Text & Photos by Patrick “Tupat” Eichstaedt // @TheRealTupat 

With the new year coming in with a bang, so have the larger sized trout and redfish. The weather has been very up and down this past month which has made for some challenging conditions. Only a handful of light wind d ays that made for some amazing catches! Timing is everything, and for these few select days in January the bite was extremely hot! 

Starting off the new year was regular fishing buddy and local Edward Jones financial advisor, Tyler Chestney, (pictured below) locking into a 30- inch gator trout caught on live mullet and simply free-lining the bait for his presentation. This was an aggressive top water bite in very shallow waters. The key for catching these larger trout is having knowledge of where they like to spend time. Once you’ve seen them a few times, you can bet you’ ll hook into a heck of a fight sooner than later! 

Jack Fynes (pictured below), an avid fisherman from Ohio had catching a redfish on his bucket list. My neighbors, Katie and Evan, set me up wit h Evan’s dad, Jack, to enjoy a backwater day of fishing. The results were amazing with numerous fun-sized snook, a few trout, mangrove snappers and a solid slot-sized redfish to round out the day. Utilizing live mullet and shrimp made for numerous tight lines throughout the entire day! 

Towards the end of January, there were a few more days of stellar weather conditions and longtime local, Bryan French, (@FrenchDip33, pictured below) put a spanking on the gator trout. Bryan went three-for-three in the super skinny on some really large-sized trout. The largest of them all was sight casted on and then top water madness followed. Bryan’s choice of bait was live mullet on the free line presentation. 

The fishing will continue to stay hot. With weather patterns constantly changing you’ll have to find that perfect timing and hope for so me tight lines! 

BEST DAYS TO FISH IN FEBRUARY:

1 – 7, 11 – 13, 18 – 21, 24 – 25 

Until next month… Cast ‘em, Hook ‘em and Catch ‘em!