Rec and Sports

Winter Fishing Tips from Capt. Caserta

The tide was falling quickly when we decided to fish the cuts on the backside of San Jose Island, where the lakes drain into the Aransas Bay. It was a Saturday that I had picked up 3 clients and, as I figured, there were some redfish sitting around the cuts.

After a few trial and error casts, we changed the lures over to Devil Eyes in Gold Rush and Pink Hologram with a 1/16 oz jig as my clients fished from the boat while I drifted along the cuts.

The fish just were not nailing the lures as they were in a holding pattern on the shell-mixed mud, even though the water was still a little warm. The key was to find the bait food because that was where the action was going to be.

3 limits of keepers and a lot of undersized redfish were caught once we got the pattern down regarding areas to fish. Mud bottoms mixed with shell are also where you will find the bait food until Spring, so these are the areas you need to look for and you should catch fish.

You may have to stop and look for bait activity or make a few casts for 10 or 15 minutes to know if it is a good area this time of year. I’ve caught fish many times by taking the time to check when other people would move on because they didn’t immediately see any bait action or redfish movement.

Remember, it is cold, the fish are cold and they are not going to move around like they do in the fall or summer. Also, there are not as many fish, so seeing a couple of flicks here or there could make your day.

Captain Mike Caserta is a full-time fishing guide who specializes in wadefishing for big speckled trout and redfish in Texas, and uses Brown Lures’ salt water fishing tackle. Kyle suggests you try out some wade fishing supplies from Brown Lures for your next fishing trip.