Special to the Eagle Jack Ozalle of Matlacha braved the cold weather to land this nice sheepshead. He was fishing in Matlacha Pass with Captain Bill Russell.

Sea trout is the most popular saltwater game fish in the state of Florida and season opened up again for them the first day of the year. It’s a day that both resident and seasonal anglers eagerly anticipate, however a strong bout of cold temperatures kept most anglers confined to watching football in the warmth of their homes. Forecasts are for a cold week so it might be a few days before the diehard fishermen get cabin fever and venture out into the cold.

The last few days of closed season brought good action on catch and release trout in Pine Island Sound. Captain Gary Clark reports good action on trout the first couple hours of the rising tide. He was fishing four to six foot deep potholes between Flamingo Bay and Galt Island in the lower Sound and also over the deeper grass flats inside the Sanibel Causeway. Fish were averaging 14 to 18 inches and were biting shrimp under a cork and soft plastics in white and pearl colors. Ladyfish and a couple pompano were also caught. Captain Clark also reports good redfish action during the early morning low tides while fishing the deeper creeks along the Sound side of Sanibel Island. These were smaller fish up to 18 inches but they provided constant action when free-lining live shrimp through the deeper cuts. Several sheepsheads were also caught with the reds.

Also in the Sound, Captain Shawn McQuade reports a good trout bite before the first of the year. He was fishing sand potholes south of Demere Key and boated fish up to 22 inches. Every hole did not hold fish, but poling the boat and fishing each hole resulted in several stops with six to eight larger fish. He also reports catching a few upper slot redfish and one large sheepshead while working the sand bar edges in the same area on the rising water.

In the northern Sound, Captain Cliff Simer found refuge along an island on one of the colder mornings and had a good bite with a variety of fish. Fishing with live shrimp his party caught several snook, sheepsheads, mangrove snapper, black drum and grouper. The bite was pretty steady over the first hour of the incoming tide. He also reports a couple Spanish mackerel near Oyster Shoals north of Bokeelia caught on shrimp under bobbers.

On my boat we got our first dose of cold weather fishing as we switched from live shiners and pinfish to shrimp. The fish we catch usually don’t average as large as when we are live baiting but the action can be very good. We fished south Matlacha Pass one day and caught a lot of fish, not a big variety only redfish and sheepsheads, but a lot of them. A couple stops the redfish bite was non-stop, the only problem was they were all less than 18 inches. Still a lot of fun as long as your heart is not set on a redfish dinner. We did however boat enough nice sheepsheads for a good fish dinner.

The next day we ventured to north Pine Island Sound. We had a couple young boys on board and were looking for action not food. We found good action with sheepsheads, grouper and snapper while fishing shrimp over submerged piles of debris. A good number of the sheepsheads and snapper were legal size and the largest grouper was about 20 inches, but we had a lot of double and triple hook-ups.

Like a fool, we attempted to fish New Year’s Day and got about an hour of fishing in the books before the rains came. The morning started good, we boated snook on the first two casts then a redfish shortly after followed by a trout. Once the bite died off we began idling to another Island when the weather took a turn for the worst. After waiting about a half hour to see if it was going to blow over we decided we had had enough. Luckily we stayed close to home due to the uncertainty of the weather so it was a short but wet idle back to the house.

Jim at Seven Seas Bait and Tackle reports some really big sheepsheads caught under the bridges in Matlacha as well as a few nice trout. The trout on shrimp under popping corks and the sheepsheads on small shrimp fished on bottom near pilings.

Some good grouper were reported offshore ahead of the north winds. Gag and red grouper as large as 20 pounds were caught in 65 to 75 feet of water west of Captiva Pass. Large Butterfly jigs (5-7 ounces) and hand-sized live pinfish took the bigger fish.

With the cooler temperatures the fish are on the move, for trout look for them in areas where they are protected from the cold north winds. My favorite areas are holes with deeper water than the surrounding areas. This could be around oyster bars, potholes, canals and cuts between Islands and shorelines. Generally when the water is cold they will be most active during the warmest part of the day, so there is no need to be the first one on the water. And probably most important, whether you are using shrimp or artificial, get the bait to the bottom and work it very slow. The colder the water the slower their metabolism is going to be so you need to make it an easy meal for them to catch.

If there is one positive to trout fishing when it’s cold they should be easy to locate. With the extreme low tides and limited areas of deep protected waters they should be stacked up when you find them. Sometimes that holds true and sometimes I don’t know where the heck they all go!

If you have a fishing story or photo that you would like to share or for charter information, please contact us at 283-7960 or www.fishpineisland.com. “Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell.

Have a safe week and good fishin’.