Winter Redfish...so far.

It's nearly the end of January and that puts us halfway through the 4-month long winter Redfish season.  This week in particular, has been painfully cold, with temps barely getting above freezing, so what better time to look back and do a report.

Although this week has been miserably cold, most of the last two months have been really pleasant.  Hopefully we'll get on the other side of this cold front soon and have 2 more solid months of sight fishing Reds.

It's been a great winter so far with really impressive numbers of Redfish in the marsh.  The water has been extremely clear all winter and the fish have stayed schooled up, providing for some really amazing sight fishing opportunities.

Our Redfish have ranged from rats around 16" long up to some upper slots a few inches shy of 30"s.  The average fish over the last few weeks has been a solid 24" and the schools have ranged anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred.

We've fished both fly and spin.  And on both types of gear, we've found that live mudminnows and live shrimp work best.  Ha ha, just kidding, we don't do that.  On spin we've had a lot of luck with small Z-Man baits on very light jigs and Gulp baits if they are extra cold or picky.  A variety of flies have gotten the job done, but small, lightly weighted, white and tan flies have produced most of our fish. Black and purple flies have been working in situations with dark water or on overcast days.  It really is more about the approach and the presentation, than the bait.  I always say it's 10% fly, and 90% presentation.

Don't look at that fly, nothing to see here.

Bye my guy!

Nothing better than happy kids, first Reds and PB (personal best) catches, all at once.

The look of regret.

The fight is finished.

First saltwater fish on fly!

Brian tight to a flood tide winter Red.

Let 'em go and let 'em grow.

Hanging on...

My clients are the best.

Revive time.

Someone got their tail chewed off.

Mouthful.

Putting on a show.

Lee putting the heat on one with the Waterman 890.

Pretty fish...and a naked one!

One more back in the water to catch another day.

Back-lit fins.

When you coordinate the color of your fly to match the color of your fish's parasites.

Hooked on Redfishing...litteraly.

I'm a little jealous of that sweet reel.

Gotta get to 'em, right Perry?

The one and only Gumby admiring a fine specimen of a Redfish.

Healthy fish, and better yet, a hungry one!

Walk of shame.

Send it.

The Winter Mouse fly.

Mud happens...

Best day ever kind of days.
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These are the days that I absolutely love my job.  And a lot of those "best day ever" days happen every winter from December through March.

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Plenty of days to go chase these schools of Redfish in crystal clear water over the next two months.  Give me a shout if you'd like to go.