Greetings from Tru Luvin Fishing and Hagan Coastal Outfitters. This blog provides you with a front row seat to what Domenic and Ron are seeing on the water in Northeast Florida from our kayaks, as we chase inshore saltwater species, primarily using artificial lures. From time to time, we will include bonus reports from tournaments and fishing trips around the region as we travel. We want to keep you informed of what is biting, what lures are working for us and what gear has been helping us get on the fish,
Overall Fishing Report
January brought us several stretches of bitter cold Winter weather. The cold fronts had some significant warming trends between them but nothing substantial enough to pull us out of true Wintertime fishing tactics in cold water. This means that fishing slow is the most effective method because fish in chilly water temperatures are not going to expend great energy to chase down meals. They are conserving their calories and will typically prefer to eat lure presentations that come right to them and don’t require them to burn energy to chase it down. Smaller lure presentations typically work better as well. This not only matches the bait that we are seeing in the water this time of year, but it is also easier for the fish to digest and get quick energy from. This is also a great time of year to catch up on your sleep a little by planning afternoon fishing trips. Most of the year we are out before the sun comes up and really enjoy fishing that productive first few hours of sunlight. This time of year, that dynamic flips. Afternoon fishing trips can be the most productive. The water temperatures generally rise during the day which triggers a little more fish activity and willingness to feed. If it is a sunny day and you can fish right after a mid-day low tide, fish will move up onto those shallow mud flats when the water filters back in because that dark bottom mud has absorbed all the sunlight, is holding heat, and warms the water as it returns. Redfish love to belly down into that mud to warm up.
Tactics That Are Working
We already noted that slower tactics tend to catch the fish on most cold Winter days. Ned lure profiles caught really nice slot Redfish for us this month. This technique name was formalized in the early 2000s after it was popularized by freshwater fisherman Ned Kehde, but has origins much earlier than that. The technique uses a mushroom style lightweight jig head with a small soft plastic profile. The result in the water is that the lure will stand straight up in place if you use a buoyant bait such as the ZMan Ned product profiles. This allows you to just let it sway with the current or you can move it very slowly and event vibrate it just a bit in place by manipulating your rod tip. This allows you to fish structure such as oyster mounds, dock pilings, creek mouths very slowly and thoroughly with a natural presentation. You get to keep your lure in the strike zone for the longest period of every cast. This freshwater tactic takes a little practice but is very fun once you get it down and adapt it to our saltwater estuaries. The bites are sometimes little thumps, but more often, appear visually as your line starts moving sideways as a fish picks up your lure as starts to swim off with it. This is not a power fishing or search technique. It is a finesse tactic to use in areas where you believe fish will be concentrated and it can pay off with some really nice catches.
Lessons Learned
Finding windows of opportunity to kayak fish this time of year is also important if you want to get out on your kayak to fish during the cold weather months. Kayak fishing is absolutely possible and rewarding when it is cold, but you have to find those windows of opportunity when the winds lay down and the air and water temperatures move upward. Guidelines we look for, personally, are days where the air temperature will get at least into the fifties with winds below ten miles per hour. With the right gear, you can comfortably fish this time of year in those conditions on a kayak and you will be rewarded with some really nice schooled up Redfish.
Tackle and Equipment
On the tackle front, Domenic and Ron both successfully used one other tactic this month that paid big dividends. That is using twitch baits in shallow water with a very slow retrieve. This month we both were using the Paul Brown XL Softdine shallow diving version. It still meets the criteria of a smaller lure for bigger fish. In fact, Ron caught his biggest two Reds of the month on this lure. Other lures to consider are the Mirrolure 17 and 14mr series baits depending on the size of the fish you are targeting. Slow presentations are key with these this time of year as well. Retrieve these lures with single or double soft twitches followed by long pauses. The fish tend to hit on the pause.
Upcoming Tournament
We are excited to be working hard behind the scenes on the inaugural Hagan Coastal Outfitters Marsh Madness kayak fishing tournament. This is a tournament that is being put together by kayak fisherman for kayak fisherman in the spirit of family friendly kayak tournaments we have seen in our area in the past. We hope you will join us in making this a success and an annual event that brings our kayak fishing community together. Most importantly, this is a charity tournament benefiting First Coast Women’s Services. They help women in difficult circumstances surrounding pregnancies and have offices in Duval, Clay and St. John’s counties. We are proud to support them in their mission.
Hagan Coastal Outfitters has all the industry connections and sponsors to help make this a great community event. This will be a triple fish challenge with prizes for the top 3 Redfish, Trout and Flounder. There will be a slam division as well with a combined total of the best fish in each category. A special “Spots” prize will also be awarded for the Redfish with the most spots on one side. The format will be a catch, photo and release tournament with sportsmanship and ecological stewardship at the forefront. More information on prizes will be released soon but registration has opened. We hope you will join us for the fun!