Post cold front blues (brunswick)

Kcorbett

Member
Christmas 2020 was a cold one! Thursday and Friday night got below freezing (27 F). It started to warm up slowly and Monday was set to jump up to mid 60’s. I thought the bite would be on fire but we didn’t get even a nibble all day long. According to our sonar, water temp was high 50’s. We had live shrimp, mid minnows, artificials, found clear water, we worked docks and a few reliable spots, but nothin’. We should have tried sheepshead, but we were really hoping for trout Or redfish.

Just wondering if anyone caught anything the last few days, and what sort of structure, depth, and bait you were successful with. Would love to know if others got skunked as well. Fortunately, we caught some food shrimp with the cast net, otherwise it would have been a fruitless, albeit beautiful day.

Even if you didn’t go out recently, does anyone have any cold water tips? We’ve never been successful in cold water. I have a feeling we just don’t fish deep enough.
 
The only success I have winter time fishing inshore is sheepshead. I went yesterday (12/29) and did really well. The problem with winter sheepshead fishing is getting fiddler crabs. We went to our normal fiddler crab spot on St. Simons and after 30 minutes or so of digging only netted about 40 fiddlers crabs and most of them were really small. We caught about 12 nice keeper sheepshead but then ran out of bait. I know that people catch redfish all year but I do not have the necessary knowledge to do it. I live 2 hours from the coast so it is hard for me to get down enough to work on it, but sheepshead should be around anything with barnacles or oysters on it in the winter time. If anyone has any good tips on getting fiddlers when it's cold I would love to know. I fish mostly around Brunswick and Harris Neck area although I hope to try the St Mary's jetties this winter.
 

Kcorbett

Member
Wow, nice haul! We’ve never tried for sheepies before. Would you mind sharing what kind of rig you use? How deep was the water where you were fishing? Do you fish off the bottom or higher in the water column?
thanks for sharing!
 

Fletch_W

Banned
I don't know about Brunswick, but in Charleston in the winter, the reds school and follow the incoming tide into mudflats where they can warm up on sun-baked mud from low tide. During low tide, they'll school tightly along the edges of whatever creek or waterway leads up to that mud flat.

They are also more spooky. You can find a nice big school and one wrong move they run a half mile away. In the summer they aren't that spooky but in the winter, it's best to locate the school and set up where the school will come to you, making long casts to them, instead of you pushing up close to the school and spooking them.

If you see dolphin, find another spot.

This is how all the guides target redfish in the winter up there, usually with artificial.

My method was the same, but I would plop a fresh shrimp on the bottom ahead of where I thought the school was moving. It's my theory the bigger reds will be out ahead and get first dibs on bait, whereas if you cast your lure into the middle of them, whatever fish is closest to it will get it.
 
I use a Carolina rig with about 20# mono and 15# leader. I try to use as light a weight as possible usually around 1 Oz but it depends on the current. Fish as close to the piling as you can and start bait just off the bottom. If you don’t get any bites try reeling up one turn and repeat until you find what depth they are at. So far my most productive water depth is 5 to 12 foot but you can catch them at any depth. I use a circle hook and slowly raise my rod tip about a foot then let it down. If I feel like I’m hung I stop and just hold pressure a couple seconds and when they start to move off I reel in. That’s what works best for me.
 
Top