 January 2011
Winter Conditions:
We are starting January out with the water temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below normal. Clearwater and Dunedin inshore and bay waters are showing 54 degrees. This is an increase of 4 to 5 degrees from the middle of December.
Even with temperatures on the cold side, there will be a nice sunny day that warms the waters on the inshore flats. This will be the time to get out and search your favorite trout and redfish areas. The optimal condition would be to have a high tide in the afternoon at the warmest part of the day. As the water moves up on the sun baked flats, it could be 3 to 5 degrees warmer. The fish will be more active in this warmer water and catching a gator trout or an oversized redfish, should be a lot easier.
Winter Fish:
Trout and redfish will be the targets in these cold water conditions. When searching the warmer grass flat areas, I will be casting darker or root beer colored plastic tails. Remember to bounce your jig along the bottom very slowly. The fish are very lethargic and will not move far for a meal. Once you find some fish, stay in that area because there are others. A lot of the trout will be over 22 inches and the redfish are upper slot size of 27 inches or bigger. Using live shrimp under a float, once the fish are found is another effective way to catch trout and redfish.
Trout season in the south region opens in January. You can harvest 4 fish between 15 inches and 20 inches and keep only 1 fish of the 4, over 20 inches.
Motivation:
Several months after the hard freeze of January 2010, the trout and redfish were stacked up in several different areas around the bay.
So pick the good days, put on your sweats and jackets and get out there and do some winter fishing.
Capt. Gary Burch
Booking carters in Clearwater and Dunedin
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