Winter Walkin'! Written by: Jon Mulliken (P13A)
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Winter Walkin'! Written by: Jon Mulliken (P13A)
Its official...Winter is here! While some anglers are hunkering down, sleeping in, and avoiding the harsh winds and temperatures, others are strapping on their waders and taking advantage of extreme low morning tides. One very efficient way to get to spooky winter fish is wading on the low tides. It is very quiet, and you do not have to worry about running your boat onto a sandbar on the tricky low tides in winter. Many things can happen while wading...Read up and gain knowledge!
Many changes occur in winter...baits are smaller, water is often transparent to the bottom with lack of rain, and the wind picks up. With all these changes occurring, you really have to change your style of fishing. Most people call winter the "slow" season of fishing...but with time and motivation you can easily turn it into a season of great fishing and gain lots more knowledge of how fish act in different climates.
In my area, most of the bait disappears, so artificial fishing is my main focus (Plus i have no boat to run and get bait!). On lots of winter days, smaller baits are MORE effective. I have still caught fish on larger baits however, just not as many fish come. Without trying to sound like one big advertisement, here are a few idea's of MY top choices for winter baits, and comments about them.
DOA 3" Jerk-baits - Over the past month during my "research" the DOA 3" jerk-bait has probably been my most effective soft bait. It's a perfect size for the downsizing in lures over the cold months. When fishing in darker holes, i like to use a darker color, like root beer/chart. tail or golden bream, when fishing on the flats in grass, i like to use lighter colors like electric chicken, or baby bass. I personally like to rig them on 1/16th ounce jigs, or 1/8th ounce jigs depending on depths, and give them a little bouncing action. Rigging weedless on a 3/0 keeper hook is effective when grass is your obstacle, setting the hook on weedless baits can be a lot different that setting the hook on jigs. Practice and time is the key!
DOA shad tail - Simply a productive bait all through the year! Let the shad tail work as you crank it straight back to you, or bounce it kicking up dirt or just above the grass, fish have taken this lure every way i work it. Color has not been a problem, i range from root-beer to white with pink tail all the way to a baby bass color and the fish still take it. Experiment with different colors and record numbers of fish you catch to find a effective color. Jig head is as well my favorite way to rig it. This bait is a great confidence bait for myself, and it has really helped me locate some fish.
Zoom super-fluke - Being a young teenager, i am always looking to get cheaper baits. Zoom super flukes surely met that requirement. Ranging around 3$ for a 10 pack. I tried some out after being curious and simply slayed the bass...i let my curiosity carry me to saltwater and landed my first inshore slam on all different color super flukes. That hooked me! The lure is a skinny 4" bait. I have had success as well bouncing these up and down and side to side, rigged on a jig head and rigged weedless. A really versatile bait!
Yo-Zuri SS minnow (Super Shallow) - Im not much of a hard bait fan, but i definitely enjoy tearing up the lady-fish on this surface riding crank-bait. A crank bait that made a V-wake on the surface was an intriguing bait for me!
TIP:Bending down barbs on treble hooks makes releasing fish a lot more simple.
Another change that i make to my tackle, is my leader line. Instead of regular spring, summer, and fall 25# fluorocarbon, i go down to 20# Fluorocarbon. This is a good size, perfect for red-fish and trout, and with a good hook set (key) you also have the ability to land snook. Just remember to check your leader after fishing around oysters, some times it can get frayed. A frayed leader may not only break on a fish, but it also voids the fluorocarbon line, with little knicks in the line, it becomes much more visible to fish. Even sometimes in wide open flats in winter, i go as low as 15# leader. Some say it nearly doubles their hook ups. A typical set-up is a medium action rod with a 3000 +/- size reel equipped with 10# braided line, and 20# leader tied with a leader to line knot. I use the uni to uni knot with doubled over braid, been using it with success for over a year and a half. If you do go a few trips without re-tieing a leader, give it a strong pull to confirm its strength.
Trout - Easily in the top 2 of my favorite fish to target this time of the year! Trout in summer, vs. Trout in winter, they can seem like two different fish! The fish become extra active, and can go into extreme shallows when the water is chilly. Vicious strikes, unyielding head-shakes, along with a easy ability to catch, makes this fish supreme for teaching a new angler. They will fall for a Jerk bait or a Tsunami Trout mauler every time...
Red-fish - I am still relatively new to fishing red-fishing on the flats, but i am slowly accumulating more knowledge every trip out. One very big part of fishing for these fish, is confidence in a piece of plastic, whether hard or soft. One great place to start is with a Exude RT slug on a jig head, size 1/16th or 1/8th depending on depths. That lure combo has caught me everything, but red-fish is my target with that set up. Bump the rod up once or twice, reel in your slack letting your rod down which will allow the lure to drop, then bump it back up and repeat. Just make sure you give the lure a little pause. This lure also catches me a lot of trout, so it should be in the top row of your tackle box!
Black drum - Not very picky fish, but when it comes to artificial they can be quite tricky. Rocky holes is where i find them the most, big bruiser's more commonly go into rivers and are found it deeper water around docks. Live or dead pieces of shrimp on the bottom will get them every other time if you plan tides right, best advice is to keep a log of where, when, and how your found them. If your really a trooper and are giving artificial a shot for them, work your lures slow. If you are working a rocky bottom, this can present a problem. This is what trial and error is for! A weighted weedless scented bait might suffice without hanging up on the bottom, but once again it takes time.
Sheepshead - I am not the best person to write about these fish, but i shall pass on what i know and what i have learned. While doing a sweep through of fishing in the river, i stopped atop the bridge to see the water, and maybe to spot a fish or too. I notice an older guy fishing, and he had a bucket along with a stringer with many sheepshead on it! I was amazed... I watched him for several minutes until he looked up at me and gave me a wave, as he seen how interested i was. Soon later i walked down the path to sea level where the guy was fishing and said "Wow, you make these fish look easy to catch!". I told him how i was working on a possible winter fishing article that focused on sheepshead, and he told me everything he knew. Tides, bait, hooks, everything, having someone take their time to show you hands on how to do it was amazing. He was using small owner hooks, with 2 hooks rigged on a 30# leader with a 2oz sinker attached to the bottom (Remember we were fishing a river with strong current) With a heavy braided main line. Set on each hook he had small fiddler crabs. "Only bait i ever use, but if you can catch the small black ones, they work just as good." I watched him pull in yet another sheepshead as i stood their. That rig was really working well for him. Here is a quick draw out of his set up.
I shook his hand told him my name, and said goodbye after a thank you. I'm not 100% but his name was "Bobby", Thanks again bobby.
Snook - They can be tough in the cold weather of winter. 70 degree water temperature is the supposed shut off temperature of the fish. Under 70 degrees the fish get very lethargic in my experiences and are tricky feeders. Sometimes it is just best to leave this species alone while the weather is really rough. Having them out of water and tired out is not a good idea for this winter weary fish. After hard cold fronts i have personally observed these fish sitting on the top of the water column "sunning". You can get very close to them, and is a neat sight but once again it is best for them to just leave them be.
Tides, not only can knowledge about tides benefit your fishing, but can also be good for your health! Make sure you have a path where you do not have to cross any deep water to get back to land in case the tide comes in faster than the chart said. Knowing the area and when the flat has enough water on it for fish, or lack of water is crucial to know, this is only learned through experience and time on the water. Keeping logs of certain areas, or even maps is a suggestion and can go to major help in future trips. Using these negative low tides to find holes, and other deep cuts has been my prerogative for the past month, and is having success. After the winter cold fronts, most fish are found hunkered down in thick mud that will hold heat. One trick here, is to use a heavier jig-head (1/4oz) and rig a mud slapping lure to stir up the mud on the bottom, a GREAT winter time tactic. When your fishing low tides out on flats, if you find a good sized pothole, your a cast away from some big winter trout. A well presented top-water, or jerk-bait's mentioned above will put you on the right track.
On one particular morning, Jan 4th 2007, i went wading with a good friend just before sunrise, and the fish were sitting right in the top of the water column. I was chucking around a hard bait with no takers, when on the second cast with a soft plastic curly tail, right after a lady fish picked it up, another heavier fish picked up the lure right as it hit the water (Keep in mind this fish is in a 4ft hole). I Fought the fish for a minute and it was a chunky red-fish...it even had a Remora stuck to one side of him! A few pictures later the fish was back in, a fish to remember indeed. That day i got my friend to gain confidence in throwing soft plastics by him catching his first red-fish on a piece of plastic, and some lady fish with a trout thrown in. Plus, on the way back to the launch i threw into 8" of water next to a bird for yet another (smaller) red-fish to come and pick it up. Now that was a true day of winter wading!
Now get your reels back from being serviced, get those waders on, and start fishing! If you have any questions, or just want to know more about winter wade fishing, feel free to send me an email : Jmulliken@tampabay.rr.com
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Oh so these spots can be seen from a road of some sort while you are riding your bike....thats cool man. Where are the west coast is this...near tampa? Keep up the great work.Prowler13angler wrote:What do you mean? I look for spots while riding around on my bike? If thats what you mean...BigNiner19 wrote:Great job! How do you get to all these flat areas and canals where you fish...Surely its not meant for people to just walk through woods/mangroves and out into the flats?
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