By Jimmy Tomazinis
Just like that, we are approaching the peak of our winter fishing season. February might still hold some cold days in store for us, but over the last couple of years we have seen enough warmer days to put the fish in their spring moods. For most freshwater fish that means spawning.
Fish spawning is tied to water temperatures. The magic numbers this time of year are 67-68 degrees. That triggers bass, specks and stripers to begin congregating. Bass will move up shallow and begin to fan beds around heavy cover. Specks will move into lily pads and laydowns. Stripers will gather on bridges before making treks up our area creeks to try to find flowing water.
The congregations, if you can find them, make the fish quite easy to catch.
For specks, I like to position the boat parallel to the shore and cast jigs towards the shoreline. This allows you to cover various depths as you slowly work the jig back to the boat. If you are consistently catching fish at a certain depth and distance from the shoreline you can start to focus on just that depth or switch over to minnows on floats to cover that depth more thoroughly.
Bass don’t congregate as tightly as the specks, but you can find multiple pairs of males and females in a short stretch of bank. I like slow trolling shiners along the edges of the creeks to find these areas, making a couple of passes if I get any activity in a particular stretch. Flipping soft plastics up into the cover is another viable option. It can be a very time-consuming endeavor either way.
Stripers will require a trip out to the river to one of the bridges. The Shands, Doctors Lake, Buckman and even the ones downtown can hold large numbers of these river stripers. They are one of the largest fish we can target this time of year, and they love the cold. Some of the best times to look for them are after a cold front when water temperatures take a sudden drop. These temperature drops can make smaller baitfish lethargic and even die, becoming easy prey for the larger fish. I like throwing lipless crankbaits or jigs that simulate a baitfish rising and falling in the water. Most hits come on the fall.
Till next time, tight lines.
Jimmy Tomazinis is a Jacksonville area native who has fished the St. Johns River his entire life. His passion for fish led him to study coastal biology at the University of North Florida. He has since participated in multiple fishery studies in Northeast Florida, continues to implement fish habitat and water quality improvement projects, fishes as much as he can, and has a monthly podcast called North Florida Fishing and Outdoors where the fishing conversation continues. Jimmy can be reached by email to mail@floridanewsline.com.
