Text & Photos by Patrick “Tupat” Eichstaedt @TheRealTupat

Our backwater fishing expert’s guide to December – everything you need to get on the water!

As November comes to a close and the winter season really starts cooling off, the bite still remains as hot as ever. With the snowbirds fishing from the shoreline and more kayakers in the lagoon, our fishing couldn’t be better.

The Winter Season and Snook Fishing

I was skeptical moving into this time of year waiting on the snook, but to my surprise, they are bigger and more aggressive than I’ve ever seen. After last year’s terrible freeze that killed hundreds, if not, thousands of snook (not to mention all the others) the fish population is absolutely thriving!

Sight-Casting and Redfish

This past month has been great for shallow water sight-casting in the creeks for redfish (pictured above) with my fishing partner Tyler Chestney. Also, the mangrove snapper have been showing some more size and are always super agro on the bite. My son Ethan (@how._.do._.read._, pictured below) has been tearing it up lately catching a bunch of solid fish and really learning the waters.

As for myself, I’ve been really focused on these bigger snook in the shallow waters of Bethune Beach (pictured below). The start of November is when I started to see these larger snook schooling up at the top of the water in shallower areas. They are very aggressive and usually stay in the same zones for the entire season. I’ve had good luck utilizing live shrimp and top-water lures for a hot bite on the snook.

As we dig deeper in the winter, the snook should continue to bite. Let’s just hope that we don’t get another freeze. Look for the redfish to school up and also those mogan trout will be lurking.

This past year was probably the best trout fishing I’ve ever had here. If anyone is looking for a private paddle fish adventure, please contact me at Tupat@Mac.com!

When to Fish and December 2018 Tide Chart