DECEMBER 2018 Fishing Report and JANUARY 2019 Forecast - Sea Hag Marina and the Shacks at Sea Hag

Fishing Report December 2018

Capt. Rick Davidson, Editor (grassflats2@yahoo.com)

Sea Hag December Report

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday.

We avoided sustained cold fronts this month, which was an excellent thing. While that kept the fish out of the river, it did allow them to stay on the flats while they ate hungrily in preparation for winter. Some excellent redfish and trout were taken during the second annual Eggnog Open, and the fishing remained good through the holidays. In spite of some windy days, it was about as good a December as you can expect weather-wise. Lots of flounder inshore, and some nice gag grouper taken offshore as well. Here are some pictures from this month’s catches.

Dale Reed caught this nice snapper with Wiley Horton

Vinny Phu got this nice inshore grouper, and also got engaged this month…..

….to Vannessa, who caught this nice flounder.

There were at least four snook caught this month, more than I can remember in any month. This one was caught by Red Baker who was fishing with Tommy Thompson.

…and this one by Derrick Clement’s friend.

Fisher Hollister with his tournament winning redfish: big fish in the Eggnog Open. Fishing with his dad, they finished third overall.

Forest Wheeler and Chrissy Rawls finished second overall….

….and Captains Matt Cowart and John Lannon won the redfish prize with over 13 pounds of fish.

Wiley Horton and his crew found these nice gags with a few vermillion snapper thrown in.

Sign of things to come: Vivian Goodman caught this nice sheepshead in the river.

I fished with Doug Barrett and Tommy Thompson and we found some nice inshore 20 inch trout.

Kristy Anderson fished up north at Yates Creek to find these beautiful trout.

Kelsey McNally found this beautiful red on a glassy calm morning.

Old friends Ed and Marcia Ellett with an inshore slam.

Case was excited with his trout and redfish duo.

Austin Hunt with a nice trout from the flats.

January Forecast

While it’s been a great month, the cold weather will get here at some point, although there are no forecast low temps in the 30’s at least until January 10^th. Last month I discussed ways to fish the river and the flats in cold weather, which we’ve been able to avoid so far. With more temperate weather, the best fishing will still be in areas of dark bottom, rocks or oyster bars, all which can hold heat. Schools of redfish will be holding slightly more offshore than during the warmer months. Look for schools from 300 yards offshore and in on calm days. Hot areas have been around the shoreline behind Pepperfish Keys out to Stewart Point and Sink Creek to the south, and behind Big Grass Island on a rising tide to the north. These are both shallow areas and the tides are not always accurate this time of year so be very careful as you approach these areas. Trout have been caught in some of the same areas, as well as off Piney Point and Fish Creek to the north. When fishing these areas, it may be worth fishing a jig and Gulp bait crawled along large sandy areas to target flounder; they’ve been plentiful this year. When you feel weight on the line, stop reeling and let the fish get the whole jig into their mouths; flounder have a habit of grabbing on without being hooked, then spitting the jig back at you when finally see them and are thinking about dinner.

We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a great New Year full of lots of productive fishing trips in our area of the Big Bend. We’re now taking reservations for accommodations for scallop season next year so make your plans early to get in on the fun. Meanwhile let’s get out there and fish while the weather looks good!