Folks this winter will not give up with out a fight, right when it looks like its going to get warmer; we get snow and nasty cold weather! So what are we going to do if we live to fish; of course GO Fishing on the ‘right’ days! With this winter being cold and last winter not any better, I’ve found you can catch fish but you just have got to go on the right days. So you ask what are the right days? Warmer, sunnier and lighter wind days are your best shot to catch fish this time of year. Any thing that will give you an advantage when it’s cold out side, here are a few winter fish that can get you through the cold winter of fishing.
If you like to chase Red’s the Redfishing in the winter can be some of the best of the year for catching numbers of fish; the deal breaker for this fishery is you have got to good weather, clam seas and bright sunny skies. I use Berkley Gulp Ripple Mullet in colors Pearl/chart tail, New Penny and Rootbeer gold/chart tail; also the Berkley Gulp 5” and 6” Jerkshad work well too, when looking for surf Red schools. Work these baits slowly in front of the Redfish schools not right through the school, all this will do is spook the Reds and will make it very hard to catch them. Don’t count out a Reds inshore this time of year, look for Reds on dark color (black, brown) mud flats. The Reds love to get on these flats to warm up a bit when it gets cold.
Cape Fear River Striped Bass are not the easiest winter fish to catch but they will bite right through the winter, the colder it gets the harder they are to catch. Taking your time and fishing hard you can catch Cape Fear River Striped Bass. Here is a few ways to put a CFR Striper on your line. Try Berkley Gulp and Powerbait Jerkshad in 5’ size; in pearl & new penny colors. Work these baits slowly and always rig them weed-less; there are many hangs in the Cape Fear River. Look for Stripers on drop-offs, dock pilings and reed-grass lines.
Fishing gear I use:
Gear used: Redfish and Striped Bass: reels Penn Conquer 2000 and Battle 2000 & 3000 spinning reels. *New Rod Line I’m using: Fenwick HMG GS 70M-MF for Redfish and Striped Bass. Line: Spiderwire Ultracast ten and fifth teen pound. Fluorocarbon leader material, Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon in tints Gunsmoke for clearer waters and Tannic for river or stained waters in thirty pound for Redfish and Striped Bass.
In other fishing news; it’s boat show and fishing seminar/school season. Here are some of the shows I plan to speck at or appear at.
It was good to see everyone at the NC Bass and Saltwater Boat Show and Expo this last weekend. This was a great Expo and there were a lot of people there this year. Those of you how came to one of my seminars, thanks for dropping in and if you have any follow up questions about any thing I spoke about; feel free to e-mail the question at captainjot@yahoo.com
January 18, 2011 – Bass Pro Shop in Charlotte, NC I will have a seminar at 7:30pm on Tuesday night; I’ll be speaking on Speckled trout, Redfish and Cape Fear River Striped Bass. If you live in the Charlotte area come on by that night.
January 29th 2011 – Saltwater Sportsman National Seminar Series. BRUNSWICK COMMUNITY COLLEGE-Odell Williamson Auditorium. www.nationalseminarseries.com I’ll be there with Penn Fishing tackle showing all the new Rods and Reels from Penn.
February 4th, 5th and 6th, 2011 – Raleigh Convention Center Boat Show – Raleigh, NC. www.raleighconvention.com/boatshow/ This is a great show with lots of the “top of the line” boats form around the world. I’ll be there with other Ranger Pro’s to show you all the great benefits to the Ranger Saltwater line of boats.
February 12th Fisherman’s Post 6th Annual Saltwater Fishing school. www.fishermanspost.com/fishing-school I look forward to this school, I’ve wanted to participate in this school in the past but my winter schedule did not allow me to. I’ve herd many good things about this school in the past. There will be more than twelve local captains at this year school to help you learn all there is to know about any kind of local saltwater fishing.
February 19th, 2010-Cape Fear Christian Sportsman Fish Fest. www.capefearsportsmen.org/fishfest This is a great free event! I’ll be speaking on two topics this year; Cape Fear River Striped Bass fishing and my very popular MirrOlures with success seminar.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you at a boat show or fishing seminar this winter; please come by and say hello.
Captain Jot Owens
Ranger Boats Pro Staff
Penn Reels Elite Staff
www.captainjot.com
910-233-4139