February Fishing Report

What an awesome start to the year it has been in terms of fishing and weather. Throughout the bays, shallow grass, and sand flats, the water is teeming with life. Schools of glass minnows, pinfish, bull minnows, and mullet provide excellent forage for speckled trout and redfish.

On sunny days, I typically pole the shallows in search of redfish cruising the shorelines or laid up in potholes. Sometimes the fish are pretty relaxed, and sometimes they can challenge even the most well-honed skill sets. Take your time when approaching fish, and if possible, set up in a way that allows the fish to come to you. This will increase your likelihood of getting a shot at them before they get wise to your presence. The best bite lately has been on soft plastic baits on a light jig. Both shad-tail style baits and shrimp patterns have worked well.

On cloudy or slightly overcast days, I like to get into the backwater bayous and creeks where speckled trout and redfish like to stack up this time of year. Typically, these bayous have darker water and are deeper than the surrounding flats. Many of the bayous are a mix of sand and mud bottom with scattered oyster here and there. Although trout are catch-and-release only through the end of the month, they are still a lot of fun to catch. Jigs, suspending twitch baits, and even some topwater lures have been very effective. For the redfish holding in the deeper water of the bayous, small gold lipless crankbaits have been absolutely crushing them.

It’s getting to be that time of year when big schools of redfish start working their way up and down the beach just off the shoreline. This can make for some incredible sight fishing, considering the clarity of the water and the size of some of the schools. Usually, the fish on the beach are pretty aggressive and can be caught on a variety of live and artificial offerings. Plugs, jigs, spoons, and topwaters are staples in the arsenal when targeting redfish in big schools. Many of these fish will be oversized, so handle them with care and release them to be caught again someday.

Look for catches of sheepshead to start picking up around the bridges and in the pass around the jetties. They can be a fickle fish to catch in the shallows; however, when they get into a little deeper water, they tend to chew pretty well. I use live shrimp or fiddler crabs on a light Carolina rig, or if the current is relatively slow, I can get away with just using a split shot to get the bait down. The more natural the presentation, the better.

Good luck! If you have additional questions about what’s biting, how to catch them, or if you’d like to book a trip, I encourage you to give me a call or shoot me an email.