Anglers have options, despite cold weather: Cold weather, high winds and rain have been conspiring against Suncoast anglers, leaving them with nothing to do but wait it out.
Some tackle shops and the public fishing piers shut down during the worst of it over the past week, and offshore boats have been snug at their docks. It just hasn't been fishin' weather, to say the least.
Still, there are a few opportunities to get out and stretch a line.
The residential canals along the coast are a favorite safe harbor for fish looking to avoid the chilly waters of the open Gulf.
The deep water refuge provides warmth, and as fry and other food on which the fish feed have the same idea, they won't go hungry.
Prime spots to target are sea walls, where the sun's heat is soaked up and stored, even after dark.
Springs, which can be spotted early in the morning by steam rising from the water's surface, offer another target, as the ground water entering is warmer than the water above it.
Canals, backwater bays and bayous along the coast feature these leaks from underground, and can provide unusually good fishing action during cold weather.
While deep water offers warmth, it doesn't mean you have to rule out the backwater shallows. Some of the best fishing in the cold comes during the middle of the day, when the sun is high and warms the black bottom of shallow bays. Fish will venture out to sun and absorb some of the heat retained by the dark bottom. It's a favorite habitat for cold snook.
Another approach to finding fish now is moving up rivers, perhaps farther than would seem necessary. Redfish and snook tolerate fresh water very well, and finding them well above the Main Street bridge on the Cotee River or above U.S. 19 on the Anclote River is a good bet.
A favorite technique for both is to slow troll plugs near the bottom, a tactic particularly effective at night.
The fish are cold and their slower metabolism normally has them moving slowly and feeding less aggressively. There is, however, something about a trolled plug that helps them find their reserves as they attack plugs viciously.
Other cold-water options include targeting the "tourist" fish. Silver trout and whiting are tolerant of cold water and are a favorite of Gulf pier anglers during the winter. They don't get very big, but often are caught in great numbers when the bite is on.
They are not picky eaters, and will take live or frozen shrimp fished on the bottom. A favorite artificial bait is a tandem-rigged jigs, which use two lead jigs with soft plastic tails rigged a few inches a apart. There is something about the double offering that turns both species on.
Sheepshead are another cold-water species, and they readily take shrimp or frozen sand fleas of fiddler crabs fished on the bottom around pilings and rocks.
Redfish also are hardy in the cold, and are among the last fish to head for backwaters when temperatures drop. A day or two of sunshine, and it's not unusual to find them on the open, near-shore flats.
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