[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ay and Backcountry fishing- With the New Year upon us, and some unseasonably warm weather last month, Mother Nature has settled into her normal temperature patterns and the fish have moved into their favorite winter haunts. There are still trout and redfish to be found on the flats around the mouths of the bayous when the sun gets high, but it’s a very shallow bite. For the most part, try to focus your efforts in the canals, bayous, and creeks in deeper water to find the fish. Live shrimp works great, rig it like a flat line but put the smallest weight you can find on it. Just enough to sink it to the bottom. Soft plastics work well but should be retrieved as slowly as you can stand it with an occasional light twitch. Remember that the water is cold and the strike is in slow motion. Try the “rock pile” in the ICW in West Bay, as well as Burnt Mill Creek, Crooked Creek, and the warm water canal from the power plant. Remember that the fish can’t be kept from the warm water canal but it can be a blast. There have even been small tarpon caught in the canal that will spend the whole winter there. In East Bay, the song remains the same. The ICW is full of fish as well as Wetappo Creek, Sandy Creek, and all the bayous in Callaway, and Tyndall. Be careful fishing near the Air Force base because of the buffer zone. Check your maps and regulations. In the deeper parts of the bay, the flounder are pilled up on the deep wrecks. They can also be found in the deeper holes, and in the pass. Many of the bigger fish have headed out to the whistle buoy. I’ve had reports from divers that the flounder will pile up three deep on the bottom during that spawn.
Beaches, Piers, and Jetties- The bait and tackle shop at Russell-Fields Pier on the beach is reporting good catches of whiting, redfish, and flounder, and the bite gets better on the piers as it gets colder. Both piers will be producing as well as the jetties at St. Andrews state park.
Offshore- Amberjack are biting, but they are out of season. The Trigger fish, bee-liners, and Black snapper are being caught, but check your ever changing regulations to be safe on what you can keep.
Now that the cold weather is here, it’s time to bundle up and get on the water and fill the cooler. One of the best things about fishing in the winter is the change of scenery. Being way up in the creeks where you can catch bass and trout on consecutive cast, and easing along the banks under the oaks, offers a welcome contrast to the flats and bays that we work all spring, summer, and fall, but don’t forget your hand warmers. Brrrrrr!
By Capt. Daryl Shumate
Liquid Native Charters
www.liquidnativecharters.com
850-624-6968