Cold Water Strategies

{%image_id=32082%}When the water takes a plunge in temp, such as this past week, from low 70s to upper 50s the fish normally turn off and become very lethargic. But there are a few things you can do to still catch a few nice trout, Red Fish, or a pile of sheepshead. When the water gets bellow 60 it becomes very important to look for natural warm spots, such as shallow hard bottom areas that the sun can warm up, or fresh water springs on the flats, or even deep holes in the rivers. These spots will get loaded with big trout and Red Fish, but it is tricky to get them to eat. My best advice to you guys is to work your baits very very slowly... and to use either very natural looking baits, or very stinky baits. Such as DOA shrimp or Gulp jerk baits. And when I say work it slow, I mean slow... you want to use weed less hooks, so that you can just bounce your baits along the bottom and pause it every so often for up to 10 seconds. Alot of the time, that pause is when the big trout will decide it is worth the effort to get that little shrimp or bait fish. The sheepshead are affected by the cold water, but if you know you local knowledge, (the best way to learn is to go with a guide) you will know that this is when they stack up in fresh water springs that can be found all along the nature coast on the shallow water flats. It just takes time to locate these little honey wholes, but when you do, it is fish on in this kind of weather.