Hooked Up: February 2023

We are solid into the 2023 trophy trout season and have already had our first big scare with the Christmas freeze. We dodged that bullet, mostly, with only minimal losses. But like a broken record, the losses that did occur were largely in relation to barge traffic in the ICW. In these modern times of technology, communication advances, etc.; it's hard to believe the caretakers and users of the inshore bays and waterways have not been able to gain greater control when gamefish populations are so vulnerable. Does anyone else believe that common sense will become an antique soon?

The fabled month of February is upon us. Is there any other month that drives so much anticipation in the trophy trout world? There is no doubt that February is a great month to focus on trophies, but is it really better than any other winter month? My take on that is this: February gets a lot more attention because fishermen are relieved of other obligations (if that’s what you want to call them) such as hunting, holidays, sports, etc. February seems to be when everything else has run its course and everyone converges on the bay for sport and entertainment in the form of trout fishing. So, with that being said, more big fish are naturally going to be caught. It's basically a numbers game. Greater participation produces more big fish, and in this age of social media more people hear about it.

I'm not knocking February as a trophy month, because it definitely is. What I'm saying is there are perhaps as many boats on the water this month as in June. In addition to more everyday fishermen being out there, it is also the month when trout tournaments begin in earnest, and all that comes with it…especially the shoreline burning. My best advice would be get out early, get established in a good area that you know has the right stuff in it, and make a day of it. Enjoy your time and the grind. It will pay off!

We are almost two years since the February 2021 freeze and I am often asked about the condition of the fishery and what I am seeing daily on the water. So far it has been a bit of a wild ride from the immediate aftermath to where we are today. Following the freeze, the rest of the year was pretty damn dismal, but we found a way to make some days out of them. An influx of fish moved into the Laguna from Corpus Christi Bay and the surf in late '21 and we ended up having better 2022 winter and spring seasons than I ever expected…Thank the Good Lord. Basically, what seems to have played out was that as the water temps climbed, that big push of fish evidently began to return to the waters from which they originated (educated guess).

2023 has thus far shown a little more normalcy, but it is far from being what I call, right. The big positive this year is far more solid five-plus pounders are coming to hand. My boat has experienced a couple of weeks where we had a seven-plus trout landed and released each day. For this day and time, that it is pretty dang special, and I feel damn honored to have them.

I certainly wish we could count on that big bite daily, like in years past, but the whole coast is a different fishery now than it was ten years ago, considering the freeze and fishing pressure in general. The truth is most folks may not even recognize the difference, and catching a handful of fish may now qualify as a "smoked them" kind of a day. For myself and many others, we now have new expectations, to say the least.

The million dollar question from every client prior to arriving would have to be; What are they biting on? Well, it's not shrimp or croaker, so bring something that imitates a mullet. No lure on the end of my Waterloo gets more play than the straight tail 5" Bass Assassin. I’ve been blessed to catch seven double-digit trout in my life and four of them came on that very lure. Call me crazy but I'm sticking with the sure thing that I know gets big bites from trout, versus the latest “Gucci plastics” we see so often on social media. MirrOlure Fat Boy, MirrOdine XL, and Catch 2000 are also huge confidence lures this time of year.

Remember the Buffalo! -Capt David Rowsey