12/12/18 Fishing Report

Well ladies and gents, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted a fishing report. The summer just got away from me and then Hurricane Florence hit and THEN I’ve been out of town on some trips recently so I’m back in town and ready for the action. Between all of the rain and cold, windy days, we’ve been getting out there as much as humanly possible. We’ve seen some bad, but we’ve seen A LOT of good out there also.

Winter time has it’s pros and it’s cons, but in my opinion it’s one of my favorite times to fish. We get crystal clear water and the sight fishing is just phenomenal! The water clears up, the fish begin to school up into big groups, which we’ve seen happening already, and they’re just plain hungry. Now with that clear water comes some things you should keep in mind, you’ll be needing to play the stealth card a bit more. Keep a little more distance, move a little slower and make the right presentation for the best success.

The trout bite has been pretty darn good, a lot of spike and smaller fish with some big girls mixed in. Several 100 fish days have been happening when the stars align and the tide is right. Keep your eye on those deeper holes with current rolling over them. Cast to the top of the hole, let the fly since, and strip…strip…BAM! Over and over and over again! I do like to use an intermediate sinking line for trout fishing to just help the fly get down deeper, faster.

There have been redfish schooling in the larger bays, main channels and the smaller creeks so you can’t really go wrong if you take your time. We’ve seen some big fish the recent past in the shallows so it’s not all slot redfish out there. I haven’t changed from a 20# fluorocarbon leader just yet based on the size of some of the fish, but shortly I will probably step it down to a 16# leader to just be a little more stealthy. Fly selection has been a little of this and a little of that. Black/Gold has been working well and even more natural colored tan/brown shrimp patterns. I move towards a baitfish or shrimp pattern during the colder months due to the lack of crabs. You can fish both tides this time of year depending on where you’re targeting. I enjoy the low tide backwater creeks searching for belly crawling redfish that get pinned up in the skinny stuff.