When cupid comes to town in mid-February for the Valentines Day, he generally brings more cold fronts and that can make fishing difficult. Historically the 2 worst months of the year for fishing (and shop sales) are August and February. Both of these months are extremes for water temperatures. August of course is extremely hot, water temps reaching into the mid to upper 90’s and February they can plunge into the mid to upper 50’s. Last February, we had a big run of cold weather and I actually saw water temps in the upper 40’s. We as humans generally don’t like extremes (unless it’s an extremely large chunk of cash that we stumble upon) and just like us, the fish tend to dislike extremes as well. February fishing can get very frustrating because we get through January when there are a couple fronts, potentially, we may see some days with air temps in the upper 70’s to near 80 and then the hammer drops in February. We get the violent frontal line squall that brings strong winds and cold temperatures yet again, further dropping water temperatures to where the fish become lethargic. So, what do we do to get through February…. Of course, if you see a day in February that is calm and somewhat warm, I would say take full advantage and head nearshore or offshore. When the water is cold, you have a better chance to get keeper red grouper closer in as well as the option to catch hog fish and the other nearshore usual suspects like
sheepshead, porgies and of course grunts. Inshore February fishing is where it can get difficult. The best time to fish inshore is on an incoming tide, especially in February. We see those massive winter low tides (which is common for this time of year), so when the water shifts and starts moving in, that is when the fish have a chance to feed. The water is so chilly that the fish will not feed throughout the day, they will find darker bottom areas, sometimes shallow areas, whatever warms up the quickest and they will just park there and warm up.
So, the winter feed is minimal throughout the day. Take advantage of a nice incoming tide in
the later morning to early afternoon if you can find one and give that a try! If you have family in from out of town, a fun thing to do this time of year is fish for bonnet head sharks. They put up a good fight and most people want to say they have caught a shark at least once in their life. Bonnet heads are also a relatively small shark so they are easy to handle and get a good picture. For catching bonnet heads, look for grass flats and sandy bottom, use live or frozen shrimp and toss it out and let it sit on the bottom. When the water is clear, it is easy to sight fish for bonnet heads also. We look forward to helping you get set up with new gear at Palmetto Bait and Tackle.
Stop by to see our selection of rods, reels and terminal tackle or just stop in to say hi!
