Fishing Report brought to you by Chris
with Skinny Water Lures.
As December began and the water temperatures and outside temperature continued to drop, the trout bite picked up around the Long Creek area and other areas with moving current. On low tide, target the deep drop offs and deep-holes. My lure of choice was 3 inch hard twitch bait on a twitch twitch pause action.
Good numbers of mid and upper slot snook were caught around the High Bridge area on the high tide. The snook could not resist the 4 inch Skinny Water Lures paddle tail in the green goblin color, with a steady retrieve.
Additionally, good numbers of redfish were caught the first few weeks of December around the Long Creek area on the outgoing tide. The topwater bite was still slow during this time of the month due to the drop in temperatures, however, the redfish could not resist the bigger profile of the 4 inch paddle tail.
We found with the cooler water temperatures the slow retrieve with several pauses allowing the lure to pause on the bottom for several seconds caught most fish. During these cooler months focus slowing your retrieve down and you will get more bites.
In mid-December the weather continued to cool down, also bringing the water temperatures to a low 66-69 degrees. The weather brought favorable fishing conditions with temperatures in the mid 60s-low 70s. The tides were moderate with an incoming tide during the morning and an outgoing tide in the afternoon. We had a successful mid-December, finding the redfish around the grass flats and oyster beds.
Due to the cooler water temperatures, we found down-sizing to the 3inch weedless SWL creature style bait, worked through flooded grass and around oyster beds and had the redfish chewing. Large schools of under slot and lower slot reds were found this time in the Pellicer Creek area.
Often, the schools of reds were found grouped up inside dead end coves. These coves were surrounded by oyster bars, allowing these redfish to travel from oyster bed to oyster bed. These dead end coves were holding large numbers of baitfish so the redfish had an endless buffet of baitfish. Color of choice for redfish was the SWL green goblin and the Texas-T.
While searching for redfish, we were able to hook into several 18-20 inch flounder in the Pellicer Creek area. Areas of choice were sandy bottom deep drop-offs with moving water. Drag a 3 inch paddle tail or creature style bait across the bottom and you will be sure to pull up a door mat of a flounder.
We found around the High Bridge area the snook had been more active around the low light periods so focus your efforts around dawn and dusk. Try throwing a larger 4-5 inch paddle tail style lure in areas with high current.
Late December, a cold front pushed in making it cold and chilly, but the fish bite was turned up. Due to the cold weather, water temperatures dropped into the mid 60’s, causing the early morning bite to be a little slow late December. We noticed once the sun pushed up and started warming the shallow areas the bite picked up. Early morning we focused on the deep holes, knowing the fish would be in the deeper water trying to stay warm.
In the early morning, the fish were very lethargic and slow due to the drop in temperature. During this time we focused working a paddle tail lure on the bottom in a slow retrieve, pausing every few seconds to allow the lure to fall back to the bottom. Most strikes happened as the lure was stationary on the bottom.
Midday, once the outside temperatures heated up, we found more fish pushing out into the shallow flats on the outgoing tide. We focused throwing a creature-style lure or a curly tail grub on a 3/16oz jig-head along the banks that had direct sun. The redfish pushed out of the deeper holes, up onto the flats, and were lying in the direct sun to get warm. Most midday strikes happened along those banks with direct sun.
We were also able to find a few decent speckled trout, mixed with occasional blue fish in the deeper holes with moving water.
During these winter months focus on the deeper holes, slow your retrieve and you will bring the fish to the boat!!
Thanks for checking out this month’s fishing report. Tight Lines!!
Chris Crego, Skinny Water Lures
Skinnywaterlure@yahoo.com