Winter Schooling

Today was the best day I have had on the water in the past 4 winters. The conditions were ideal early with light winds and a falling tide. I get to my first spot and flipper and the crew were have redfish biscuits for breakfast. There were 75 reds sitting on an oyster bar with their fins out of the water trying to avoid being eaten. As soon as flipper exited the flat I let the fish calm down and popped three on DOA jerkbaits. After pulling three from the school I left them alone as to not stress them any further. The school was mixed up from lower slots to uppers. The next school I found had about 100 reds from 23" to over slot. These fish were much more aggressive as I yanked 5 from the school and headed to another spot. I found some fish I could not get to at the next flat so I moved on. I decided to fish some areas I have never fished in the winter. As I was working the next shoreline I saw a massive school of reds hump up about 200 feet from me. I watched them swim down the shoreline about 100 yards and then stalked them. I was amazed at the size of this school. This school had close to 300 fish in it. Although this school was massive they were sitting in less than a foot of gin clear water and were very skittish. I poled down and began sight casting the lead and outer fish. I picked off five or so of these reds and left them biting. It is very important not to beat on these winter fish. These are the only fish we will have inshore until spring and if you beat on them they will get educated and become very hard to catch. Back to the fishing. At this point I wanted to try a few more spots that were similar to the areas that were holding fish. I tried another spot that was new to me and once again I found a massive school about the same size as the last one. I pulled a few out of this school and shifted gears to trout fishing. I tried half heartedly to find some trout with no success and went back to redfishing. The next flat I hit had stagnant water and was stirred up. I decide to hit one more high tide spot and I was glad I did. I pulled 5 fish in six casts and called it a day. All of these fish were upper and over slots and were caught on gulp and category5 shrimp minnows. What a day on the water. After much frustration with my outboard the past 6 months it was great to have a trouble free day of fishing.
If u want to sight fish to large schools of fish in crystal clear water book a charter today. I have limited openings this entire year.

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