Winter Fishing

This winter the weather was brutal. We had snow a handful of times with two storms that left behind over 4 inches of snow. The water temps hit lows we have not seen in my lifetime in our area. I was catching redfish in December and January with ice on top of the water. I was breaking the ice with my jig heads to get to the reds. I had several good days even in the extreme temps and high winds.
Fishing has been good lately although the water temps are still cold. This week the water temperature was 49 degrees in the morning. The water warmed up to the mid fifties all week as the air temps were in the fifties with very high winds out of the NE. Early in the week I fished the Cape Fear River and saw several fish although the winds were over 20 mph sustained. Fish were lethargic although they were in great numbers everywhere I fished. Water was silty and the fish were just sitting on the bottom-not feeding. Picked up only a handful of fish in two trips south. Decided to fish the Masonboro area for two charters later in the week. Water was clear even with winds of 20 mph. Found several schools of fish-smallest was 75 fish or so with the largest school being almost 300 fish. Four of the schools were very skittish in the clear, cold water. Fish ranged in size from 16" to over 30".

Last weekend Hurricane Drew and I went down to Savannah, GA to pre fish for the upcoming IFA Redfish Tour event there next week. We found several schools of fish in Savannah with fish ranging from lower slot to over thirty inches. Hopefully we will find the right two next week during the tournament.