By: Capt. Bart Marx
It was a crazy year in the weather department, and I am glad it’s over. For the holidays, if you are looking for a gift for one of those anglers in your life, I have gift certificates available, or they can be a good birthday gift too1 Inshore around the docks as the water gets cooler, the sheepshead will start chewing on the barnacles as they have some strong teeth and love crustations. Sheepshead are going into the Gulf to spawn when the waters get cooler in January and February. This is also true for the flounder population as they will be migrating into the Gulf to spawn as well. Flounder are more aggressive and will eat live baits like greenies, pinfish and shrimp. They will lay on the sand waiting for an unsuspecting bait to swim by. Drifting in the passes, tossing those little jigs for pompano can be productive for this fast-swimming species. Redfish on the grass flats and along the mangrove edges and on some of the coldest days they may be found in some deep pockets where the water temperature changes slower. Trout will be found on the grass flats hanging on the edges of the sand where there dark spotted back helps them blend in. Drift and you will cover more water and have a greater chance of finding some of those gator trout. Like all fish, trout will face into the current and wait for food to swim by or rise up and grab something off the surface. Black drum should be migrating up into the rivers, and you may see some big schools traveling together. This is the time of year to go offshore, weather permitting, and run the lines of stone crab buoys in search of tripletail. This is site fishing at its finest! Drive past the buoys and if you see what looks like a garbage bag around the line of the buoy, continue and make a large U turn and approach with a shrimp on a rod, cast to the buoy and watch the fish turn and come after the bait. And it is game time, back the boat away from the buoy and have fun. If you are traveling, you may find some cobia in small schools of 2 or 3 fish. Site cast to them also, and if you like bottom fishing get out to some of the natural ledges within 12 miles of the beach there should be snapper, lanes and mangrove. There should also be white grunts and several different porgies. If you would like to learn some of these methods of harvesting fish, give me a call or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegacharters.com. I also do training sessions on your boat which helps shorten the learning curve and helps you learn where you can take your boat without destroying the local grass beds.