Best Saltwater Gamefish to Target in Winter in the South

Fishing during winter often feels more like work than fun, but not every day brings shivering, blustery conditions. In fact, as one year ends and another begins, southern coastal waters frequently yield several decent to downright pleasant winter days.

For anglers, it comes down to this: pick your days and warm up to cold-season fishing.

Remember the painfully clichéd but dead-on accurate principle: Fish gotta eat. Maybe not as much as they do when warmer conditions rev up the metabolism, but rumbling bellies outrank shivering scales.

Not everyone’s onboard with that premise, and winter rarely offers a premium Florida snook bite. Nevertheless, anglers willing to slow down and fish methodically find plenty of southern saltwater fishing opportunities ready to reward their efforts.

INSHORE

Tide changes always matter, but the transition periods can really spark a good winter bite. Also, take advantage of “negative lows”—those periods when outgoing water falls below mean low tide. When a strong north wind pushes the water even lower and restricts the incoming tide, you’ll find isolated troughs and holes — some the size of a house, others a couple of football fields — scattered throughout bays and backwater areas.

During such extreme conditions, those low tide refuges become isolated by shallower areas that often go bone dry. The gamefish trapped within those troughs and holes present a captive audience that offers a great opportunity for waders and/or kayak anglers.

Spotted (“Speckled”) Trout

A year-round inshore target, “specks” typically appear in greater numbers during the cooler months as they gather for their spring spawn. With greater numbers of large, mature fish moving shallow, this is the ideal time to find a legitimate trophy fish.

That being said, a trout of any size is one of the sea’s most underrated predators, as its relatively soft body belies an incredibly aggressive nature. This fact proves impressively true when one of the big “gator” trout (3-plus pounds) unloads on a topwater plug like a MirrOlure She Dog, a Rapala Skitter Walk or a Heddon Saltwater Spook. Focus on deeper holes in canals and creeks, deep cuts next to sandbars and oyster mounds, and grass flats with sand holes that warm up nicely with sunshine. Other productive offerings include slow-sinking twitchbaits, lead head jigs with paddletails, and artificial shrimp under popping corks.

Bonus: The smaller silver trout tend to gang up along beaches during the colder months. Small tandem jig rigs or light fish finder rigs with cut shrimp or squid will keep you busy.

Sheepshead

One of the year’s most eagerly anticipated opportunities, the annual prespawn aggregations position hordes of big heads over shallow rocks and reefs and around bridges and piers. Sheepshead can’t resist chunks of fresh peeled shrimp or freshly shucked oysters, but live fiddler crabs hooked through the corner of their shell consistently tempt the bigger fish. Use braided main line for a quick response to this bait thief’s rapid bite and fish your bait on a dropper rig with an ultra-sharp cutting point hook for quick penetration.

Redfish

One of the most dependable and weather-tolerant species, redfish will roam the grass flats, marsh edges, oyster bars, shallow rocks and mangrove shorelines on stable winter days, while harsher conditions find them tucking under residential docks or hugging deeper bridge and pier pilings during harsher conditions. Reds are suckers for live pinfish, croakers or shrimp under corks, while threading one of those crustaceans onto a jighead makes an effective tool for hopping around any deeper habitat. For open water, a weedless gold spoon is hard to beat.

Mutton Snapper

This one’s kind of an honorable mention, but the fall/winter influx of sizable snapper onto Florida’s Upper Keys patch reefs merits a mention. Especially in the Key Largo/Islamorada area, keeper muttons readily gobble fresh shrimp and sardines but drop a chunk of fresh ballyhoo and it’s game-on.

OFFSHORE

The winter months often bring big winds and rough seas, but between the blows, brief periods of calm conditions allow the waters to settle and regain clarity. The resulting windows of opportunity can offer stellar action.

Gag Grouper

From a sporting standpoint or a table fare priority, this bottom beast is one of the state’s most popular targets. Gotta mind the regulations, but even the ones you have to return are a blast.

Start with dead sardines or squid on fish finder rigs. As the smell chums up the spot, it gets the reef rats buzzing and ultimately attracts the bigger fish. Once the bite starts popping, switch to live pinfish or small grunts on knocker rigs for larger gags.

Off the Florida coasts, specific reef fish regulations apply. See those here. 

Hogfish

This bold and beautiful member of the wrasse clan tends to prefer reef perimeters where a hogfish uses its extended jaws to root around the bottom for mollusks and crustaceans. Savvy anglers fishing live shrimp or fiddler crabs on a high-low rig—dropper hook with a baited jighead below—stand a good chance at boating one of the ocean’s tastiest species. (Note reef fish regulations.)

King Mackerel

Spring and fall typically find these speedy predators chasing bait schools up and down the coast, while the extremes of summer and winter send the kings offshore. Patrolling deep water wrecks, reefs, ledges and rock piles, these voracious predators readily attack a variety of live baitfish, including mullet, sardines, bluefish and the all-time favorite—big blue runners.

A lot of kings are taken on “fly” lines set far behind an anchored boat. Securely set in a stern or T-top holder, this rod stays out of everyone’s bottom-fishing space—until that reel screams and the fire drill begins.

For targeted efforts, slow troll a staggered spread of flat-lined livies, along with one or two downriggers with either a big live bait or a dead ribbonfish. Whatever the bait, wire leaders and stinger rigs (nose hook a treble on a wire trailer) are essential for combating the king’s wicked choppers.

Wahoo

Also found hunting deep hard bottom sites during the winter months, these fierce predators with the pointy snouts and tiger striped flanks will crush most any live bait you drop, but without a stout wire leader, you’re donating tackle. Wahoo won’t hesitate to walk upstairs to hit a surface trolled bait, but the giants tend to favor deep feeding, so troll those livies, as well as big hard baits on downriggers.

Sailfish

November through April finds one of Florida’s most celebrated and spectacular migrations—the sailfish run—concentrating big numbers of these acrobatic speedsters along East Coast beaches. The renowned “Sailfish Alley”—Fort Pierce to Palm Beach—finds the Gulf Stream packing the fish into a relatively narrow corridor, but January-February offers plenty of opportunity all along the Southeast coast.

Drifting with live sardines or goggle eyes bridled with circle hooks is the norm, and most boats will use kites to hold multiple baits at the surface, while deploying a few more off the stern. Properly spaced and diligently managed, such spreads cover wide swaths of water and often yield multiple hookups.

For a simple trolling operation, dead ballyhoo is the way to go. Pre-rigged baits offer convenience, but it’s easy to prep several dozen ballyhoo by removing the bills and wiring the jaws shut with a weight under the chin and a ringed swivel on the head for circle hook attachment. Dead ballyhoo also makes good pitch baits for any sails you spot finning.

Whatever your species preference, don’t let winter’s often dreary nature dissuade you. Pick your days, understand the patterns and you’ll enjoy a thrill in the chill.

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