KEATON BEACH

#1 Dallas Riffle of Clermont, Fl. with a trout from December 2017
#2 John Varner of Columbus, Ga. with a nice trout

February is a tough month at Keaton, with the last week of the month a possible good fish out on the Gulf. You’ll be looking for 55 degrees holding overnight, and moving up with a warming trend to catch trout on the flats. It just depends on the weather of course. Until then, if you do the creeks thing, then try on the second coldest day of the front for each passage, and fish suspending baits like MirrOlures MirrOdines, Catch 2000’s, Catch Juniors and Soft-Dines.

Trout will feed an hour or two, depending on which tides you choose. Look for trout on the Northwest banks and creek turns, where the sun has a chance to warm the water.

Meanwhile, reds will be in the creeks with more short fish than keepers, caught on a variety of baits including gold Intruder Spoons and Assassin plastics sprayed with BANG in the “shrimp” flavor. Synthetics will also take reds in February, with darker baits taking more fish than white and chartreuse in the clearer water.

S-L-O-W is the key to success in February, and most folks just can’t fish that slow.  Me, I will wait till it warms up and will start booking trips the first of March.