The Winter Grind

When I think of what my fishing program looks like in January the first thing that comes to mind is preparation. Preparation for all the possibilities a new year can bring. Don’t get me wrong there’s some great days to be had out on the water this time of year, but being in the business of sight-fishing, January can certainly be slower than other months. So, with the bad weather days I’ll be doing all I can to prepare for what’s to come. These things include changing my outboards water impeller that was abused the previous year, spooling up new fly lines, tying leaders, putting new braid on spinning reels, and renewing insurance policies. Some tasks are more enjoyable than others, but all are necessary to keep this train on the tracks for another year.

On the other hand, when Old Man Winter spares us for a few days and the water temperature is allowed to rise, the sight-fishing and fishing in general can be phenomenal. It may take a bit more searching than other times of the year, but in January when you do locate the fish it is usually a very target rich environment. When searching for these winter holes keep in mind that fish are cold-blooded animals and seeking out areas holding warmer waters during periods of cold weather will likely yield higher success. These may even be some of the same areas you fish during summer months but on the opposite tide. For instance, imagine a shallow sight-fishing spot with close access to deep water. In summer those fish may be triggered to feed by an incoming tide that pushes cooler water from the deep into the shallow zone. Now in winter, fish staging in the same spot may feed on the opposite tide with the warmer water from the shallows falling on an outgoing tide. Now I know, if you’re like me you’re going to go fishing regardless of the tide, but it’s just something to keep in your mind while you’re putting a game plan together.

One thing I’ll be targeting a lot in January is shallow oyster shell. I can’t say for sure why fish like this type of structure during winter, possibly because oysters absorb more heat than barren bottom. What I can tell you is these zones of shallow mud and shell do hold lots of mullet when the temperatures and tides are low. Therefore, redfish and sometimes large speckled trout won’t be far behind. When scanning these zones be sure to watch for an occasional osprey overhead. If you see the osprey diving regularly that’s a sure sign the mullet are in abundance and the area may be worth investigating.

Sight-fishing shallow mud and shell can be much more productive when you’re on the elevated deck of a boat. Sinking in mud up to your knees while wading doesn’t leave much elevation for a good line of sight. And trying to operate a large flats boat with the trolling motor prop banging oyster clumps isn’t the stealthiest approach. Under these conditions my alloy Sabine Skiff truly shines. Being a flat bottom poling skiff constructed of aluminum, it allows me to not only fish uber-shallow next to the oyster beds, but if there’s some scattered oyster in between holes I can fearlessly pole directly over the shell. Yes, it still sounds like nails on a chalkboard, enough to make you cringe, but it isn’t anything a little sanding and painting can’t fix down the road.

Another caveat of sight-fishing during winter months is the limited amount of visibility. Now I could go off on a deep dive and spout all kinds of scientific facts about the tilt of the earth, but I’ll save that for the scientists. Simply put, the sun just isn’t as bright this time of year. There are fewer hours of daylight and the hours that we do have are often accompanied by lingering fog or high, wispy clouds. This creates a lot of glare and bad sight-fishing conditions, but at the flip of a switch it can be blue bird skies and pure sun.

In the past I would bring two pairs of glasses to combat this. One pair being a regular amber lens and the other bright highlighter yellow. The trick was to make it to the boat with both pairs so you could swap glasses as the conditions changed. Sounds great, but sure enough if I only made it to the boat with the yellow pair, it would be pure sun all day. The eye fatigue afterwards for me was like staring at a welding arc without a hood. So much so I even went to an eye doctor for the first time in my life, only to find out the blotches on my eyes were UV damage. “But Doc I’m wearing the best glasses you can buy for this sport,” or so I thought, anyhow.

On the quest for better eyewear I came across Purpose Built Optics. The first pair I tried, while the fit was perfect and were incredibly light, the color of the lens just wasn’t for me. After some email exchanges with Mr. Bill Waller he suggested I try a new color lens they were coming out with as it may be the color I was after. That lens is now known as Green River. The lens features a slight tent of yellow while still maintaining some tones of brown. It really brightens things up underwater and creates great color separation. What I wasn’t expecting is that I can wear them in full sun or under cloud cover with no eye fatigue. It has actually been the only pair of glasses I’ve worn since June of last year. The moral of this long-winded story is that I now only bring one pair of glasses every day and don’t have to worry about the amount of cloud cover or lack thereof. The pair I’ve been wearing is the Deep Eddy frame with the Green River lens. Although advertised under their freshwater lens category, they are a great option for sight-fishing saltwater in January… or any month of the year for that matter.

In closing I’d like to thank everyone that came out to fish with me in 2023. It was a fun year with some good days of catching. I hope we can sneak through this winter without any extreme weather like we received in 2021. As of writing this, it has been fairly mild with some much needed rain for our bay systems, so fingers crossed. If you’d like to fish with me in 2024 feel free to reach out and let’s put something on the books.