22 degrees in the
mornings one day and on Tuesday it’s going to be in the teens, Brrr!!!!!!
The temps should be
back to normal in a few days. This cold weather will kick off some good trout
fishing in the rivers and upper bays. Of course, it will take a few days after
the cold front for the fish to adjust and then it will be on.
If you have been
wanting to learn more about the fishing in our area, whether you get here a
couple times a year for vacation or if you are a local looking to master the
fine art of flats fishing, then perhaps a private instructional trip is in your
future. I run Saltwater Fishing Academy, one of the finest instructional
technical guided trips along the panhandle. It’s an addition to my regular
family style charters, and an instructional trip is more of a tutorial on how
to correctly fish the flats, including tackle choices, artificial vs. live
bait, and watching the tides.
This weekend should be
good for the big reds in the bay and for specks and slot reds in the upper bay
areas before the next major cold front. There is going to be another serious
cold front on Monday and Tuesday and it will affect the fish some, so if you do
go out remember to slow down your presentation with your twitch baits or soft
plastics. During the winter months I gradually slow down my presentation, which
has absolutely put more fish in the boat. Here are a few baits I use in the
winter, a drop-shot rig rigged with a Z-Man
Hula StickZ (http://www.zmanfishing.com/cms/).
Colors I like are mud minnow, green pumpkin, and white. I also like small 4”
grubs rigged up. The hook I use on my drop-shot is a Gamakatsu #1 Kale Hook. http://www.gamakatsu.com/.
One of my other go to
baits in the winter is Mirror Lures Paul Brown; it’s a suspending twitch bait
and in the winter and early spring, it’s deadly for big trout! Colors I like
are pink metal flake and the two-tone mullet color, just remember a very slow
presentation is how this bait is worked in cooler water.
Remember to put some
Pro-Cure on the bait; this stuff is like candy to the fish, and one coating
pretty much lasts all day long. http://www.pro-cure.com/
Here’s wishing everyone a great year of fishing and
tight lines!
Capt. John
850-341-9816
Another cold front is approaching which again will bring the
temps down into the 20’s and the winds are going to be blowing 15-25 for the
next few days. With these conditions I’ve postponed some trips for better
fishing days. Yes, we could go out but why not go when the weather is better
and we can have more fun. Before the front, the trout bite was on fire and the
fish have been big. The big reds have spread out and some of have left to head
back out to the gulf and some have moved up into the upper bays in the shallows
to finish off their spawning. The rest of this month and February the big reds
will still be around, but not in the massive schools like they were in
December. Most of the pods will be around 5-20 fish. Let’s get back to the
trout, and as I stated in the beginning of this report, the trout bite before
this massive cold front was outstanding. Almost all the fish are keepers and
lots are over 20”. All the fish were caught on artificials. Here is what I use
in the winter months: ZMan Paddler Z & MinnowZ, MirrOlure 17MR & 18 MR,
Original Paul Brown and the new Soft Dine made by MirrOlure. So as you can tell
January so far has been very cold, windy with only a few good days to fish, but
when the weather was right the bite was very good. 
