By Jimmy Tomazinis
mail@floridanewsline.com
Happy Holidays! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing last year’s report for December. Time flies when you’re having fun! I still feel extremely fortunate to write a few words about fishing for all of you every month. So I’d like to say thank you for reading and it has been so great to hear from readers over the years. A very humbling experience all around. I hope to keep perking up interest in our local fishing for years to come.
As I write this I’m not really sure what kind of December we’re in for. It’s the beginning of November and it’s supposed to be 80 degrees for the next 10 days or more. If that keeps up we might as well be calling this a November report. Until the water temperatures get below 70 degrees a lot of things might stay in limbo. Shrimp will just hang around. Fish won’t transition here or there. It’s just waiting on the consistent cold fronts now. So, unless that happens, I’m going to hold off on specks and bass for now.
If the water temperatures stay above 70, you might as well stick to the river. Catch some shrimp and try for drum around bridges or shell bars. There will be lots of little reds around, maybe even some larger ones. Stripers will still be loving whatever cool down we get, so don’t forget about them. If you can’t catch shrimp, crab or fresh dead shrimp will work for the drum. Artificials like Gulp are also productive for the stripers.
If water temperatures drop below 70 then look for specks moving into area creeks. Bass will be staging at the mouths. That is one of my favorite places to find them with live shrimp. They will go crazy for them this time of year. It makes the work of catching them worth it. I promise. Minnows will catch the specks as always, but don’t forget about a little chartreuse or pink jig. Watch a float go down or feel a thump as a jig sinks? Those are some of the tough choices we have to make. Both are options by the way, so don’t stress too much. All we have to do now is wait and see what the water temperatures are. Tight lines.
