January has gotten off to a tough start for all anglers, guides and outdoors enthusiasts. Opportunities to get out have been few and far between. Record low temperatures for nearly two weeks led to fish kills, the cold stunning of fish and a lot of poaching. Snook were hit particularly hard by this weather. A natural event, the mini-Ice Age we had just stayed too cold, too long. Snook are particularly sensitive to very cold water. Watching these fish during the duration of the cold spell, I was impressed with how well they handled it at the start, became more concerned as days went on and daytime temperatures didn’t climb and gradually most of the fish I was watching in five different locations became stressed, extremely lethargic and eventually succumbed. Only time will tell what the total impact is to this species. The best we can hope is that a lot of the snook were able to find areas that had spring water, went to deeper offshore locations or found the warm water outflows of power plants.
Redfish and speckled trout, overall have been unaffected but they hunkered down through the cold weather. Those species exist in much colder climates than we have in Florida so they shouldn’t be affected a great deal.
For the kayak fishing that’s been done, and rare opportunities to get out, things have been tough. The freezing temperatures are over but the water temperature has been slow to rise to a level that makes the fish more active. That should all turn around with this stretch of days where air temperatures on the West Florida Gulf coast have risen into the 70′s. The fish that were inactive for so long will not only be more willing to eat, they have to be really hungry after so much time “laying low.” With both species, scouting trips have shown that great numbers of fish are wandering back out to their normal haunts. With some steady and consistent weather, the fish should also fall into “normal patterns.” With empty bellies, reports of a lot of fish and large fish should be heard on a regular basis.
Sheepshead, silver trout and whiting picked up the slack on the days where redfish and trout were targeted but wouldn’t cooperate. The numbers on all three species are looking good for a great remainder of January and February of targeting these ancillary species. Silver trout and whiting will attack small jigs, such as a “Silly Willy” jig (add on a nylon “teaser” for best results) but a sheepshead is a live bait species. Shrimp, fiddler crabs or sand fleas are all great offerings. Think “rockpiles”, bridges, seawalls and docks when searching for these fish. It is a good idea to take a few live shrimp with you while chasing the redfish and trout in the shallows. Occasionally a “tailing” bruiser of a fish turns out to be a sheepshead. The shrimp will give you a legitimate shot at those fish.
Redfish and the largest speckled trout are going to be caught in the same shallow holes. Get your kayak out there, sneak up on these fish and get into the action!
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