Redfish Save The Day When It's Cold

2009 Winter Fishing Report

Goodbye 2008 and welcome 2009! The past year was an outstanding year on the water. The guides of CHO look forward to another great year in 2009. The winter pattern on Charlotte Harbor has definitely settled in. With the recent record low temperatures, and some of the lowest tides in years, the fish can be found grouped tight together. This time of year usually substitutes the use of a trolling motor for the use of a push pole while stalking the flats. Clear water, shallow depths, and high blue skies have to be dealt with using as much stealth as possible.



A lot of anglers don't like to do it, and it may take a lot of time and patience, but it can be a key advantage to catching fish this time of year.

Redfishing generally thrives in the winter. No matter how cold it may get, there are always redfish willing to move around and eat. For the live bait anglers, a nice sized hand picked shrimp will do the trick. Whether it be free lined and casted to sight fished reds, or dropped on the bottom using a small weight in the middle of a sand hole, you can't go wrong. For the arti anglers, this is the time of year to break out the plastics, whether it be hard or soft.

Believe it or not, even during the coldest of days, redfish are very willing to nail a top water plug. For the sight fisherman and their poling skiffs targeting tailing redfish and sight fishing to solo fish, a soft plastic DOA shrimp, 5 inch Gulp jerkshad, or a 3 inch Gulp shrimp can get the job done. Usually the best time to hit these shallow depths for feeding tailing redfish is the beginning of an incoming tide right after a really low slack tide.







On days that it seems there is no water left in the harbor, this can be some of the easiest times to find fish. On a recent outing, a school of redfish ranging from 6-15 pounds numbered in the hundreds as they took up an area of water the size of half a football field. They had no where else to go on their usual haunts in the flats. They all dropped off the edge of the flat into the only water there was left for them. Every cast produced a fish for as long as the anglers wanted to fish.

Oyster bars and sand bars can be good protected areas for trout and redfish when getting out of the more windy days. Cut bait, artificial lures, and live shrimp will get the job done for both species.





Snook can be found at ease in canal systems, mangrove creeks, and flats basins further into the harbor. They will follow the warmer water. Some days may be fickle at best when snook fishing, other days they will chew the bottom out of the boat. For anglers wanting to have a lot of action there are ladyfish on the outside of most large sand bars. They will be following the minnows and smaller bait fish schools. These are easily found by finding the hoards of diving pelicans.



Cobia are making a showing throughout the harbor. Look for them on markers, pilings, and outside edges of sand bars. The snapper bite is on as well as the inshore gag grouper fishing.

It won't be too long before our SW FL warm weather paradise arrives again. Enjoy the winter time fishing, it s a great way to learn a lot about the surrounding flats as you scout areas uncovered by the low tides that you rarely see in the summer months with the higher water.

Tight Lines from the guides at CHO

Charlotte Harbor Outfitters
Captain Tim White
941-916-4009
tqwhite@hotmail.com
Captain Chuck Jenks
239-825-8791
chuckjenks@hotmail.com
Captain Jason Dill
941-628-2847
jdill30@hotmail.com

Posted on 24 Jan 2009 by admin