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
December brought our first taste of Winter weather patterns. We had a legitimate cold front early in December that dropped water temperatures only to see them warm back up around a warm Christmas holiday season. This set up a transitional month where both Fall and Winter tactics were employed. The December bite was outstanding with big Trout and big Redfish feeding eagerly in preparation for Winter’s arrival. The Trout were found in deeper troughs and holes early in the day, but they moved shallower as the afternoon sun warmed the mud of our marshes. Redfish were caught sunning around oyster mounds and on mud flats at low tide and patrolling the grass lines as the incoming tide filled in. There was less bait evident in our creeks this month but that left the fish less picky and more willing to eat artificial lures if they were presented properly.
Tactics That Are Working
We started our month off with a shallow water trip to the back of an oyster laden creek before that first cold snap. We fished topwater lures over submerged oysters and both caught really nice slot Reds. We worked those lures slower than we would normally work them during the warmer months. Redfish do not always catch the hooks on topwater lures because their mouths point downward for bottom feeding, but it is always fun to watch them chase after a topwater lure. Once the water level dropped, we started fishing cool water tactics such as Ned rigs and shrimp imitations right next to the oyster mounds. These techniques worked as well with more quality Reds hitting the decks of our kayaks. After the cold front passed, we turned our focus to Trout. We fished the Mirrolure 17mr profile in various colors of the new Chameleon series. We each caught some really nice chunky Trout, over twenty inches, that were clearly fattening up for the Winter. The key was fishing these lures much more slowly than we might in the warmer weather months to trigger the bite. Instead of a twitch, twitch pause retrieve, it was more of a slow retrieve with the occasional twitch. This is not the time of year to aggressively retrieve lures as the fish are starting to settle into a more sedentary pattern with the cooler water temperatures.
Lessons Learned
One of the great things about December is spending time with family both off and on the water. This month’s lesson came while Ron was fishing with his daughter who was home from college for the holidays. Now Domenic and Ron typically fish with artificial lures, but it is important to remember that if you are fishing with someone who does not fish often, you might want to alter your game plan. Ron really wanted to put his daughter on some fish so he decided to pick up some mud minnows. The mud minnows were fished on a light jig head next to the grass lines of the creek and the results were lots of smiles and lots of Redfish. In fact, Audrey caught the three largest upper slot Redfish of the day. The key was to keep moving and covering shoreline rather than sitting in one spot. The mud minnows were fished on a jig head that was just heavy enough to get the bait down to the bottom and they were slowly retrieved rather than letting them sit stationary. This turned out to be a special trip for them both with lots of fish landed on a memorable trip. Mud minnows are a great bait for less experienced fishing guests and will catch more fish, and fewer Catfish and Stingrays, than Shrimp.
Tackle and Equipment
On the tackle front, Domenic and Ron both successfully started December working with topwater lures. Domenic found success with the Rapala Skitterwalk while Ron used a Lucky Craft Sammy. Shallow water tactics included using ZMan Finesse TRD series Ned rig lures and ZMan Prawn StarZ lures in their smaller profile sizes. Lastly, we had our success on the larger Trout with Mirrolure 17mr profile twitch baits from the new Chameleon series. These lures all fit the bill for fishing a transitional month weather wise with both Fall and Winter tactics.