Think Like a Fish!

The month of January has been interesting to say the least...With temperatures ranging from 25-80 degrees on the Mosquito Lagoon and the surrounding area.. This has a dramatic effect on how our inshore species will behave. Feeding aggressively in the shallows during the warmest parts of the day, to sluggish and lethargic on those extra cool mornings..Paying very close attention to water temperature is key when these winter COLD fronts move through..Starting your trip a little later in the morning can make all the difference..

I'll give you an example, the other day I fi�shed a rather large school of redfish on the north end, these fish were a bit tricky to get to with the extremely low water, but with some determined poling we reached them at about ten in the morning..(The outside air temperature was a balmy 39 degrees) They were churning in a vast white sand spot with broken grass..My customers were able to catch a few �sh casting Gulp Alive and live shrimp,letting the lure fall slowly and just dead-sticking it. Sometimes not moving the bait for 5-10 minutes Most of these fish were slot reds with a few 30" guys mixed in. After a dozen bites, not hook-ups mind you, we moved to another location..The fi�sh were very slowly eating and some over-reactive hook-sets resulted in a few missed fish..Two hours of talking fishing, drinking coffee, and wishing for the sun we moved to another location after landing 4 nice slot reds.

Two days later and 30 degrees warmer, I decided to check on those same slow and lethargic fi�sh..After poling in I noticed very FEW fish in the big depression, however the were easily three or four dozen reds tailing in groups of 2-4 fish all over the grassy edge about a foot shallower than the sand spot...These fi�sh were responsive to a shrimp and were eating with a fervor, sometimes slurping the shrimp off the surface as it was being retrieved back to the boat making for some incredible surface takes.!! We managed to boat 12 reds in less than an hour! The largest fi�sh was right at 32" It just goes to show that matching your presentation to the fish AS well as conditions and timing pays off! No matter what, life is short, GO FISHING! OR, As always contact me at 352-255-8175 or www.hotfishcharters.com to experience a great day on this magnificent fishery! Tight Lines and Stretched Leaders. Capt Mike.