Seasonal question for you guys, in your experience do the fish patterns here change much seasonally? Not thinking year to year but rather Summer to Fall to Winter to Spring, etc.
We’re used to seeing Bass move in certain fisheries great distances to spawn or they’ll roam up and down a river channel chasing bait or in power plant lakes many will move great distances toward warmer water for comfort and better forage option purposes which is why hot hole discharges are so productive in the winter months on power gen lakes.
All of that said it can equate to a lot of fish moving around for different reasons at various times of the year. We’ll see massive amounts of movement particularly in blueback herring fisheries for example or as conditions dictate and seasons change pushing fish in the backs of creeks or pulling them out on ledges of a river channel to find forage and also more stable water temps.
Being in the early part of Winter #1 here I’m constantly learning and always “looking” for fish attracting features such as bottom contour breaks, a NW flat that would warm in the afternoon sun while guarded from a prevailing wind, deep holes, water movement choke points, back eddies, oysters, banks with irregularities, etc.
What I don’t know is if these fish move that much seasonally. I know they have to move daily to avoid being eaten by “flipper”, get stuck on dry land as the tide moves out, or follow bait so they can eat but does seasonal conditions position them with any level of consistency?
For example, I took my wife out on the boat Sunday as it was nice and we just went “looking” at new to me/us water and ran to the far back of the Wando just to see it and it looked like rootbeer to me. I have not run that water that far back before but at first glance it was very tannic and that got me wondering; I’m not sure if anything lives here or not?? Maybe the lower salinity from the rain or the colder temps due to how shallow that is moves them out?
That’s impossible to answer in a typed reply without writing a book. In general, I’d say yes. There are warm water patterns and cold water patterns. Behavior depends on the species. Transition months such as March and September can make it hard to figure out what they are doing (I’m not sure the fish know either in those months).
1966 13’ Boston Whaler “Flatty”
2018 Sportsman Masters 207 www.eyestrikefishing.com#predatorsstriketheeye
Yeah Dave I hear you clearly on the write a book analogy. Your blog & photos from the 10,000 cast day and the water as well as the back drop had me thinking maybe these fish use tannic water for some reason this time of year or maybe they just live there?
That’s the puzzle that I’m working out now and the age old adage of “find bait and you generally will find fish” continues to hold true. Thankfully my Lowrance units allow me to scan for and find forage and that’s helped narrow the search quite a bit. Finding bait then using the above water visual cues has helped shorten the curve a bunch on finding spots and I mark and label them all on the GPS via waypoints. Always wondering what seasonal things these fish do as the whole tide thing still blows my mind watching all of the water come and go and how they have to adapt so often in such a short amount of time per day.
Yeah Dave I hear you clearly on the write a book analogy. Your blog & photos from the 10,000 cast day and the water as well as the back drop had me thinking maybe these fish use tannic water for some reason this time of year or maybe they just live there?
Chuck D
2018 Pathfinder 2300 HPS
Yamaha 250 SHO
I’m not so sure about the tanic water as much as the salt content. Using the Combahee river as an example, during low river water conditions I’ve got a few spots that consistently produce Spot tail (and catfish). When the river is high like it is now I’d have to go several miles down river to even think of catching a Spot tail. As to Trout, I am really impressed by Optikers other post. I’ve never caught Trout in Brackish water, unless the river level was WAY down and then not far upstream.
Some of your answer for Brackish water fishing is not so much seasonal, but Rain and river levels changing Salt content. Have actually caught a couple of Flounder way up the Edisto by the Ex- Canday’s power plant and have caught spot tail almost to I-95 on the Combahee.
As to seasonal, right now is my favorite inshore fishing time. In January/ February I think Trolling is the way to go. If you want sharks in abundance June July and August. This topic could go on for thousands of words!
All our fish and fisheries have a peak season, as do most. All of our major inshore gamefish are fishable year round. Most of the larger inshore game fish do migrate to nearshore, some examples big sheeps, black and red drum, and flounder all move out to nearshore waters. Trout dont really migrate to the nearshore from what i know of. They seem to either go way back up in the creek or to the mouth. Big trout are more rouge and have more of a randomness to them then school size trout. Most sub adult fish will live in a small area. They might go to the flat at high tide and the deep holes at low but they stay in the same area through out all seasons. These fish are born and bred there and will repeat the process. A good spot this year was likely good last year and will likely be good next year.
The bait changes more than the fish do and since we are imitating the bait so do we. In summer you have shrimp and lots of baby fish and crabs, basically a abundance of food both big and small which makes fish feed more abundantly.
During the winter there is much less bait in the water and most of the bait is small like ghost shrimp, mud minnows, glass minnows and the occasional mullet. Fish can be a lot more bait specific in the winter and fish also dont move as far or as fast. So when you pull your lure by to fast just a few ft off a good spot the fish doesnt go for it, in the summer it would of went airborn on it. These slow movements also go into the metabolism and feeding patterns. Most fish feed less often during winter and for shorter periods. If you miss that window which is small, usually less than an hr of primetime, then it can be a dead zone.
The best way to learn fish patterns is to fish 1 area exclusively. This means all tides and seasons and see how those fish patterns change and apply it to other areas. You will really learn a lot.
If you want to come by the shop again sometime I’d be happy to share what I think I know
1966 13’ Boston Whaler “Flatty”
2018 Sportsman Masters 207 www.eyestrikefishing.com#predatorsstriketheeye
If you two get together I would love to be present. Chuck D, you are thinking the right ways and your obvious knowledge of bass fishing is going to serve you well in this area. I will reply with my limited knowledge here in a little bit, have a lot of work on my plate this morning.
Thanks again guys for the insight, Cory a big hats off to you for weighing in on my last 2 posts; thank you! Apicket & Dave, I’m all for getting together out at Dave’s place or a lunch spot nearby to talk fishing. Things are slowing down a bit with work following this week so the next two weeks will be pretty good for me to get out Dave’s direction and I need to restock on jig heads! Thanks again gents!
Just a thought, we are going to make a space for offering seminars at our shop. Andy PM’d me suggesting we do a round table discussion and that might be a good one to do maybe in Jan or Feb.
Thanks,
-Dave
1966 13’ Boston Whaler “Flatty”
2018 Sportsman Masters 207 www.eyestrikefishing.com#predatorsstriketheeye
Trout and spotail do not move very far generally season to season. They just orient in different structure types and depths depending on season. Flounder bull spottails and sheeps migrate offshore in winter to spawn. Reds and trout are going to be most of the time within a mile sir. Area most of there inshore lives. Barring major environmental changes of course.
Just a thought, we are going to make a space for offering seminars at our shop. Andy PM’d me suggesting we do a round table discussion and that might be a good one to do maybe in Jan or Feb.
Thanks,
-Dave
1966 13’ Boston Whaler “Flatty”
2018 Sportsman Masters 207 www.eyestrikefishing.com#predatorsstriketheeye
I’d come down from Lexington for something like that!
“You don’t always know where you stand till you know that you won’t run away.” ~Slipknot
quote:
Young red drum, between the ages of one and three, show a pattern of movement and feeding that is related to the tide. During the warm months, as the incoming tide begins to reach the marshgrass, fish move into the grass. Here, they feed on fiddler crabs (80% of their diet), mud crabs, grass shrimp, and fishes that are associated with this structured habitat. As the tide ebbs, the young red drum move off the marsh surface to the shallow water of tidal mudflats adjacent to the marsh. Most red drum prefer mud flats with structure, such as oyster reefs. This pattern of movement reduces their exposure to bottlenose dolphin, which is a major predator.
In winter, when water temperatures are low and the fiddler crabs are no longer active, red drum display the same pattern of tidal movement, but they become sluggish and less active since they are unable to regulate their body temperature, and therefore are more prone to predation by the bottlenose dolphin.
Adults are found in nearshore and coastal waters. As water temperatures decline in the fall (late October to November), adult red drum move gradually offshore to deeper, warmer water. This offshore movement initiates a flurry of successful surf fishing. Fish move back to nearshore waters with temperature increases in the spring. As inshore water temperatures warm, red drum move from deeper offshore waters to again inhabit the inlets and front beaches.
17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25
