Shore Thing Fishing Report, 1/10/2024

January 10, 2024

Making the best of winter fishing means staying warm and safe. It's also the perfect time of year for any needed maintenance.

- by Sonny Schindler, Shore Thing Fishing Charters

Three of a kind reds for these lucky folks fishing near Heron Bay.

It looks like we are fully into the winter weather pattern. Everything now revolves around timing the cold fronts. You’ll want to plan your outings based on the best weather services you can get. Look at multiple weather sites and news outlets. Be very conservative, and you can find your windows to get on the water. Definitely do not take any chances.
 

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Walt Attwood with a nice cool-weather redfish caught near Bayou Caddy.

 
With that said, we are still trying to get out in those little weather windows when we can. The majority of our fishing for the next several weeks will be near shore for sheepshead, redfish, and black drum. Of course, we aren’t going to turn down any speckled trout or flounder that might make their way into the boats.
  
To stay comfortable, it is important to get out of any wind, since it will be damp and chilly with this winter weather. The Bay of St. Louis is a wonderful place to duck into, and there is plenty of structure to fish with the reefs, bridges, and old piers on both sides of the Bay. I would imagine that, if we can keep the rain off of us, the rivers may hold some speckled trout.
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Big black drum caught in Bay St. Louis.

 
We do a lot of maintenance this time of year, since the weather is usually more bad than good. On those windy and rough days, we are going through the boats, tackle and trailers to make sure things are in working order, ready for the return of good weather. I always check the repair shops any time I’m passing by to see how busy they are. The lines are very short now compared to how they will look in the spring and summer months. If you have any issues with your equipment, minor or major, the next several weeks are the best time of the year to address it. Having to wait for parts does not sting quite as badly as it will when that wonderful warm weather returns and fish are practically jumping into boats.
 

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