The winter season is upon us here in Southwest Florida.  This can be a great time of year to fish from the kayak. During the winter months we deal with cold fronts, negative low tides, windy days and cold water temperatures. These conditions can be tough, and I wanted to share my thoughts on a few techniques, lure choices and the best times to be on the water for the top four targeted species in my region - snook, redfish, speckled (or spotted) trout, and flounder.

For my last kayak fishing trip of 2011,I made the decision to go to a location that I hadn’t visited in quite some time. This New Year’s Eve trip would serve two purposes: finishing off a great year, and hopefully giving me some content for my next magazine article. I made the some calls and rounded up the usual suspects. Chris and Tom would be there, and I would pick Greg up along the way. As we drove over the Skyway Bridge enroute to Fort DeSoto, we could tell it was going to be a good morning. Flat calm conditions greeted us at the launch. We were soon on the water, casting Heddon “Super Spook, Jr.” topwaters into schools of mullet, looking for redfish.

Well, the chaos of another Christmas is behind me, and I decided to do something I rarely get to do... TAKE A WEEKDAY OFF TO GET IN THE KAYAK AND GO BASS FISHING!!!!

It was absolutely gorgeous here Christmas day and I drooled all day at the prospects of hitting the water. 58 degrees, bright sunshine, and no wind - perfect! Unfortunately, it wasn't as nice Monday. I wanted to try a new bait, however, and didn't have any loads booked to haul until Tuesday night. There was no way I was staying off the water. Another layer of fleece under the dry top and waders, and to the river I went.

As in most of my kayak fishing trips I had a hard time sleeping the night before, so I spent some time going over my gear to make sure everything was in good working order and packing my tackle bag with the items I would need for the next day’s trip. The person joining me on this trip was someone who I enjoy spending time with on the water more than anyone else and who introduced me to fishing some thirty years ago my Dad!

After my last two dismal trips, I wasn’t sure if I should answer the phone when my buddies Walt and Greg called me. After all, they were the administrators of the beat downs I got fishing with them last. I figured “What the heck, at least I could get some good pictures if this trend continues”. So as we all met at the launch, we were met by another friend of mine, Chris, who has also recently put me to task while fishing.

Ok, so I took some liberties with the title, but like the movie, I’m haunted by waters. I want to know what’s around the next bend in the mangroves, that hidden pond in the back country, or up the river I used to fish when I was a younger man. So when my buddy Walt called me and said “Let’s go see if they are biting up the river”, I jumped at the chance. This time of year the snook head up the rivers in search of warmer water, so this would be a perfect opportunity to see how well they are making a comeback after our terrible winter of a few years ago.

Now that we are squarely in the shadow of an all-too-rapidly approaching winter, I’ve been re-evaluating my “go-to” baits and reorganizing for colder conditions.  After all, it doesn’t make sense to be clinging to my larger or faster baits when we know the fish are much less active.  That’s not to say I won’t throw a 6” worm if nothing else is working, but as a general rule, my tackle is much smaller for this time of year. 

What do these four things have in common? Well...I don't know because i'm just a dumb kayak fisherman...not a philosopher  

Thanks to a fellow winco's pro-staffer I located a "new to me" warm water discharge and hit the Susquehanna River this past Saturday in search of smallmouth bass.

I got an email a while ago from Yakangler reader, Greg Becker.  Greg had just moved into the same area as me, and it seems he has the same problem as me.  He was bitten by the kayak angling bug.  Being a transplant from up north, Greg wanted to know if he could tag along and pick up a few pointers from me.  After several attempts we finally got our schedules to mesh and met up bright and early at the local park. 

If we're going to be honest about it, fishing in the winter isn't always the most pleasant activity. It can be cold, windy and sometimes getting the fish to cooperate can be frustrating. But just because the calendar has been flipped to "winter" doesn't mean that you should store the kayak and resign yourself to hanging lights and watching football.