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Poignant Lessons Learned Last Winter
Jeremy Rhodes' first bite ever on a Paul Brown Fat Boy produced a 29-inch trout. Some people might say he should be issued a fine for that!
Abnormally cold weather regularly affected the fishing for trophy trout in South Texas this past winter. In fact, the consistently frigid pattern started to manifest itself right around Thanksgiving, before the onset of Jack Frost's season. While monitoring the readings at the Baffin Buoy throughout the period, I noted three separate occasions when the water temperature plummeted to 41 degrees Fahrenheit. In some shallow areas, readings on our sonars dipped below 40.
Water temperatures so low can prove deadly to the trout and redfish. Luckily, strong fronts passed regularly, gradually reducing temperatures over time, helping the fish become well acclimated before the onset of extremes, and in all cases, the super low temperatures didn't last more than a couple days, so no trout and redfish turned belly up in the chilled brine.
In fact, not only did the cold weather not kill the fish, it made for some fantastic catching at times! I managed to catch big trout consistently throughout the winter, sometimes in water temperatures I'd previously considered too low for productive outings. I and my clients braved some nasty conditions to make some lasting memories, wrapping ourselves in layered clothing and gloves, pulling up the hoods on our jackets and turning our backs to the bitter breezes. I recall jumping up and down in place many times to keep the blood flowing through my extremities.
On the 44 charters I ran from the first day of winter to the last, I recorded some impressive numbers of big trout caught, despite the harsh conditions. We managed to land 76 specimens meeting or exceeding 25 inches, with 43 of those measuring 27 inches or longer, and 36 of them weighing at least seven pounds. Maintaining a one to one ratio of 27-inch fish per day of effort proves difficult for one month, let alone an entire quarter of the calendar year.
During this exceptional run, I personally landed a 31-inch ten pounder, one other 30-inch specimen and several impressive 29s. I had clients catch a bunch of big ones too, including Caleb McCumber's rare 32 incher. Beau Blackard landed an incredibly fat, photogenic nine pounder. Jeremy Rhodes caught a 30 incher, followed by a 29, on his first bite ever on a Paul Brown Lure, and his best three trout that day weighed 22.5 pounds. Matt McCollum did even better, managing a four-fish stringer weight of 31 pounds. He set a new personal best on length with each of the four, starting with a 28 1/2, moving up to a 29, then 29 1/2, and culminating with a 30! All these fish bit in the same spot, during a short, brilliant flurry, within a span of maybe 20 casts.
Brief but amazing flurries became the norm while Old Man Winter wrapped his icy fingers around the Lone Star State. Trout feed on an exaggerated cycle when temperatures dip so low. Seems to me the fish alternate between riding out the cold snaps dormant on the bottom in an open basin or deep hole, then coming up around the edges of some kind of structural element to feed.
When feeding actively, the ravenous fish become ridiculously easy to catch; often, when we catch them during periods of intense activity, they bite our plugs before swallowing the mullet or small trout they've already ingested. Sometimes, the tails of their meals protrude beyond their jagged, yellow lips. One fact becomes clear when trout are gorging themselves so vigorously; eventually, they will become tight-lipped and nearly impossible to entice into striking.
Weather conditions most profoundly affect this rapidly changing feeding mood. While "stimulators" like the change of light at dawn and dusk and the moon setting or rising still accentuate the potential for catching in cold weather, the weather pattern itself proves most significant. Once a feeding flurry dies down, the prevailing conditions will affect the amount of hours that pass until the onset of the next one. Such a thing can prove exceedingly difficult to monitor and/or predict.
My results reinforced one thing I already knew; trout bite well early in the morning (even before daylight) when water temperatures drop way down low. In a couple of cases, I and my clients caught quality trout easily during the break of day, in bitter cold, only to see the bite wane soon after daybreak. As the day warmed up, catching became almost impossible, despite a pleasant "upturn" in the conditions, probably because the fish had bellies full of food.
I've written it before and will do so here again... some people place far too much emphasis on water temperature when formulating fishing plans in winter–those who always wait for warm afternoons to fish miss out on some of the best catching. Trout bite regularly in the early morning hours, regardless of water temperatures. I do pay attention to the temperatures, mostly because doing so helps me better plan where and how to attempt to catch fish.
Some of the things I knew about locating and catching big trout in cold water proved useful this past winter. I used soft plastics rigged on light jigheads more than ever, convinced they could best entice strikes from sluggish fish huddled close to the bottom. As a rule, I'd start the day fishing with the worms, then "switch up" to sinking twitch baits if and when the bites started coming regularly and easily. In fact, on the day I caught my ten pounder and Jeremy Rhodes caught his 30 incher, such a plan played out perfectly.
We'd already managed ten or twelve strikes in the first couple hours, despite water temperatures hovering around the 45 mark. Some of the strikes created resonate vibrations in our rods, indicating a favorable feeding mood in the fish. I got one last violent strike on a plum Bass Assassin, and could tell I'd hooked a heavy fish, but it pulled off. Before casting back to the location, I switched to a chartreuse/gold Catch 5.
Prior to this year, I would not likely have attempted to catch trout on twitch baits in such cold water. I now believe the "benchmarks" need resetting during prolonged stretches of frigid weather. In essence, 45 water feels better to the fish if it warmed up from 40, especially when it has been colder several times recently. Well-acclimated trout sometimes move around and feed fairly aggressively in dangerously chilled water.
On this day, my double-digit monster chased down and snatched my Catch 5 on the first cast. That's when I told Jeremy to try his Corky. Within maybe seven or eight casts, he caught his 29 incher.
The spot where these fish bit provided consistently good results throughout the season, particularly when water temperatures bottomed out in the 40s. Most of the big trout in the area bit along a transition from the shallow water atop a large structural element into a deep basin. The general description of the place provides no surprise. I've made many good catches in the cold when fishing around major structures along drop-offs into deep, open basins, particularly ones which lie in the lee of land masses which "protect" against the effects of strong north winds.
But the bottom features in the area do prove interesting and unexpected. For the most part, hard sand covers the bottom in the spot which produced best in the extreme cold weather, though areas with similar depth and muddy bottoms lie close by, and have proved better in other winters, with more moderate weather patterns and extremes. Many trophy trout experts make the same claim: "you gotta fish the mud in cold weather." I have caught lots of trout over soft bottoms in winter, but I now know they sometimes prefer areas with hard, sandy bottoms in super cold conditions.
The reason often offered for fishing over muddy bottoms in cold weather reads something like this: "shallow water over mud heats up faster than shallow water over sand." First off, I can not verify the truth of such a statement, having idled over silty areas while watching the temperature readings sent to the Garmin's screen by the sonar attached to the stern of my Haynie. I can find no evidence to support the claim.
Shallow water does heat up quicker than deep water, certainly. Sometimes, cold-stunned trout seem to move shallow to take advantage of the warming water. Mostly, though, they move shallow to feed. When they do so, trout will show up repeatedly in the "feeding station" closest to where they've hunkered down to ride out the cold, regardless of what lies on the bottom.
I suspect the fish preferred the sandy area on the fringe of their deep basin specifically because the cold temperatures made them reluctant to venture further away from the safety and relative comfort of the hole. I can not prove the previous statement, but I do know giant trout can be caught over a hard sandy bottom in winter. The need to feed, it seems to me, becomes the dominant factor determining the behavior and movement patterns of big trout during winter, especially a colder than normal one.
I did learn some new things this past winter, ones I will catalogue in my memory, to use when planning future trips. Big trout can be caught in water nearly cold enough to kill them, provided the angler makes appropriate choices related to timing, location, lure choice and presentation when targeting them. Those of us who fish regularly have an advantage when making these decisions, since we develop a sense of what's happening with the fish on a daily basis.
Weekend warriors need to stick to the basics when planning winter outings. Smart ones will focus on areas around the fringes of major structural elements lying near deep basins. They'll attempt to take advantage of all known stimulators, including the break of day, coming of night, the rising and setting of the moon, and the turn of the tide. Mostly, they'll throw soft plastics rigged on light jigheads, dragging them slowly along the bottom and short-hopping them up occasionally, but they won't hesitate to switch "up" to twitch baits and even floating plugs when the bites start coming easily and other signs indicate an active feeding mood in the fish.
Catching big trout in winter involves fishing precise locations thoroughly, in an attempt to place the proper lure close in front of the fish. Doing so consistently requires thoughtful planning, patience and a persistent mindset.
Water temperatures so low can prove deadly to the trout and redfish. Luckily, strong fronts passed regularly, gradually reducing temperatures over time, helping the fish become well acclimated before the onset of extremes, and in all cases, the super low temperatures didn't last more than a couple days, so no trout and redfish turned belly up in the chilled brine.
In fact, not only did the cold weather not kill the fish, it made for some fantastic catching at times! I managed to catch big trout consistently throughout the winter, sometimes in water temperatures I'd previously considered too low for productive outings. I and my clients braved some nasty conditions to make some lasting memories, wrapping ourselves in layered clothing and gloves, pulling up the hoods on our jackets and turning our backs to the bitter breezes. I recall jumping up and down in place many times to keep the blood flowing through my extremities.
On the 44 charters I ran from the first day of winter to the last, I recorded some impressive numbers of big trout caught, despite the harsh conditions. We managed to land 76 specimens meeting or exceeding 25 inches, with 43 of those measuring 27 inches or longer, and 36 of them weighing at least seven pounds. Maintaining a one to one ratio of 27-inch fish per day of effort proves difficult for one month, let alone an entire quarter of the calendar year.
During this exceptional run, I personally landed a 31-inch ten pounder, one other 30-inch specimen and several impressive 29s. I had clients catch a bunch of big ones too, including Caleb McCumber's rare 32 incher. Beau Blackard landed an incredibly fat, photogenic nine pounder. Jeremy Rhodes caught a 30 incher, followed by a 29, on his first bite ever on a Paul Brown Lure, and his best three trout that day weighed 22.5 pounds. Matt McCollum did even better, managing a four-fish stringer weight of 31 pounds. He set a new personal best on length with each of the four, starting with a 28 1/2, moving up to a 29, then 29 1/2, and culminating with a 30! All these fish bit in the same spot, during a short, brilliant flurry, within a span of maybe 20 casts.
Brief but amazing flurries became the norm while Old Man Winter wrapped his icy fingers around the Lone Star State. Trout feed on an exaggerated cycle when temperatures dip so low. Seems to me the fish alternate between riding out the cold snaps dormant on the bottom in an open basin or deep hole, then coming up around the edges of some kind of structural element to feed.
When feeding actively, the ravenous fish become ridiculously easy to catch; often, when we catch them during periods of intense activity, they bite our plugs before swallowing the mullet or small trout they've already ingested. Sometimes, the tails of their meals protrude beyond their jagged, yellow lips. One fact becomes clear when trout are gorging themselves so vigorously; eventually, they will become tight-lipped and nearly impossible to entice into striking.
Weather conditions most profoundly affect this rapidly changing feeding mood. While "stimulators" like the change of light at dawn and dusk and the moon setting or rising still accentuate the potential for catching in cold weather, the weather pattern itself proves most significant. Once a feeding flurry dies down, the prevailing conditions will affect the amount of hours that pass until the onset of the next one. Such a thing can prove exceedingly difficult to monitor and/or predict.
My results reinforced one thing I already knew; trout bite well early in the morning (even before daylight) when water temperatures drop way down low. In a couple of cases, I and my clients caught quality trout easily during the break of day, in bitter cold, only to see the bite wane soon after daybreak. As the day warmed up, catching became almost impossible, despite a pleasant "upturn" in the conditions, probably because the fish had bellies full of food.
I've written it before and will do so here again... some people place far too much emphasis on water temperature when formulating fishing plans in winter–those who always wait for warm afternoons to fish miss out on some of the best catching. Trout bite regularly in the early morning hours, regardless of water temperatures. I do pay attention to the temperatures, mostly because doing so helps me better plan where and how to attempt to catch fish.
Some of the things I knew about locating and catching big trout in cold water proved useful this past winter. I used soft plastics rigged on light jigheads more than ever, convinced they could best entice strikes from sluggish fish huddled close to the bottom. As a rule, I'd start the day fishing with the worms, then "switch up" to sinking twitch baits if and when the bites started coming regularly and easily. In fact, on the day I caught my ten pounder and Jeremy Rhodes caught his 30 incher, such a plan played out perfectly.
We'd already managed ten or twelve strikes in the first couple hours, despite water temperatures hovering around the 45 mark. Some of the strikes created resonate vibrations in our rods, indicating a favorable feeding mood in the fish. I got one last violent strike on a plum Bass Assassin, and could tell I'd hooked a heavy fish, but it pulled off. Before casting back to the location, I switched to a chartreuse/gold Catch 5.
Prior to this year, I would not likely have attempted to catch trout on twitch baits in such cold water. I now believe the "benchmarks" need resetting during prolonged stretches of frigid weather. In essence, 45 water feels better to the fish if it warmed up from 40, especially when it has been colder several times recently. Well-acclimated trout sometimes move around and feed fairly aggressively in dangerously chilled water.
On this day, my double-digit monster chased down and snatched my Catch 5 on the first cast. That's when I told Jeremy to try his Corky. Within maybe seven or eight casts, he caught his 29 incher.
The spot where these fish bit provided consistently good results throughout the season, particularly when water temperatures bottomed out in the 40s. Most of the big trout in the area bit along a transition from the shallow water atop a large structural element into a deep basin. The general description of the place provides no surprise. I've made many good catches in the cold when fishing around major structures along drop-offs into deep, open basins, particularly ones which lie in the lee of land masses which "protect" against the effects of strong north winds.
But the bottom features in the area do prove interesting and unexpected. For the most part, hard sand covers the bottom in the spot which produced best in the extreme cold weather, though areas with similar depth and muddy bottoms lie close by, and have proved better in other winters, with more moderate weather patterns and extremes. Many trophy trout experts make the same claim: "you gotta fish the mud in cold weather." I have caught lots of trout over soft bottoms in winter, but I now know they sometimes prefer areas with hard, sandy bottoms in super cold conditions.
The reason often offered for fishing over muddy bottoms in cold weather reads something like this: "shallow water over mud heats up faster than shallow water over sand." First off, I can not verify the truth of such a statement, having idled over silty areas while watching the temperature readings sent to the Garmin's screen by the sonar attached to the stern of my Haynie. I can find no evidence to support the claim.
Shallow water does heat up quicker than deep water, certainly. Sometimes, cold-stunned trout seem to move shallow to take advantage of the warming water. Mostly, though, they move shallow to feed. When they do so, trout will show up repeatedly in the "feeding station" closest to where they've hunkered down to ride out the cold, regardless of what lies on the bottom.
I suspect the fish preferred the sandy area on the fringe of their deep basin specifically because the cold temperatures made them reluctant to venture further away from the safety and relative comfort of the hole. I can not prove the previous statement, but I do know giant trout can be caught over a hard sandy bottom in winter. The need to feed, it seems to me, becomes the dominant factor determining the behavior and movement patterns of big trout during winter, especially a colder than normal one.
I did learn some new things this past winter, ones I will catalogue in my memory, to use when planning future trips. Big trout can be caught in water nearly cold enough to kill them, provided the angler makes appropriate choices related to timing, location, lure choice and presentation when targeting them. Those of us who fish regularly have an advantage when making these decisions, since we develop a sense of what's happening with the fish on a daily basis.
Weekend warriors need to stick to the basics when planning winter outings. Smart ones will focus on areas around the fringes of major structural elements lying near deep basins. They'll attempt to take advantage of all known stimulators, including the break of day, coming of night, the rising and setting of the moon, and the turn of the tide. Mostly, they'll throw soft plastics rigged on light jigheads, dragging them slowly along the bottom and short-hopping them up occasionally, but they won't hesitate to switch "up" to twitch baits and even floating plugs when the bites start coming easily and other signs indicate an active feeding mood in the fish.
Catching big trout in winter involves fishing precise locations thoroughly, in an attempt to place the proper lure close in front of the fish. Doing so consistently requires thoughtful planning, patience and a persistent mindset.