Winter Fishing At Amelia

Winter fishermen often look for cold weather when targeting big schools of Amelia Island seatrout. The cold water temperatures of winter, which often run in the low sixties, excite the feeding habits of area seatrout, making the winter season the best time of the year to target these fish.

"Gator" trout which tip the scales at six pounds or better are often found at deep water fish havens that adjoin shallow water structures. Many of these productive structures include oyster bars, jetty rocks, docks, broken pilings, sand bars and rocky bottoms.

Look for the best action for big schools of winter specks to come during the last of the outgoing tide and all of the incoming tide. Also, your key to great speck fishing often lies in finding clear water. When stained or muddy conditions exist, try to find a nearby seatrout structure that has clear water conditions.

The most popular catches during Amelia's winter fishing season are redfish (above) and seatrout
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Fishing with live shrimp and a seatrout float is by far the most productive tactic for hooking into a great catch of winter seatrout. Here, the live shrimp is barbed with a #4 kahle hook just in front of the dark spot, which is located right on top of the shrimp's head. Adjust the trout float so that your shrimp floats just off from the bottom. This is a great fishing tactic when the seatrout are holding in water depths of five to thirty feet.

When winter seatrout are holding in depths of less than five feet, a live shrimp is rigged some 18 inches under a popping cork. Here, the popping cork is cast into the shallow water structure and popped very loudly in hopes of attracting a nearby seatrout.

Lures are also very effective when targeting winter seatrout. When the trout are holding deep, try a 1/4-oz. led head jig with a plastic tail. Some of the more productive tail colors include white, pink, chartreuse, motor oil and white with a red tail. Led head jigs can also become very deadly seatrout lures when tipped with dead shrimp, live shrimp, bullhead minnows or finger mullet. Other popular deep-water seatrout lures include the Mirror Lure, Rattlin Flash and the Count Down Rapala.

Seatrout can be taken with live bait,
plug casting or fly casting.
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When the seatrout are working the shallows, try a top-water plug for some exciting fishing action. Top-water plugs that make a loud popping noise are often the most productive, including the Pop-R, Johnny Rattler, Devil's Horse and the Chug-A-Bug. If the water is dead calm, try a Heddon Zara Spook.

Although northeast Florida seatrout are off limits during the months of December, January and February, they are still great fun to catch. Be sure and remove the barbs on your hooks so that you can release your seatrout unharmed. The local seatrout season opens again on March 1, 1999, where fishermen can keep up to five seatrout per day. The seatrout must measure at least 15 inches in length and fishermen may keep one seatrout that measures over 24 inches.

The winter season also produces great fishing action for redfish, flounder and blues.

All of these species can be caught with the same fishing tactics and in the same locations as mentioned earlier regarding seatrout.

Offshore fishing during the winter produces excellent action for black sea bass, grouper and red snapper while fishing the many nearby sunken wrecks, rock ledges and man-made reefs. Most of these offshore structures are located from 10 to 25 miles from the mouth of the St. Marys inlet and all are marked with latitude and longitude headings on local offshore fishing charts. Look for the best action to come while fishing right on the bottom with fresh local squid, dead cigar minnows or cut bait.

Fishing action at northeast Florida's Gulf Stream often slows down during the cooler months of winter. However, great wahoo action can be enjoyed by trolling deep with planers, downriggers, trolling weights or wire lines. Some of the better wahoo baits include large ballyhoo, the C & H "Wahoo Whacker," Flame and the "Islander." One of the best lure colors is red and black.

The inland waters of the St. Mary's and Nassau
river systems produce excellent bass fishing.
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Surf fishing is excellent during the winter months for beach whiting. Fishing right on the bottom with a small piece of fresh shrimp is definitely the key to hooking up to this great fishing action. Look for blues, reds, flounder and seatrout to run in the surf as well.

Bass fishing in local freshwater streams including Boggy, Mills, Lofton, St. Marys, the Little St. Marys and Plumbers often produce great fishing action during the last of the outgoing and the first of the incoming tide. Casting a white spinner bait or minnow-type plug works best here. Stripers weighing up to 10 pounds are common catches in these streams, too.

Crabbing is also excellent during the winter months. Fish right on the bottom with a chicken neck that is tied to a small string and a two-oz. weight. When a slight tug is felt, bring the blue crab right up to the surface and net. For great eating, boil your catch in a pot of water with crab boil seasoning added.

Non-Florida residents will need a saltwater fishing license when fishing or crabbing from land or boats. For more fishing and charter information, call the Amelia Angler at (904) 321-5090.