Best place to land Redfish in January

It's winter time again and the the fish are on their normal winter pattern and they are hanging in the usual spots. Most of the fish caught are in shallow water next to drop offs. Usually this time of the year they will stage in the deeper water at night and move up shallow when the sun warms the water. Just about any bait you want to throw has been working including soft plastics, but the most productive bait has been mullet. Trout fishing has also improved considerably while wade fishing the sharp breaks, mud/grass and scattered shell bottoms while throwing soft plastics. Topwaters have been productive when we have some strong incoming tides and nervous mullet. Live shrimp has been producing trout when fished under a popping cork over the reefs up in our northern territory. January at Oil Field Channels GPS 27' 46.52'LAT / 97' 8.22' LON have been an Excellent month for Speck's and Good for Red's check it out and let me know how it was please comment.

Popping Cork Technique

This is a technique I was taught for catchings Reds and Trouts alike!

Small plastic beads are commonly used with a popping cork rig. They are attached to a short, stiff wire that passes through the cork, above and below the cork. The beads add a "clacking" that imitates the sound shrimp make when snapping their backs to quickly flee a predator.


EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUE

A sturdy rod with enough backbone to control casting the rig, but not so heavy that casting and tugging repeatedly wears you out, makes a good combination. A light- or medium-weight 7-foot graphite rod is sufficient.

Keep the rod tip up with the line out of the water, so as not to rip it across the surface when giving the cork a pop. Also, keeping excess slack out of the line allows you to quickly set the hook when the cork goes under.

 More often than not when fishing in salt water, there is a wind blowing and you will have a "belly" in your line. Just keep taking in slack and after you give the rod a few jerks to pop the cork, you should get a feel forhow much "belly" you can handle and what it takes to set the hook when needed.

Experiment with the cadence of jerking the popping cork. Fish generally take the bait while the cork is sitting still, but a consistent rhythm of tugging the bait keeps it chugging and getting noticed. Popping the cork too often can scare the fish away. The rhythm may vary from a pop every five seconds or so to one tug every 30 seconds, depending on conditions.


In deeper or choppy water, you can be more aggressive with the tug in strength and frequency, giving it a sharp pull every few seconds. In very shallow and calm water, a more conservative approach works better. Give the smaller-sized cork a lighter tug and less often. A light pop every 30 seconds or so may be all that's needed in order to not spook the fish.


Watch that the cork floats freely and upright. A cork leaning to one side is either tangled up in the line or hung up on the bottom. Give it a tug to free it.


BEST BAITS
By far, shrimp are the most common bait used on a popping cork. There are not many situations where a shrimp won't attract a speckled trout or a redfish. In fact, if you aren't getting bites with a live shrimp, then it may be time to try another spot or even another day. If the only bait you use is shrimp, you are likely to catch plenty of fish.


On days where the water is stained or your live shrimp aren't producing bites, try pinching the heads to release more scent into the water. This helps the trout or reds to home in on your offering.


There can be a downside to shrimp, however. If the area you are fishing is loaded with pinfish or other nuisance species, then they can get to your shrimp before the trout and reds do. Soft, artificial shrimp imitations, such as Berkley Gulp!, can work just as well. They hold up better to the pecking of the smaller baitfish and allow the bait to remain in the water long enough for a bigger fish to take hold.

Small pinfish and scaled sardines or "whitebait" also work well under a cork. Hook minnows behind the pectoral fin so they stay low in the water.

A jig or a spoon can even be used under a sliding cork rig. Once a trout or red is attracted to the popping sound, it can be fooled into attacking what appears to be a minnow escaping into the grass. A falling lure may draw an impulse strike from a fish that isn't necessarily feeding.

Keeping an attentive eye on the cork is still required at all times. The cork is your indicator of when you have a bite. You almost never feel the fish until you pull up hard setting the hook.

Fishing Trip March 2010

Port Aransas, Texas Fishing Trip 03-13-2010 

The fishing trip my son and I took last March to Port Aransas, Texas with my friend Capt. Scott Haberman was very productive. As you can see by the photos we did very well with the fish we caught. The weather was very sunny, temp about 74 degrees and a 5-10 mph wind. There were 4 of us on this trip, Scott ,Johnny, Aaron my son and I. We were on Scotts boat (the Flats Dragon) shallow drafting boat, fishing with light freshwater tackle spinning reels and using a popping cork with live shrimp. The bite was off for the first half of the day, water was leaving the flats but once the water started to return in the flats the bite was on. We were fishing other side of Redfish Bay east of lighthouse. The small cut we were in started producing rat reds (under 20 in length) for an hour or so, we must have caught 20 of them. Then my son Aaron caught a 22-3/4 keeper Red, then caught a 23" and them minutes later caught the largest of the day Red of 25-3/4 length. Right after Aarons big red I caught a 28" Speckled Trout. It was a great fish, so good I brought it back and got it mounted. If you want to have a great fishing trip look up Scott Haberman out of Holiday Beach Texas for your guide.