/8-1-4 will get the job done. The trick is not to pin the bait to the bottom, just make contact.
Redfish is a fish that doesn’t seem to mind cooler waters. Look for these guys to set up in potholes and move back into deeper creeks. I also recommend fishing a jig and shrimp. Hopefully mother nature doesn’t throw too many major cold fronts our way, but if she does, there’s still fish to catch.
