By Capt. Michael Savedow, Edgewater River Guide
Welcome to 2026, New Year’s is my favorite holiday of the year as it begins all the different fishing seasons of the year to come. January can bring the coldest temperatures of the season both air and water, cold means clearer water in the Edgewater Backcountry.
This is the best time to drop live shrimp, small live finger mullet, mud minnow, or a 1/16 or 1/8 oz. jig head with a small light colored tail to the bottom of holes and channels. Trout, Reds, Snook, Drum, Sheepshead, or Mangrove Snapper may be in the deep spots. On mild sunny days these same fish will come up to the tops of the drop offs and surrounding areas with oyster edges, flats, and creeks which will warm up a bit during the day’s sunshine. You want to fish slowly as cold fish will be sluggish, scan the clear water with your polarized sunglasses searching for signs of fish. A winter fish that will not be sluggish are Bluefish, found all through the backcountry, ICW channel, bridges, inlet, and surf. If they are swimming, they are eating free lined live shrimp, cut bait, and small darting, flashy lures are best.
A great fly fishing target as they are not picky and eager to attack. Their sharp teeth mean a little heavier floro leader or light wire, you may want to use lures or flies which are already scarred up because they will be abused by the toothy Blues. Sheepshead are always a great winter target, fiddler crabs are the best bait, followed by small live or peeled shrimp, best places to fish are bridge or dock pilings, also the Ponce Inlet jetty rocks. Serious sheepy fishers will chum their spot by scraping barnacles off the pilings or dropping cracked oysters to the bottom. Use a smaller sharp hook as they have a small hard mouth, use just enough weight to hold your bait close to the pilings, keeping your rig as stealthy as possible in the clear water.
A winter fishing trip does not have to be that early, during a mild period, sunrise or just after is a good time to begin, but on the coldest mornings, waiting until the sun has been up an hour or two can be a good choice, and mid day into the afternoon is also great.
This gives the fish a little time with some sun on their backs to warm up a bit. On a nice sunny day, late morning into the afternoon can be the best time to hunt Reds and Trout on the flats of the backcountry and Mosquito Lagoon, after the shallow water has warmed a couple degrees, fish dark bottom, oyster bars, and sand spots. Tail hooked select size shrimp, small live finger mullet, and mud minnows are good baits for the cold shallows. A small size, light color soft plastic or Gulp bait is a good choice for artificial, always fished very slow in cold water.
Black Drum is also a winter target, best baits are blue crab and shrimp, can be at the bottom of deep holes and channels, Ponce Inlet jetty rocks, and Haulover Canal. Shallow water schools of Drum also can be found in southern Mosquito Lagoon, please consider photo and release on the larger “breeder size” Black Drum to keep the baby Drum coming our way for years to come. Remember Redfish are catch & release only south of SR44 bridge in New Smyrna.
