Winter Fishing

If the weather stays mild into January and February, we are going to have one great bout of winter fishing in the LLM. So far the fish are still plentiful and willing to hit. There appears to be a vast number of small summer hatched trout in the deeper part of the LLM. We have found numerous small ( 10-12") trout under vast flocks of birds. These should be close to keeper size by summer.
The redfish are still plentiful on the White Sands area. Topwaters seem to work all day, as do spoons. The top producer is still Gulp under a popping cork. Good numers of solid 17-20" trout are being taken by drifters on Gas Well Flats and north. Lots of fish are still in Rattlesnake, but watch the tides. Rattlesnake can get real shallow. One of my favorite fishing holes in the Holly Beach area is still producing some good size reds and black drum. Mangrove snapper are plentiful in the Brownsville channel. If you can get your hands on live mullet or piggys, take some heavy gear, perferrably 40 -50 lb PowerPro, a good stiff rod, and drop the live baits around the numerous docks, platforms, and rubble in the upper end of the Brownsville turning basin.
Another sure bet for some great redfish is St. Martin lake. You can only fish this vast oyster bed by a small aluminum boat or kayak. Explore it at a low tide in order to locate the channel and all the oyster beds. Then hit it on a strong incoming tide. If it doesn't get cold the big snook should still be around also. Lots of black drum on shrimp or Gulp!