A chilly November with many cold fronts has the water temperature mid to low 50”s for December, which is more typical for January.
Lately we have been searching out the cleaner water over certain spots and the better looking water has been producing more bites.
The last cold front has the speckled sea trout schooled up in great numbers lurking on the edge of shallow drop offs in 6-15ft of water.
Soft plastics on 1/4 oz jig heads have been producing the best bites with a medium to slow retrieve bouncing along the bottom.
Brighter colors have been working better on murky water days, and lighter and clear with metal flake has been doing well in cleaner water.
Best tide for the trout have been between last 2 hours of incoming and first 2 hours of the outgoing. On calmer days the bull redfish are starting to make their run offshore to spawn.
They have been easy to target on calmer days from front beach till about 10 miles off the beach, just look for the birds and dolphins.
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When they are on the surface they have been eating anything you throw at them, when they are down deep we have been jigging them up with large soft plastics on larger jig heads, and always having another pitch bait ready when pulling the reds up from the deep because they always seem to have 3-10 buddies following them up to the boat..
At the reef there are still large numbers of black drum and the sheepshead are starting to stack up, both have been eating shrimp and crabs really well using a Carolina rig with a short leader.
Inshore the slot reds, black drum, sheepshead, and flounder have been doing well fishing live and dead bait around structure anytime within a few hours of low tide.
The crowds on the water have been slowly thinning out with the cooler weather, giving more opportunities to fish more spots out of sight of another boat.
The faster the water temperature drops the quicker the redfish and trout will bunch up in larger schools in tighter areas, and our variety of species inshore and nearshore will thin out.
Get out on the water and enjoy the great fishing without the warmer month crowds. Tight lines and take a kid fishing to insure the future of our sport.
– Tight Lines,
Captain John Ward
Give us a call at 843-693-2460 or look us up on the web at www.affinitycharters.com
One of our captains can help get you out for an enjoyable day on the water.
Captain John Ward / Affinity Charters
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