01-11-2001, 09:33 PM
For the last week the fishing has been real good for me, even with the coldest temperatures of the year. In the winter when you have a negative low tide, it never seems to fail that there will be a big wind blowing even more water out. That was the case again this week. For some reason it was a lot easier to find the Redfish and the ones I was finding were eating. <br><br><br>On Tuesday the first Red that I found was on a blind cast while fishing with Todd Grimm who is from the Green Bay area. As soon as that fish was landed I dropped the anchor and we worked the area hard. Just when I was about to give up on the hole, Todd hooked another Red. Over the next hour we landed about 15 Reds between the two of us. This bite started on the last hour of the incoming, and when the tide stopped so did the fish. We were casting ¼ ounce jigs with whole shrimp hooked at the base of the tail. We would break the tail off first, and then bring the hook up the first section of shell on the tail end of the shrimp. While Todd was fishing the shrimp I was casting my favorite plastics, I didn’t get any strikes until I switched to the shrimp. Later that day I found a lee island to fish in the backcountry. It was so well protected that Todd was able to fly fish even with a 20-knot wind. We had three fish follow a blue Deceiver before one finally ate. To top it off, it was the biggest fish of the day, a thirty incher.<br><br><br>That was basically how the week was. If you found the fish there would be plenty of them in the same hole. It also seemed that the Snook were in their holes and the Reds in theirs. There were only a few times when I caught both Snook and Reds in the same hole. All of the holes required the jig to be retrieved very slowly for the best results. Even on some of the Snook holes, with grass patches where I generally keep the jig moving fast, a slow retrieve worked best. Another thing to keep in mind during the winter is to not only fish your offering slow but also move the boat slowly. Areas I usually pole, I am now anchoring and fishing the area in sections, covering the water thoroughly before moving on. I would do this by poling the boat to a likely hole, then anchoring. Then I would pole to the next likely area, and anchor again.<br><br><br>This will be my last report until the week of the 22nd. of January. My wife, Sarah and I are going skiing in Vail, CO. This will be our first time skiing in 4 years. I hope we didn’t forget how to turn, and may the snow gods give us some fresh powder.<br>http://www.flyfish-florida.com<br><br>