Winter time gives you a true 50/50 shot when it comes to fishing. You either find fish schooled up so thick that you can set a record day for yourself, or it can be a ghost town and the most frustrating day ever.
I look for three things this time of year–rocks, oyster bars and deep holes. I prefer fishing the lowest tide of the day, so the fish are trapped in the deeper holes. Throw jigs or slow work a twitch bait giving it plenty of time to stay in the strike zone.
Once the tide comes up to where fish can move, I start to target the rocks and oyster bars. The reason for that is that they hold heat from the sun, which will bring the fish close around them to get that little bit of extra heat. I throw topwater lures or weedless plastics around these areas to prevent your line from getting snagged.
If you like to use live bait through the winter, this time of year you will get the biggest shrimp from your local shops. A great fish to target is sheepshead this time of year. They move in with great numbers and some nice size fish come along with it. Check around pilings with oysters built up on them or docks that look like they haven’t been used in a long time. That will be a good starting point for the hunt to put some fish on the table!
