As the weather cools down the Trout bite heats up!
This occurs for a number of reasons that vary by region. Foremost in my area along the nature coast these wintertime negative tides can cause 3’, 4’, & even sometimes up to 5’ of water movement. Most of the time that’s outgoing water leaving us with little to fish. Hence the saying “fishing in a barrel” this couldn’t be more true for the nature coast during this time of the year. When we loose all of our water the fish concentrate in the troughs & many spring pockets we have due to our limestone bottom. These pockets were either made from a large air bubble releasing from the rocks clearing the ground around it, a fresh water spring where there is constants warm water coming out the ground, or simply just the rip currents shaping the bottom as depth varies.
Once these fish make it into those concentrated depths they’re very easy to get to eat. They’re commonly targeted with various soft plastics on a jig head which will work & the fish eat every shape/color being not much bait comes by these troughs or at least not enough for the amount of predators in there, leaving the fish to whack anything slowly creeping by.
Now that’s just it, SLOWLY CREEPING BY. Remember these fish are cold and not entirely there by choice, but by lack of other option. So they can be a little hesitant toward fast moving or unnatural approaches as a cold baitfish isn’t going to be zooming by their head. What I do is I cut out the middleman (soft plastics) by throwing shrimp on a Jig Head. I rig the shrimp exactly how you would a lure, I go through & up the tail end then pop out the middle of the body as you would any other soft plastic. This allows us to retrieve it naturally & sit level on the bottom. When retrieving, my clients cast out let it hit the bottom & we’re waiting about 45 to 50 seconds maybe even a minute before we pop it up and reel about five or six cranks and let it drop back down. This is a really natural approach as it represents a shrimp fleeing a comfortable place, then immediately seeking cover after rising off the bottom. This is when those fish will spot it, then that immediate drop after the bait is spotted will antagonize the fish to come closer, give it enough time to look at it & majority of the time they’re going to hit it when you go to pick it up again because it creates this sense of “oh it’s leaving” & “I’m gonna miss out” which always gets the strike.
If you want to get out & hooked int some of this really hot trout action; inquire with us below to check availability and see when you and your crew can climb aboard.
(352)-651-4720
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