Rick Davidson (grassflats2@yahoo.com), Editor
"The RedManiac"
It’s been a great year for Steinhatchee fishing. No major tropical storms or other natural disasters, large readily available scallops, and a great fall with lots of fish caught. As Steinhatchee continues to be “discovered”, we have a lot to look forward to. For those of us affiliated with the Sea Hag, we’re glad to know we’re at a facility that can provide a complete fishing experience, from great accommodations, tackle, live bait, and the best guides in the Big Bend. We look forward to seeing you this coming year…and make your reservations early.
December has been an unusually warm month, with only two cold spells that lasted no more than a day or so. However, we did get lots of gray skies and wind to keep boats inshore. The mild temperatures make things more comfortable, but it makes inshore fishing much less consistent, especially for trout fishing. With occasional temperatures in the 80’s in December, the trout are trying to figure out where to go. With water temperatures over 68 degrees, trout will be active, chase down baitfish and lures, and you can find them on the flats, chasing schools of mullet and pinfish. However, when things cool down, their activity level diminishes linearly with the temperature. They will head for deeper water, or find areas in the shallows that are warmer than others. These are places that face south to get a better afternoon warming, and especially if those places have dark bottoms that hold heat better. As the temperatures drop, it just doesn’t make sense to fish anytime except the afternoon when the fish will be at their most active.
While redfish are less susceptible, they also respond to cold weather by becoming more lethargic. Ten days before Christmas, I found some great redfishing on some rocky flats in mild temperatures. Fishing with Doug Barrett, we caught six redfish between 3 and 7 pounds in about an hour on topwater plugs just before the cold front came through.
Two days later, after a brief cold snap, Tommy Thompson was fishing at St. Marks on similar bottom and only saw a couple of redfish in two days of fishing….both were lying motionless as the boat motored right next to them. This is cold-stunned behavior. It requires changing tactics, lures, and expectations. This is the one time of year, more than any other, that hiring a guide can pay off. Locating fish in the winter requires a great knowledge of the area. You can’t just go out on the flats and catch fish. Our guides can put you on the winter bite.
Offshore, the fishing has been spectacular. Gag grouper are readily available, with some of our guides bringing in massive catches caught in less than 35 feet of water…. something that never happens in the summertime. Trolling is particularly productive this time of year, but great catches have been made bottom fishing as well. As Captain Brian notes in his report, there are great eating fish available that aren’t grouper, too.
If you can make it, the January 22 program of the Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club will feature two Sea Hag guides, Capt. Wiley Horton and Capt. Tommy Thompson. They will be making presentations on 'Cold Weather Fishing'. Tommy will cover inshore and Wiley will address offshore tactics. Take a look at the GOFC website (www.gofc.us) for complete information and directions.
Finally, we've had lots of interest from visitors to the site about downloading and printing photos. All of the photos on this page are available in larger sizes at Google's Picasa2 site in the December 2007 Web Album. Simply click for access---and enjoy!
Captain Brian Smith, www.bigbendcharters.com
If you like catching fish hand over fist and eating the finest pan fried or sautéed fillets ever, go sea bass fishing now! The knot head sea bass are over running most all hard bottom areas from eighteen to thirty feet. They are in love mode and extremely hungry. Here’s how simple it is… buy one bag of white Gulp and go to a piece of hard bottom you know about. If you don’t know of any hard bottom just cruise around in eighteen to twenty five feet of water watching your sonar or, if the water is calm and clear, look for dark pieces of bottom. When you find it, it’s like looking for an elephant in a closet. Anchor up or if conditions are nice and calm, just drift. Now tie on a 3/8 th ounce jig head to the end of twelve to fifteen pound main line or leader using your favorite trout or bass rod. Pinch off a piece of Gulp about the size of the first joint on your thumb and slide it on the jig head. Drop that to the bottom and count to five then set the hook. It may not take that long. It is great catching, especially for kids of all ages with ADD (Angling Deficit Disorder). But one bag of Gulp won’t be enough bait for the whole day, you say. Before you run out of Gulp you should have a fine supply of cut bait for the cannibals below. You will have to sort through many short sea bass (<10” min.) but at the end of the day you find yourself with plenty of fine fish for the table and an over abundance of action. Be sure and set out free-lined bait for a kingfish or possible grouper.
Grouper fishing has been hot in the fifty foot zone and shallower. Trolling is effective. Select your plugs based on water depth. A Stretch 30 set way back in twenty five foot of water is more of a marine plow than a lure. Kingfish are still around so add a trace of wire leader in front of the plug to avoid losing the fish, to say nothing of an expensive plug. One small kingfish can be steaked to feed many people.
Bottom fishing can be a ‘no holds barred’ event once the hot spot is located. If the sea conditions permit, don’t bother with the anchor at all- just drift. Then if you find a hot spot, drift off and come back around with the anchor. All typical bottom baits have produced good grouper. But if I had to put them in a pecking order it would be live, fresh cut then frozen, but don’t spend an inordinate amount of time trying to catch live bait.
This is the time of year when cold fronts can kick the seas up quite a bit. If it is rough, don’t go. It’s just a stupid fish. The fish survive just fine in cold rough seas but people don’t. Reschedule the fishing trip when the seas are nice…you’ll enjoy your trip much more.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Captain Steve Rassell, www.lastcastrass.com
Redfish action continues to be good with quite a few over-slot fish around. The bigger reds are being caught in 6 to 8 feet of water. Trout fishing has been good to passable. Not a lot of keeper fish but if you work at it, limits are out there. Fish are very shallow or very deep. Pinfish are still thick in the areas with thick grass cover. Most trout over 20 inches are being taken on lures or shrimp. There are plenty of nice size sea bass out in 16 feet or more of water; if you can find live bottom.
Captain Rick Bouley, www.naturecoastflatsfishing.com
December fishing in the shallow water around Steinhatchee produced many of the largest trout and redfish that I have encountered since moving into the area almost 3 years ago. I fished with Michael Peyton from Fort White a couple of weeks ago when the water temps were in the mid 50's. We landed no less than 6 "Gator Trout" in the 26" to 28" inch range with the largest measuring over 28" and weighing in just under 7 lbs. We also landed another dozen or so trout in the 20" to 25" size range. Along with the trout we had some superb redfishing with several fish in the 4 to 7lb category coming to the boat. Most of the early morning fish were taken on Corky Mullet and DOA Terror-eyz, with Skitterwalks taking over as the water warmed and the water levels decreased. All of the fish were released in healthy condition as we were using barbless hooks. In general, throughout the month, I’ve had better fishing on the falling morning tides than on the rise.
I also fished a day with Dr. Mack and Paula May Tyner from Gainesville. We had a wonderful morning of fishing with exceptional weather. Trout were gathered in large wads in the shallow water and fairly easy and willing targets when we found them. Most of the fish were in the 21 to 24" range with it pretty hard to find any fish in the under 20" slot range, which is a positive when you are catch and release sport fishing. One day earlier I was out scouting the area and had the pleasure of encountering the largest number of redfish that I had ever or would ever likely see …literally thousands of reds had moved into the shallows and were scavenging the flats with their backs out of the water. They were stretched out for miles, both north and south of the river on the late stages of the falling tide. As fate would have it I was out by myself on that day and did not get to share such an amazing experience. The very next day, with the exact same conditions there were scarcely any reds to be found…go figure. Welcome to fishing the shallow water around Steinhatchee, where the fishing changes daily.
Captain Tommy Thompson, www.flanaturecoast.com/capttommy
December was a dream month for the backwater fishing enthusiast. Not only was the weather relatively warm, inducing the big reds and trout to get close to shore, but the water was clear and the baitfish plentiful. Clear water and lots of mullet are perfect conditons for folks wishing to fish topwater lures or flies in water less than two feet, where I usually fish. We don't catch tons of fish, but the ones we catch (and usually release) are big. I think we only boated three trout less than 20" all month and I didn't see a 'rat', or undersize, redfish until the last day of the month. Gainesville angler Nick Ross had got a small one to the boat, but on a subsequent cast hooked up on a nice over-slot 8-pounder! Even the lack of sunshine didn't hurt the bite too much. Warm Gulf water in December usually means fog, and we certainly had our share. Getting to the good spots was a challenge, but once we started fishing, the fish were hungry. January promises to be good, too, and I'm looking forward to some bigger trout than the 'puny' four and five-pounders we've been finding. I just know there's an 8-pounder cruising the shoreline somewhere along the coast!!
Captain Steve Hart, www.legallimitscharters.com
Captain Wiley Horton, www.tunersportfishing.com
JANUARY 2008 FISHING FORECAST
The first arctic cold front is predicted for New Year’s Day….we can expect some more consistently cold weather. This may be uncomfortable, but it can bring some excellent inshore and offshore fishing. Captain Brian has given you some great offshore hints, so I’ll stick to inshore…and nearshore.
For fishing the river, the best baits are jigs rigged with either live shrimp, Gulp shrimp, or other soft plastic jigtails. Choose the weight of the jighead based on the speed of the current flow, as you need to get the jighead down near the bottom of the river. Another traditional lure is the standard 52M Mirrolure. When the fish are in the river, there will be boats everywhere, and you’ll need to anchor near the channel safely. Cast upward against the current, and allow your lure or shrimp to sink into deep water, then work back slowly. If you don’t occasionally get hung on rocks you’re not fishing deep enough. You don’t need to restrict yourself to the river, however, because there are fish in shallow water as well. Watch out for strong winter tides. In addition to waiting until the afternoons when the fish are most active, you need to fish very very very slowly with artificials. Fish in very cold water will not expend a lot of energy chasing down their food. Topwaters just don’t work well. Mid-level suspending lures like the MirroMinnow or MirroDine, or the older Catch 2000, as well as soft plastic suspending lures like the Corky, DOA or Gulp shrimp work well, but they need to be fished slow enough to drive you crazy….just the occasional twitch. I will also fish an unweighted soft plastic jerkbait rigged Texas-style on lighter tackle to allow long casts. Once you learn to work these lures, they can be very productive. Live shrimp can be used, both in rivers and on the flats, but will work best on the flats for sight-fishing. The waters around Steinhatchee are very clear much of the winter and exploring areas of the flats very quietly may uncover some new spots. Once you locate fish this time of year, I’m convinced that artificials work better than live or cut bait if you know how to fish them…and you learn that by spending lots of time on the water.
Nearshore this time of year means.sheepshead. Everyone will be waiting expectantly for the spawners to show up on the Steinhatchee Reef. Their arrival may be anytime between now and April, with the smaller males showing up first to wait expectantly for their glamorous mates. The best way to find out what’s happening is to call the Sea Hag marina (352-498-3008) and ask….you’ll get an up-to-the-minute report. You can also get all the tackle you need to get a good batch of these tasty critters at the Ship’s Store. To everyone who reads our reports and patronizes the Sea Hag, as well as those who are thinking about it, I want to wish you a great New Year ahead and we hope we see you real soon.
