Winter Fishing In Gulf Water   by Capt. Mike Scott

The bad thing about winter fishing is that it can be cold, wet and uncomfortable.  This shouldn’t keep the avid fisherman from making his catch.  A plus in wintertime is that when you find fish they will be huddled together and rather sluggish.  The cold nature fish slow down when the winter temperature drops.  The colder it is the slower they bite.  They are slow to swallow what you throw at them, which brings up a point.  What should you use for bait, if not using artificial. 

     A good rule is the colder it gets the softer the bait.  This is due to what I call ‘sore mouth’.  The fish act as though they have sore mouths and will hit soft bait such as peeled shrimp, piggies, peeled perch (removing the top fin) and mullet.  Mullet are basically ready to go since they are very smooth and streamline.  Peeled shrimp pieces are great when it is really cold in deeper water.  The fish don’t want to work any harder than you or I would in 30-degree water.

Captain Mike Scott is a retired Texas Gulf fishing guide and commercial fisherman.  As Mike puts it "I have probably lost more fish than most people have caught."  Please feel free to contact Mike for any fishing questions through AlphaLane or by using his site email in our search page.  Use Mike's CID which is 119 or simply search on category 'fishing'.