Reds in the blue line

Depending on the species you fish for, cold fronts can either be a bane or boon

It’s a well-known fact bass anglers abhor the sight of a bow-shaped “blue-line” coming their way on the weather map. Cold fronts are notorious for putting bass in a dormant, uncooperative mood.

On the other hand, redfish anglers relish cold fronts, especially strong ones that promise to push past the Florida peninsula.

Pro C.A. Richardson, a Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series regular from St. Petersburg, Fla., is one of those redfish anglers who enjoys post-frontal fishing.

“Redfish are hardy creatures,” Richardson said. “The `cold’ part of a cold front doesn’t affect them near as much as the wind and water-level changes produced by a front.”

In fact, fellow Florida FLW Redfish Series pro Geoffrey Page of Sarasota notes some of the best redfishing of the year takes place in the winter, just after fronts.

“Occasionally, I’ll get a guide party that wants to cancel because of the weather after a front,” Page said. “I’ll urge them to come on, and the fishing will be so good that they request cold-front conditions for the next trip.”

Several hundred miles across the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi, Texas, Kevin Shaw, who has an FLW Redfish Series Western Division win to his credit, also loves redfishing after cold fronts.

“Cold fronts help concentrate redfish and put them in the most predictable locations of the year,” Shaw said.

Winter basics

Three basic factors contribute to phenomenal redfishing in the winter: extreme tides, the absence of baitfish and a redfish’s tendency to become a homebody in colder waters.

As the continental United States approaches the winter solstice at the end of December, the coastal regions of the southeast experience some of the highest and lowest tides of the year.

At the same time, most schooling forage fish, like threadfin or greenbacks, migrate off the shallow flats into deeper water for the winter.

This leaves immature “slot reds,” which do not migrate into the deep passes to spawn with “bull reds,” in a bit of a pickle. With their primary food source moving offshore in the winter, slot reds are forced to hunker down in inshore bays, inlets and estuaries and forage on whatever they can find.

“Reds essentially become much more area-oriented in the winter,” Richardson said. “They don’t roam the flats, following pods of finfish. Once they find an area that offers security and food, they will stay there for long periods of time, and cold fronts only accentuate that behavior.”

Frontal cycles and weather windows

Cold fronts usually blow through the southeastern part of the United States approximately every five days from November through March. These fronts set up a repetitive weather cycle, and within that cycle are certain weather windows, when redfishing is at a premium. Knowing when these small windows open and close during the frontal cycle can put a lot more redfish on the end of your line.

An approaching front usually brings south winds, rain and thundershowers on the first day. The day after a front passes, blustery north winds build in giving way to clear skies and plummeting temperatures on the second day. On day three, strong, northerly winds begin to subside and temperatures moderate. By day four, the next front is usually on the horizon. A southerly flow returns along with humidity, balmy temperatures and clouds. When the next front hits, the cycle starts over again.

“Reds get conditioned to this cycle, and their reactions to it become predictable,” Shaw explained. “Along much of the Gulf Coast, even over to Florida, when post-frontal north winds push water off the flats, reds pack into little sand holes, potholes and troughs seeking depth. When the southerly flow returns, bringing warmth and higher water, they move up onto the flats and eat everything in sight before the next front pushes them back into the potholes.

“It’s completely opposite on the East Coast, though,” Richardson said. “A lot of it basically has to do with how your fishery lays in relation to a north wind.”

Let the wind be your friend

Page, who guides out of Sarasota, is most interested in low water during the winter, and as he puts it, the north wind is your friend.

During winter, Page already has the advantage of peak tides on his side. In addition, full or new moons make those tides more extreme.

“If a cold front hits at the same time as a full- or new-moon tide, and the north wind blows the water out, we’ll have the lowest water, and consequently, best fishing of the year,” he said. “With all the water pulled off the flats, the reds are forced into any nearby potholes or depressions, and it’s like catching fish out of a bathtub. At times, there will be 15 to 20 fish crammed into a tiny pothole that normally only holds two or three fish.”

Richardson, as well, recounts fishing similar low-water conditions on Florida’s west coast, when hundreds of reds hunker down into large troughs or ditches in the middle of flats.

“When strong northerlies coincide with extra-low winter tides, it packs reds in those places like sardines,” he said. “You can catch them one after another for hours.”

Both Richardson and Page recommend wade-fishing or using kayaks to access redfish-laden potholes and tidal ditches during these low-water conditions.

“When everything comes together to produce an extreme low tide, there will be mere inches of water on the flats,” Page said. “The only way to get to those potholes and ditches is to either walk or scoot over the thin sheet of water with a kayak; both play a big part in my wintertime guide trips.”

While the north winds make low tide the key window for pothole fishing during the first day or two after a front, high tide is the key window on the third or fourth day.

“When the north wind subsides, the water level returns and the shallows begin to warm up again, reds will leave the potholes and ditches and go on a feeding binge in the flats,” Richardson said.

This is the prime time for catching tailing reds, the pinnacle of redfishing for many anglers.

“Now you want to focus your efforts on the high tide,” Richardson said. “Not only are fish up on the flats taking advantage of the high-water window, but with the additional water of a high tide, you can pole low-draft boats up to the shoreline to catch them.”

This advice, however, is mostly applicable to the Gulf Coast. If you are after reds on the East Coast following a cold front, things are much different.

“It’s completely opposite for us,” said Scott Guthrie, a FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event winner from Jacksonville, Fla., who guides on the St. John’s River. “That post-frontal north or northeast wind backs our water up and makes it much higher, especially with winter tides.”

The ultrahigh tides in Jacksonville provide some of the best redfishing of the year in the St. John’s basin.

“That’s the only time of year when we can truly sight-fish,” Guthrie explained. “The tide will come up as much as 2 feet higher than normal and we can actually float our boats over vast fields of flooded marsh grass – places that are basically dry the rest of the year. Redfish move into the grass and take advantage of a rare opportunity to gorge on thousands of unsuspecting crabs and crustaceans.”

Guthrie acknowledges high water does spread reds out over more territory, but the fish give themselves away by pushing and tailing violently in the grass.

“You can hear them popping and pushing all over the marsh; it’s awesome,” he said. “They’re oblivious to your presence. You can pole right up to a red bullying crabs on the bottom, flick a bait out there and catch him.”

When the winds reverse and the southerly flow pushes water out, Guthrie reverts back to fishing low-tide windows.

“That’s when our fish pull out of the marsh and back into the tidal creeks to hole up before their next feeding opportunity,” he added.

“Using cold fronts to isolate fish gives the angler a tremendous advantage,” Page said. “Once you discover a few flats with key potholes and ditches, chances are you’ll be able to catch fish there most of the winter, as reds move back and forth from the holes to the flats with each frontal cycle.”

Bet on bottom after a front

While Gulf Coast and East Coast redfish anglers fish cold-front conditions differently, they all agree that post-cold-front fishing is the time for bottom-oriented lures.

“Redfish become almost total bottom feeders in the winter,” Richardson said. “Their diet completely changes from finfish to crustaceans like shrimp and crabs. They’ll even eat seahorses. They scour the bottom for any morsel they can find.”

Page has seen winter reds fill their bellies with tiny sea slugs, and Shaw observes Texas reds eating a lot of sand eels in the colder months.

As a result, all four redfish pros strongly recommend going to smaller bottom-bumping baits, such as plastic jigs, scented grubs and imitation crabs, all rigged on lead jigheads.

“You can put your topwaters and 6-inch plastic jerkbaits away for a while,” Richardson said.

“The biggest mistake anglers make after a cold front is fishing a lure too fast,” Shaw said. “Everything moves slower in cold water. Redfish will still eat, but they’re not going to chase something whizzing by their head or eat a lure snapped way up off the bottom, because it’s unnatural. You have to crawl your lure over the bottom, almost dead-stick it.”

“I even go to heavier heads to make the lure fall straight down into the potholes and stay on the bottom in windy conditions,” Page said. “Instead of 1/8-ounce heads, I’ll go to 1/4-ounce and even 3/8-ounce heads.”