Mid January Report

We are historically in the dead middle of the coldest water of the year (end of January) and so far, so good, on the water temps.  The creeks are hovering around 49F and if history holds, the water temps should start creeping back up beginning in February.  A well-timed 4 days of 60 degree high air temps this week will definitely help our trout survive this winter (knock-on-wood!).  P1000304

Just yesterday we caught about 8 trout including two at 17″ in the creeks, so that is a good sign.  We even caught a few yearlings.  The bite is nothing but a resistance.  For example, working the bait really slow, making sure you are contacting the bottom, and the bait will just kinda stop – that’s the bite.  If you can even call it that.  This is where your setup and practice feeling the feel will make all the difference.  Of course, mixed in will be the occasional aggressive take.  Sometimes the bite will vary even within the same creek.

Anyway the redfish bite, on the other hand, has been strong.  There have been a lot of upper slot fish around everywhere it seems, and the bigger ones are starting to move in.  For some reason, the bait color seems to be very important, and always the blue tones are strongest (for us).  Yesterday we had a good bite on a watermelon color also (a green/gray with flecks).

Here is one to file under weird:  Yesterday I caught a 15.5″ flounder.  He must have been confused or just didn’t get the message that there are no other flounder around in January.  He was probably wondering where everybody went???  That was a surprise…

It sure felt good to shed 4 layers of clothes yesterday and even feel warm then!  As always, we have a great time on the water whether or not the fish are biting.  Hope these tips help you catch more, but remember that’s not what it’s really all about.

All fish on the last several trips were caught on TroutEye jigs.

A couple announcements:

  • We will have a product announcement and promo video soon on a new product:  Phillips Custom rods
  • We have a new “Gold” color TroutEye jig that closely matches a trout and redfish eye.  They should be available next week(ish) at both Haddrell’s Point locations and of course online at ralphphillipsinshore.com/store
  • As always, thank you for your support!

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Eagle

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