Special to the Eagle Fishing on one of the coldest days of the week Marty Farries of Pine island found a few sheepsheads still hungry. He was fishing in Matlacha Pass with Captain Bill Russell.

I don’t care who you are or where you are from, but you have to agree it’s been a flat out cold week in Southwest Florida. Fishing reports were at a minimum and that’s probably a good thing as many of our native species are stunned from the cold and are better off left alone.

It’s funny looking back to my first couple years of guiding professionally, as a Florida boy I did not like the cold at all. Matter of fact if the high for the day was below 80 degrees I would encourage cancelling the trip. I quickly came to the realization that my definition of cold was far different than those visiting from the north. I would hear comments like “What are you talking about this is the warmest weather we have seen in three months” when I would call the day before to discourage the trip. While I was bundled up with every ounce of cold weather clothes I own they would show up on the dock in shorts and a cooler of beer. It took about two years to adapt and now I always let the customer make the call that it’s too cold for them to fish.

Now, I actually enjoy cold weather fishing, but this week was the exception. I had three charters scheduled and all three of my clients decided it was too cold for them and I had to agree, it was uncomfortably cold most of the week. I did fish on one of the coldest days for about three hours and that was enough. We stayed in south Matlacha Pass, semi-protected from the brutal north wind. We actually caught a good number of fish for the conditions, nothing huge (with the exception of a couple big sheepsheads) but a lot of fish. Fishing small live shrimp on a quarter-ounce jig head around oyster bars we caught small (rat reds) redfish, sheepsheads, a couple trout and lots of ladyfish. With the cold weather even the ladyfish were lethargic; they fought like trout, hardly any jumping or hard pulling. After three hours we were chilled to the bone and had had enough.

No doubt the extreme cold has left some damage to our fisheries, it’s a natural occurrence that I can remember happening many times going back through my childhood. Snook are our prized inshore game fish and most affected from the cold. According to the Snook Foundation they can’t survive water temperatures below 58 degrees for very long. They stack up in our canals and anywhere they can find deeper warmer water in protected areas. You will often see them lethargic as they gather in the warmest areas, often near the surface on the dead end of a canal. They may appear near dead, but can bounce back as the water warms. The Snook Foundations encourages anyone who notices fish in distress to leave them alone, don’t harass or try to catch them or make them swim unneeded to avoid your baits. Let them conserve their energy to give them the best chance for survival. If you locate snook dead or in distress from the cold leave them be and please report them to the Snook Foundation at www.snookfoundation.org. Or check out their website for updates on our snooks status.

Let’s hope the damage from the cold is minimal and we will soon get on a warming trend. I don’t mind a few days of cold but so far the start of 2010 has been ridiculous!

If you have a fishing story or photo that you would like to share or for charter information please contact us at (239)-283-7960 or visit us at www.fishpineisland.com. Have a safe week and good fishing’. Call us today and “Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell