Cold weather fishing is red hot

As Christmas approaches and the temperature drops, the winter fishing season is just heating up.  Many anglers stop fishing when the weather gets cold. Those people are missing out on some really hot fishing.  

 

Inshore, trout are in large schools near depth transitions. Redfish have also formed large schools in the shallows. By large, I mean schools in the 50- to 100-fish range. Sometimes even larger. With the redfish and trout being so highly concentrated, it can take a bit of looking to find them.  However, when you do, cold weather fishing becomes red hot.

 

For inshore trout and redfish, I fish the same lure that I use in warm weather, a Z-Man Finesse TRD on a 1/6-ounce NedLockZ jig. The one adjustment that I do make in colder weather is to slow my twitch-pause retrieve cadence. In cold weather conditions, the pause can be several seconds long. Vary your retrieve cadence until you start to get consistently bit. Then, stay with what’s working. In the winter, you will usually have all the fish to yourself.

 

Nearshore fishing is also outstanding in the winter. Especially around the artificial reefs in 40 to 60 feet of water. On a calm day, you can often see massive schools of bull redfish cruising near the surface. When they are not on the surface, you can also locate these schools using your fish finder. These fish are famished and will readily take almost any kind of lure. For me, it is hard to beat an 80-gram Shimano Wing-Fall jig. It catches fish throughout the water column.

 

Christmas is a’coming. So, give yourself an early Christmas present and go fishing with your friends and family. Cold weather fishing is really hot! 

 

Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.