Fishing The Nature Coast Flats

Hey everyone, to start with, I hope everyone had great Christmas and New Year. I can tell you my family absolutely loves this time of year, and now that my 2-year old has his first fishing pole, I have a feeling a lot more days-off will be spent on the water.
So down to business; being in the heart of Florida’s winter, many people are asking if it’s even worth going out and fishing the flats. The answer is yes! To start with, the flounder bite has been absolutely amazing along with a strong and steady trout bite, and the reds are still out there, but the bites aren’t as consistent as they were last month.

The flounder bite for me has been best the last couple hours of incoming tide, and the first couple hours of outgoing tide. Try fishing around oyster beds and spotty flat bottoms. I’ve been using a simple bottom rig; just a fluorocarbon leader with a 1/8 jig head and live shrimp. Gulp has also been a go-to for my clients and myself. Just use a slow jig along the bottom to cover as much water as possible.

Now the trout have been found during low tide on some of the flats around the keys that still hold 2 to 4 feet of water. Forget the power poles and anchors, and just cut the motor and either create some drift paths, or use a trolling motor to find what depth they are hanging around. I’ve been using the old faithful popping cork with a fluorocarbon leader and 1/8 jig. Live shrimp and Gulp have been the key to success lately, but him sure plenty of other artificial bait will work as well.
If you’re searching for gator trout, I’ve had a lot of luck up closer to the keys and around creek mouths. They seem to hang around the same environment where the slot reds have been found. Now if you really wanna have fun with those gator trout, throw some action lures like top-water and hard jerk-baits. That seems to be really enticing them to bite.

If you’re like a lot of people that struggle with the winter red bite, here’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve had the best luck still finding reds around mouths of creeks, and up close to the keys during incoming tide. My bait of choice here lately has been top-water spooks and shallow running crank baits.
It being January, make sure to head out to seahorse reef. The spawning sheepshead are currently coming in and man they are fun to catch. Make sure to use a very sharp hook and one that’s not too thin. Fiddler crab has always been the go-to bait for them, but also chunks of blue crabs and shrimp will catch them as well.
Well everyone, I hope this information helped y’all out. Stay warm and stay safe out there. Hope to see you on the water.

Capt. Jason Clark
In The Slot Fishing
352-639-3209
Capt.jasonclark@gmail.com