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Reports & Forecasts: December 2006
Lake Calcasieu Louisiana
Jeff and Mary Poe | Big Lake Guide Service | 337.598.3268
December usually signals the beginning of the "big trout season" over here on Calcasieu Lake. It will be interesting to see what effect the floods we had in this area during October will have on the big trout. Bird fishing should be winding down by the middle of the month with most shrimp having left the lake. Then the fishing should begin to heat up on the reefs in water depths of less than six feet. Commissary and Long Points both should hold some pretty hefty female trout. Soft plastics will be choice baits when used on lighter jigheads (eighth ounce or smaller). Some impressive trout will no doubt be caught on topwaters this month, but it is also one of the better times for the slow-sinking twitch baits (Catch 2000, Catch V, Corky and Corky Devil). Shallow-running lipped crankbaits such as Storm's jointed Thunderstick will also be a must in the tackle box. The redfish have really made a showing since the flood. Best places will continue to be in and around Grand and Lambert Bayous on the south end of the lake.
Sabine Lake | Dickie Colburn
Colburn's Sabine Connection | 409.883.0723
After two major floods and two modest cold fronts, the water in Sabine lake is high and muddy with visibility of less than a foot. In spite of that, the fishing cannot get much better. Massive flocks of gulls are dining on shrimp from daylight to dark from East Pass all the way to the Causeway. December will see more of the same non-stop action once the marshes are blown empty and the last of the shrimp are forced into the lake. Any lure is a good one when the trout and redfish are as active as they are right now, but we have done best with pumpkin/chartreuse, glow/chartreuse, and bone diamond in smaller tails like the Assassin Sea Shad. She Dogs and the Top Dog Jr. in bone or pearl/chartreuse have been deadly for both trout and redfish. If you have the constitution to turn your back on the melee in the open lake, we are also having one of the best flounder runs in several years. The bayous and main lake points are holding limits of flounder up to three pounds. Shrimp-tipped plastic tails have been the best producers in glow or chartreuse.
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures | silverkingadventures.com | 409.935.7242
James says that the weather in the Galveston area has pushed back the fall run and made for some tough days on the water lately. "First off, the water was warmer than normal for a long time and then when we started to get some fronts to cool it down, they were coming so close together that the wind was blowing all the time. It's east one day, northwest the next, and then back to south again, sometimes all in one day. There are good numbers of trout in the middle of East Bay, but it has to be calm to get on 'em. Trinity is still kind of fresh after all the rain. West Bay, in the area closer to the pass, is full of small trout, but it's hard to find many keepers." All this is set to end, he predicts. "There are still lots of shrimp in the bays with this high tide and warmer water. I bet you a hundred dollars that we have working birds all the way to New Year's Day. About the middle of November, when the water finally gets cool enough to make a difference, it will bust wide open, and it ought to last for a month and a half or more."
Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service | 409.996.3054
Jim says that the fishing in East Bay is wide open lately, especially on the calm days between passing fronts, as opposed to the lower coast, where windy days immediately after the front seem better. "When the wind lays and turns, we are just hammering the fish," he reports. "There are bunches of trout and redfish on the shorelines, some really shallow. We are throwing lots of topwaters and Mirrolures, though we do switch to soft plastics when we get into the bayous themselves." He predicts the action on both quality and numbers of fish will continue throughout December. "We really just got into a fall pattern, because it stayed warm for so long, but now it's classic fall fishing, about as good as it gets." Duck hunting has been good too, he states. "We are getting limits or near limits on most every hunt. In the last week or so, I had 8 really good hunts out of 9. Mostly, we are killing the typical marsh ducks: gadwall, teal, pintails and spoonies. We had some tremendous flocks of geese arrive on this last full moon too."
West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 | 979.864.9323
Randall was catching fish on topwaters when I talked to him. "We have a plague of little fish over here right now. It's not been uncommon to catch two hundred in a day, but the percentage of keepers is weak. Best bite has been on a chartreuse Skitterwalk and a clear glitter/chartreuse Sand Eel. And you better have a trolling motor, too, because the pattern has been birds and controlled drifts in other areas with reefs. I burned up my trolling motor one day, but the guys with Gulf Coast Trolling Motors over at Fishing Tackle Unlimited bailed me out in a hurry. They are good people!" He says he's ready for the shrimp to flush out of the bay. "Once these shrimp are gone, we'll be more consistent on the better trout. The other day, we had one good session on some three to five pound fish, but it's hard to get to them with all these dinks around. In December, we should start to have better luck on some big fish, both wading reefs and muddy pockets and by drifting scattered shell."
Matagorda | Tommy Countz
Bay Guide Service | 979.863.7553
Tommy says that the weather has been a little funky in the Matagorda area this fall, making for some tougher than normal excursions. "We have some birds working over here right now, but we're still not at the peak of the activity. We've had a lot of stronger than normal east winds, and just a lot of wind in general, so it's been hard to stay with the flocks and the water's been off color quite a bit too." He expects the remainder of November and December to be better. "We still have a lot of shrimp in the bay, and as the water cools even more, it will hold its clarity a little better when the wind blows. We'll be fishing East Bay shorelines some in December, wading muddy guts with mullet plugs, Corkies and large Sand Eels for big trout. When the tide is real low, I like West Bay for redfish better. The few deep guts in the coves over there really stack up with fish when the tide is blown way out. The Colorado River can be good in December also, as long as it's not too fresh. Some years, we catch more fish in the river than in either bay, including some of our biggest trout."
Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com | 979.240.8204
Fishing continues to be good in our area. Cooler temperatures have bait fish migrating and working flocks of birds over reds and trout have made for some exciting fishing. The best producing lures under the birds have been dark tails such as Texas Redkillers in plumkin, plumtreuse, and red shad rigged on quarter ounce leadheads. The best topwater plug has been green/chrome ShePup and tiny trout Superspook Jr. Redfish action has been unbelievable. The old spottails have been schooled up in back bays, chasing shrimp under birds and they've been annihilating topwaters. Bone Skitterwalks and chartreuse TopDogs have been the reds' favorites. The size of both the trout (eighteen to twenty four inches) and reds (twenty four to twenty seven inches) has been consistently awesome. December fishing hot spots should include the deep shell pads off Palacios Point and the entire seawall area from Grassy Point to Spree's Corner. Top lures should be Corky Fatboys in pearl/chartreuse, glow, and pearl/black.
Port O'Connor | Lynn Smith | Back Bay Guide Service | 361.983.4434
Lynn says the action on both trout and redfish has been good lately in POC. "We have been catching lots of fish on the shorelines. The reds have schooled up nicely and are aggressive. We've been able to find them tailing on most trips. They are running a nice average size, with good numbers stretching toward the upper end of the slot. They have been liking the topwaters too. The trout have been of good size also, with decent numbers up to twenty two and twenty three inches. The best way to catch them lately seems to be with dark soft plastics, particularly plum/chartreuse and red/white ones." In December, he plans to focus more on shallow mud flats adjacent to deep open waters. "We'll switch over to more slow sinking plugs in December, throwing lots of Corkies and Catch V's and 2000s. Also, we will typically leave the dock a little later and fish into the afternoon. On lots of days, we'll see the action pick up on those shallow flats after the suns heat them up all morning."
Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service | 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake reports that the season for cast and blast trips is off to a loud and productive start. "We have tons of ducks in our marsh back lakes right now. I am using the airboat and hunting early, then fishing my way out. The redfish are not too hard to find on most days, though with the high tides we had last month, even in the shallowest lakes, it can be a bit of a challenge. Throughout December, I'll be roaming the same lakes on St. Joe Island, frequenting the blinds and muddy holes in the far corners of the marsh." He mentions that he sometimes finds the reds stacked in the deepest, muddiest parts of the marsh in December, especially if the weather's cold. "This is the time of the year when I start to use Corkies more. I like the pearl/chartreuse one on the nicer days, and the purple/white one when we have a darker sky or off-colored water. Of course, the old standby at the start of winter will still be the purple/chartreuse and pumpkin/chartreuse SandEels. Those and a box of steel shot shells!"
Padre Island National Seashore
Billy Sandifer | Padre Island Safaris | 361.937.8446
There is excellent potential for surf fishing every year during December and in this atypical year the chances for good catches are greater than normal. As of early November, our annual fall run of a wide variety of game fishes continues in a "stop and go" fashion at best and some species have not yet appeared at all. Large masses of large Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle may well be feeding in the surf zone through mid December. Good numbers of slot and oversized bull reds are expected. Pompano should delight bottom fishers using fresh, peeled dead shrimp and the whiting which moved offshore at the onset of the red tide event should start moving back in. It will be interesting to see if there is a return of our traditional winter speckled trout fishery on 51M Mirrolures this month as water temps drop. Trout populations locally seem to have been "re-writing the book" all year and the winter surf could well be included as a chapter in that book. Beware of periods of NE winds as they push up the tide and make driving the beach difficult.
Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] | 361.563.1160
The cold fronts have not cooled the water enough to move the fish into deeper water yet. The water temperatures are favorable for fish to roam around in three feet of water or less. I've been targeting two and a half feet of water or less and much of the time less than eighteen inches. I've been looking for bait fish in clear to semi-clear water. Then I'm drifting or wading while looking for trout, reds or black drum. Sight casting has been the game since the beginning of September, and it's been absolutely great! The redfish and black drum have been in less than eighteen inches of water and the trout have been slightly deeper water (two-three feet), with redfish mixed in as well. In areas where there's not too much floating grass, I've been using bone colored Top Dog Jrs. and She Dogs and the trout and redfish have been tearing them up! Many of the trout have been between eighteen and twenty three inches, with quite a few being over twenty five. In the shallower water, the reds and drum have been hitting pearl colored Exude RT Slugs and Gulp Shrimp.
Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez www.sightcast1.com | 361.937.5961
Joe says that he's been catching some fish in various locations lately, but that the catching has not been as hot as earlier in the year. "A couple more cold fronts would probably perk things up some," he says. "There are some fish up shallow, on the King Ranch Shoreline and in the front of Baffin too. We have caught some quality fish on some recent outings, especially on the days when the floating grass allows us to use our TopDogs more of the time. I'll continue fishing across from Bird Island some as we get into December, and also put in some more time in the front of Baffin and in the Meadows." Fronts in this area tend to blow clear water from the Laguna into the mouth of Baffin. "When the north wind blows the tide in, the mouth of Baffin can get really good in late fall and early winter. You'll see some big trout coming up onto those muddy flats in that area. As we get closer to Christmas and the start of winter, they can really stack up around there. I'll be chunking Exudes at them when they do."
Port Mansfield | Bruce & Brandon Shuler
GetAway Adventures Lodge | 956.944.4000
Bruce reports that the fish in the Mansfield area are already moving into areas that normally are populated a little later in the year. "We are already seeing trout over solid grass on the east side where we normally don't find them until December. There is a lot of bait in the bay compared with recent years and the fishing is set up to be outstanding this winter. We will be looking for our big trout this month in the drains that run from the deepest holes into shallow backwater areas. Those that have a muddy bottom and some dark grass will be best. We like to throw the Corkies, Catch V's and 2000s at 'em this time of year. Topwaters, too, of course, on the warmer days. We will be fishing what we call "gentleman's hours", leaving the dock after a daylight breakfast and staying on the water a little later into the afternoon." Offshore fishing continues outstanding, he reports. "We'll see some bigger snapper up shallow when it gets cold. Look for some impressive catches to be made offshore in December, on both conventional tackle and on flies."
Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com | 956.943.2747
Tailing reds and oversized snook--fishing doesn't get any better than this! Welcome to winter fishing on the Lower Laguna Madre. With the time change, we're leaving the dock an hour earlier, which gives us a nice head start on the daybreak bite. You've got to love this season, with its northers blowing through and riling fish into a frenzy of feasting. We're limiting in a few hours then turning back as many reds as we can for the rest of the day. Then for a couple of days after the passage of the front, the fish are stuffed and don't eat much. Gulps are working great, but the way fish bite during the peak of each norther, you could throw plastics or spoons with the same success. A 32 inch snook inhaled a new penny Berkley Gulp 3-inch shrimp pulled quickly on top behind a red Mansfield Mauler. Freddy says, "The bay grasses will begin to go dormant and the water temps will drop, and we'll be hunting big trout and reds, working our lures slowly, in holes that are about 18 to 20 inches deep for the rest of the winter."
Jeff and Mary Poe | Big Lake Guide Service | 337.598.3268
December usually signals the beginning of the "big trout season" over here on Calcasieu Lake. It will be interesting to see what effect the floods we had in this area during October will have on the big trout. Bird fishing should be winding down by the middle of the month with most shrimp having left the lake. Then the fishing should begin to heat up on the reefs in water depths of less than six feet. Commissary and Long Points both should hold some pretty hefty female trout. Soft plastics will be choice baits when used on lighter jigheads (eighth ounce or smaller). Some impressive trout will no doubt be caught on topwaters this month, but it is also one of the better times for the slow-sinking twitch baits (Catch 2000, Catch V, Corky and Corky Devil). Shallow-running lipped crankbaits such as Storm's jointed Thunderstick will also be a must in the tackle box. The redfish have really made a showing since the flood. Best places will continue to be in and around Grand and Lambert Bayous on the south end of the lake.
Sabine Lake | Dickie Colburn
Colburn's Sabine Connection | 409.883.0723
After two major floods and two modest cold fronts, the water in Sabine lake is high and muddy with visibility of less than a foot. In spite of that, the fishing cannot get much better. Massive flocks of gulls are dining on shrimp from daylight to dark from East Pass all the way to the Causeway. December will see more of the same non-stop action once the marshes are blown empty and the last of the shrimp are forced into the lake. Any lure is a good one when the trout and redfish are as active as they are right now, but we have done best with pumpkin/chartreuse, glow/chartreuse, and bone diamond in smaller tails like the Assassin Sea Shad. She Dogs and the Top Dog Jr. in bone or pearl/chartreuse have been deadly for both trout and redfish. If you have the constitution to turn your back on the melee in the open lake, we are also having one of the best flounder runs in several years. The bayous and main lake points are holding limits of flounder up to three pounds. Shrimp-tipped plastic tails have been the best producers in glow or chartreuse.
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures | silverkingadventures.com | 409.935.7242
James says that the weather in the Galveston area has pushed back the fall run and made for some tough days on the water lately. "First off, the water was warmer than normal for a long time and then when we started to get some fronts to cool it down, they were coming so close together that the wind was blowing all the time. It's east one day, northwest the next, and then back to south again, sometimes all in one day. There are good numbers of trout in the middle of East Bay, but it has to be calm to get on 'em. Trinity is still kind of fresh after all the rain. West Bay, in the area closer to the pass, is full of small trout, but it's hard to find many keepers." All this is set to end, he predicts. "There are still lots of shrimp in the bays with this high tide and warmer water. I bet you a hundred dollars that we have working birds all the way to New Year's Day. About the middle of November, when the water finally gets cool enough to make a difference, it will bust wide open, and it ought to last for a month and a half or more."
Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service | 409.996.3054
Jim says that the fishing in East Bay is wide open lately, especially on the calm days between passing fronts, as opposed to the lower coast, where windy days immediately after the front seem better. "When the wind lays and turns, we are just hammering the fish," he reports. "There are bunches of trout and redfish on the shorelines, some really shallow. We are throwing lots of topwaters and Mirrolures, though we do switch to soft plastics when we get into the bayous themselves." He predicts the action on both quality and numbers of fish will continue throughout December. "We really just got into a fall pattern, because it stayed warm for so long, but now it's classic fall fishing, about as good as it gets." Duck hunting has been good too, he states. "We are getting limits or near limits on most every hunt. In the last week or so, I had 8 really good hunts out of 9. Mostly, we are killing the typical marsh ducks: gadwall, teal, pintails and spoonies. We had some tremendous flocks of geese arrive on this last full moon too."
West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 | 979.864.9323
Randall was catching fish on topwaters when I talked to him. "We have a plague of little fish over here right now. It's not been uncommon to catch two hundred in a day, but the percentage of keepers is weak. Best bite has been on a chartreuse Skitterwalk and a clear glitter/chartreuse Sand Eel. And you better have a trolling motor, too, because the pattern has been birds and controlled drifts in other areas with reefs. I burned up my trolling motor one day, but the guys with Gulf Coast Trolling Motors over at Fishing Tackle Unlimited bailed me out in a hurry. They are good people!" He says he's ready for the shrimp to flush out of the bay. "Once these shrimp are gone, we'll be more consistent on the better trout. The other day, we had one good session on some three to five pound fish, but it's hard to get to them with all these dinks around. In December, we should start to have better luck on some big fish, both wading reefs and muddy pockets and by drifting scattered shell."
Matagorda | Tommy Countz
Bay Guide Service | 979.863.7553
Tommy says that the weather has been a little funky in the Matagorda area this fall, making for some tougher than normal excursions. "We have some birds working over here right now, but we're still not at the peak of the activity. We've had a lot of stronger than normal east winds, and just a lot of wind in general, so it's been hard to stay with the flocks and the water's been off color quite a bit too." He expects the remainder of November and December to be better. "We still have a lot of shrimp in the bay, and as the water cools even more, it will hold its clarity a little better when the wind blows. We'll be fishing East Bay shorelines some in December, wading muddy guts with mullet plugs, Corkies and large Sand Eels for big trout. When the tide is real low, I like West Bay for redfish better. The few deep guts in the coves over there really stack up with fish when the tide is blown way out. The Colorado River can be good in December also, as long as it's not too fresh. Some years, we catch more fish in the river than in either bay, including some of our biggest trout."
Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com | 979.240.8204
Fishing continues to be good in our area. Cooler temperatures have bait fish migrating and working flocks of birds over reds and trout have made for some exciting fishing. The best producing lures under the birds have been dark tails such as Texas Redkillers in plumkin, plumtreuse, and red shad rigged on quarter ounce leadheads. The best topwater plug has been green/chrome ShePup and tiny trout Superspook Jr. Redfish action has been unbelievable. The old spottails have been schooled up in back bays, chasing shrimp under birds and they've been annihilating topwaters. Bone Skitterwalks and chartreuse TopDogs have been the reds' favorites. The size of both the trout (eighteen to twenty four inches) and reds (twenty four to twenty seven inches) has been consistently awesome. December fishing hot spots should include the deep shell pads off Palacios Point and the entire seawall area from Grassy Point to Spree's Corner. Top lures should be Corky Fatboys in pearl/chartreuse, glow, and pearl/black.
Port O'Connor | Lynn Smith | Back Bay Guide Service | 361.983.4434
Lynn says the action on both trout and redfish has been good lately in POC. "We have been catching lots of fish on the shorelines. The reds have schooled up nicely and are aggressive. We've been able to find them tailing on most trips. They are running a nice average size, with good numbers stretching toward the upper end of the slot. They have been liking the topwaters too. The trout have been of good size also, with decent numbers up to twenty two and twenty three inches. The best way to catch them lately seems to be with dark soft plastics, particularly plum/chartreuse and red/white ones." In December, he plans to focus more on shallow mud flats adjacent to deep open waters. "We'll switch over to more slow sinking plugs in December, throwing lots of Corkies and Catch V's and 2000s. Also, we will typically leave the dock a little later and fish into the afternoon. On lots of days, we'll see the action pick up on those shallow flats after the suns heat them up all morning."
Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service | 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake reports that the season for cast and blast trips is off to a loud and productive start. "We have tons of ducks in our marsh back lakes right now. I am using the airboat and hunting early, then fishing my way out. The redfish are not too hard to find on most days, though with the high tides we had last month, even in the shallowest lakes, it can be a bit of a challenge. Throughout December, I'll be roaming the same lakes on St. Joe Island, frequenting the blinds and muddy holes in the far corners of the marsh." He mentions that he sometimes finds the reds stacked in the deepest, muddiest parts of the marsh in December, especially if the weather's cold. "This is the time of the year when I start to use Corkies more. I like the pearl/chartreuse one on the nicer days, and the purple/white one when we have a darker sky or off-colored water. Of course, the old standby at the start of winter will still be the purple/chartreuse and pumpkin/chartreuse SandEels. Those and a box of steel shot shells!"
Padre Island National Seashore
Billy Sandifer | Padre Island Safaris | 361.937.8446
There is excellent potential for surf fishing every year during December and in this atypical year the chances for good catches are greater than normal. As of early November, our annual fall run of a wide variety of game fishes continues in a "stop and go" fashion at best and some species have not yet appeared at all. Large masses of large Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle may well be feeding in the surf zone through mid December. Good numbers of slot and oversized bull reds are expected. Pompano should delight bottom fishers using fresh, peeled dead shrimp and the whiting which moved offshore at the onset of the red tide event should start moving back in. It will be interesting to see if there is a return of our traditional winter speckled trout fishery on 51M Mirrolures this month as water temps drop. Trout populations locally seem to have been "re-writing the book" all year and the winter surf could well be included as a chapter in that book. Beware of periods of NE winds as they push up the tide and make driving the beach difficult.
Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata | [email protected] | 361.563.1160
The cold fronts have not cooled the water enough to move the fish into deeper water yet. The water temperatures are favorable for fish to roam around in three feet of water or less. I've been targeting two and a half feet of water or less and much of the time less than eighteen inches. I've been looking for bait fish in clear to semi-clear water. Then I'm drifting or wading while looking for trout, reds or black drum. Sight casting has been the game since the beginning of September, and it's been absolutely great! The redfish and black drum have been in less than eighteen inches of water and the trout have been slightly deeper water (two-three feet), with redfish mixed in as well. In areas where there's not too much floating grass, I've been using bone colored Top Dog Jrs. and She Dogs and the trout and redfish have been tearing them up! Many of the trout have been between eighteen and twenty three inches, with quite a few being over twenty five. In the shallower water, the reds and drum have been hitting pearl colored Exude RT Slugs and Gulp Shrimp.
Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez www.sightcast1.com | 361.937.5961
Joe says that he's been catching some fish in various locations lately, but that the catching has not been as hot as earlier in the year. "A couple more cold fronts would probably perk things up some," he says. "There are some fish up shallow, on the King Ranch Shoreline and in the front of Baffin too. We have caught some quality fish on some recent outings, especially on the days when the floating grass allows us to use our TopDogs more of the time. I'll continue fishing across from Bird Island some as we get into December, and also put in some more time in the front of Baffin and in the Meadows." Fronts in this area tend to blow clear water from the Laguna into the mouth of Baffin. "When the north wind blows the tide in, the mouth of Baffin can get really good in late fall and early winter. You'll see some big trout coming up onto those muddy flats in that area. As we get closer to Christmas and the start of winter, they can really stack up around there. I'll be chunking Exudes at them when they do."
Port Mansfield | Bruce & Brandon Shuler
GetAway Adventures Lodge | 956.944.4000
Bruce reports that the fish in the Mansfield area are already moving into areas that normally are populated a little later in the year. "We are already seeing trout over solid grass on the east side where we normally don't find them until December. There is a lot of bait in the bay compared with recent years and the fishing is set up to be outstanding this winter. We will be looking for our big trout this month in the drains that run from the deepest holes into shallow backwater areas. Those that have a muddy bottom and some dark grass will be best. We like to throw the Corkies, Catch V's and 2000s at 'em this time of year. Topwaters, too, of course, on the warmer days. We will be fishing what we call "gentleman's hours", leaving the dock after a daylight breakfast and staying on the water a little later into the afternoon." Offshore fishing continues outstanding, he reports. "We'll see some bigger snapper up shallow when it gets cold. Look for some impressive catches to be made offshore in December, on both conventional tackle and on flies."
Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Janie and Fred Petty | www.fishingwithpettys.com | 956.943.2747
Tailing reds and oversized snook--fishing doesn't get any better than this! Welcome to winter fishing on the Lower Laguna Madre. With the time change, we're leaving the dock an hour earlier, which gives us a nice head start on the daybreak bite. You've got to love this season, with its northers blowing through and riling fish into a frenzy of feasting. We're limiting in a few hours then turning back as many reds as we can for the rest of the day. Then for a couple of days after the passage of the front, the fish are stuffed and don't eat much. Gulps are working great, but the way fish bite during the peak of each norther, you could throw plastics or spoons with the same success. A 32 inch snook inhaled a new penny Berkley Gulp 3-inch shrimp pulled quickly on top behind a red Mansfield Mauler. Freddy says, "The bay grasses will begin to go dormant and the water temps will drop, and we'll be hunting big trout and reds, working our lures slowly, in holes that are about 18 to 20 inches deep for the rest of the winter."