Fishing Frenzy

On a Saturday, I decided to take my 3 clients to the backside of San Jose Island, since the tide was falling fast and there are cuts back there where the lakes drain into Aransas Bay. As expected, the areas outside the cuts were holding redfish.

My clients fished from the boat so I drifted the front of the cuts. After some changing out I found the go-to lures were Devil Eyes in Gold Rush and Pink Hologram with a 1/16 oz jig.

It was one of those days when you really had to let the fish have it; they weren't just choking it down. The other thing we found was the water was a little warm yet the fish were holding on the shell mixed with mud. If you didn't see much bait you didn't catch.

Once we got the target areas down it was some good action with 3 limits and also a lot of undersized reds. From now on until spring you need to go to mud bottoms mixed with shell. Find the bait in these areas and go for it.

One of the things I noticed on the water was people will run by an area, not see any bait and keep going. This time of the year I will stop the boat and take a long look or fish the area for 10 or 15 minutes to see if there is any bait activity. I don't know how many times we have caught fish by taking a little time to really look over an area.

You may not see as many fish on cold days but when you do, they aren't going to move like the fall and summer redfish because they are sluggish from the cold. It may just be a movement here and there. That's still enough to make your fishing day a success, once you find them.