A few fish-along, instructional trips today and yesterday. Thank goodness for my Patagonia base layers and Yamaha Pro Staff cold weather riot gear. I think my clients enjoyed looking swank in the awesome Yamaha jackets and bibs as well. Looking good is fishing good(or well)!! The last few mornings have been bitterly cold, we’re on a full moon, LOW water and the water movement/tides have been poor. We’ve really had to draw on solid experience to produce quality numbers of redfish, trout and stripers. One great thing about the early morning lows is the fact that the fish are concentrated and predictable, but getting them to bite can be difficult with a full moon and dead water. Scaling down bait size is most important followed by a slow presentation and being around a ton of fish. Both mornings redfish and trout were found in the same areas in 4-8′ of water near shallow mud flats. Redfish can be seen and present in the form of muds and wakes. The presence of mullet and small minnows also increases the odds of finding both species. Gulp! 3″ Shrimp and trimmed 5″ Jerkshads work great. Also, a small plastic worm rattle will draw them to a slowly moved bait. A handful of redfish in the 23-28″ range and 15-25 legal trout were scored each morning, but overall, a very slow bite. All fish released. More to come tomorrow. E Holstman
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