The winter fishery in South West Florida is in full effect. Cool mornings and low falling tides have been perfect for fishing the outside islands & bays for sea trout & redfish . The Naples and Marco island backcountry has also been where we have been having most success using artificials. My go to winter baits are 3/8oz stand up jig head with a DOA 3in paddle tail( brown , olive color) . This is a deadly combination for searching areas looking for fish staging up. What I like to do fan around an area or points trying to locate a few fish to where I can zero in on where the school is. The best presentation is to keep your rod tip up in that 11:00 positions and give it a good jump never dropping your rod tip too low as a lot of times the strike is on the fall. Due to the light winds, we are still seeing some live bait around the beaches.
Even though the water temps have been in the low 60s I am still catching snook , sea trout , redfish , snappers , grouper & jacks on the live baits . I am mainly concentrating deep in the backcountry fishing Creek mouths and shorelines that have an undercuts. Try to present your bait close to the structure, shut your bail and let it float naturally in the current waiting for a strike . What’s great about this type of fishing is you never know what you’re gonna get on any given cast? We are still seeing cold fronts just about every week so you just have to be patient as these fish are very sensitive to temp change.
What a great time to be on the water enjoying some nice cool weather. Hope to see yah on the water !!!
Capt. Tim Daugherty
www.fishthesalt.com
(239) 280-8138
