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Approaching Cold Weather Will Slow Fishing

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By RAY MARKHAM

Published: January 13, 2009

Cold weather and back-to-back fronts are heading into the Tampa Bay area. Just prior to the front moving in on Tuesday, snook were feeding in the canals around Terra Ceia.

The barometric pressure began taking a nose dive around 10 a.m. and continued throughout the afternoon with the clouds, wind, rain and weather moving in right behind. Air temperature dropped 11 degrees over the course of a four-hour period during that time frame.

The ensuing action is normal for animals faced with challenges for feeding due to conditions that make finding food more difficult, and the turning over of water from the wind created seas that stirred up the water.

I rarely fish after cold fronts because of the lull in the action, but I do at times. It usually seems like an exercise in futility. One of the toughest days ever in fishing was right after a strong cold front and hard freeze here several years ago.

I had a charter with two anglers and myself for a half-day. We ran every part of the bay that I knew held the warmest water, and that warmest temperature was 49 degrees. In the entire day we caught only one jack crevalle, and that fish was not in good shape.

We ran up a deep residential canal and saw a load of snook but couldn't get any to eat. Before we left the canal, fish were beginning to turn belly up from the cold. Whether they died or were just stunned, I'm always reminded that snook are protected from harvest during the cold months of the year to disallow anglers from simply picking these stunned fish up and harvesting them.

Snook season remains closed until March 1.

Ray Markham co-hosts "Florida Sportsman Magazine Radio Live," Saturdays from 7-8 a.m. on ESPN 1040 AM, and may be reached for charter at (941) 723-2655.

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