Our negative tides have arrived! This is the time of the year when wade fishing and kayaks sometimes have the advantage over your standard boats. What I like to try and do is, if I know that fish are in the area, I try to get my boat as shallow as possible for the last hour or so of the outgoing tide and anchor it so I can walk the area and fish it as stealthy as possible. Look for the mullet to be schooled up thick and, if you find them, you’ll find your redfish mixed in with them. Use topwater, spoons and weedless plastics to get the farthest cast possible to prevent spooking any potential fish that could be in that school. Remember that redfish is closed in our county until next year sometime at the earliest. So, catching one is strictly for bragging rights and trophy pics!
As far as the trout fishing, find the deep holes and pockets at the low tides and you should have no problem landing multiple trout with good quality size. I like using a ¼ ounce jig with a bigger plastic matched up to it. It seems that those big trout can’t turn down a big lazy bait. The gator trout have begun to move in and will be plentiful very soon. With that being said, make sure you follow your size and bag limits, so we can make sure these big gators are always around.
Snook are all setup in their backwater and river winter time spots. I tend to not target snook during this time, because they are the most sensitive out of the trio of inshore fish. If you do still target snook, please make sure you handle them with care to prevent harming or possibly killing them.