Cold Weather, Hot Fishing- 1/17/24 Report

I absolutely love this time of year. The frigid mornings are a deterrent to many, but for me, it warms to my core knowing what potential lies out on the water. Besides the fact that there are less people fishing, many of my best days of fishing started when the thermometer was in the teens and twenties. Today was no different.

Merriel and I launched our kayaks around 9 AM, a late start for sure. As we dragged our kayaks down a steep bank, the ground crunched beneath our feet from ice that had formed overnight. The air temperature was hovering around 28 degrees Fahrenheit and not project to go over 35 degrees. As we launched, my Lowrance Hook 7 read the water temperature at a frigid 48 degrees. We headed out towards open water where we would target steep mud and shell drop-offs.

Once we got to where we wanted to go, I immediately noticed that the water temps were still falling. 48. 47. 46. 45. The open waters will generally have cooler temperatures, but this was drastic. Taking note of this, we started working the drop-off in hopes of finding schooled-up fish. It didn’t take long.

Using a chartreuse/ black Saltwater Assassin on a 1/4th oz jighead, I slowly rolled the bait down the drop-off. every so often, I would lift the rod tip just a bit, before giving it a slight twitch and letting the bait drift back down. As I carefully watched my line, I saw it jump and I gave a quick hookset. The rod bent over and my drag peeled off on a run. Fish on. The fish made a beeline for the deeper part of the channel and I did my best to bring it up from the depths. A few headshakes gave me glimpses of a monster trout. However, after a few runs which I can only describe as bulldog-ish, I figured I had a nice mid-slot red on. Sure enough, as the fish got closer to the surface, the cold seemingly sapped all the energy from the fish and she came up. It was a nice and healthy red. After a few pics, she was released for another day. Merriel soon got on the reds as well. We ended up catching a few working this mud and shell drop-off. However, we really wanted to find some trout. After some discussion, and taking into consideration that the water was warmer upstream, we left the redfish bite for a bigger prize- a gator trout.

We went on our way upstream and passed our launch location. From here, the water temps started creeping up. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. We were going the right way. We soon came to where we wanted to go. A back inlet that went from around 10 feet in depth to around 15+. A positive sign was that there was much more bait activity present. Bait was flickering on occasion and the Lowrance was lit up like a Christmas tree. On the screen, there were swarms of bait with solid marks underneath and in the bait balls, a sure sign of predators feeding on their prey. We positioned ourselves so that we were near the banks and working essentially in the middle of the deepest parts, and were rewarded with some good trout.

We would cast out and wait for our bait to sink to the bottom. In hindsight, I should have used something heavier than a 1/4th oz jighead, but that’s a lesson for another day. On occasion, you would get a bone-jarring strike. Other times, the bite was subtle and almost undetectable. More than a few times, I would lift the rod tip and find some weight at the end of the line. Merriel and I ended up working the area for hours, catching our share of trout. I would love to regail you of how we ended up catching 20-plus inch trout that were mixed in with 7.5 pounders. However, that wasn’t what happened. All of the trout were 16 to 17 inches with a couple of 20 inches mixed in (all caught by Merriel). I, on the other hand, went toe to toe with a massive alligator gar.

As I was popping the bait off the floor, I saw the line jump and move away. I gave an immediate hookset and my rod literally doubled over. This has to be a big black drum or redfish. The first big run made me think big red even more. Then the bubbles came up. And from the depths came up a big alligator gar. Well, big enough for me. Alligator gar can get up to around 300 pounds. This one however was probably in the 20lb range. Most fish kind of gave up once they reached the surface. This gar didn’t. Instead, it took a big gulp of air and jumped out of the water like it was a tarpon. A cool experience from a kayak. After a few powerful runs, and a few pics by me, I managed to do a quick release and saw it swim away back to feast on the bait around us.

All in all, it was as good day on the water. No big trout, but we were definitely in the right area. We’ll get them next time.