From Ron Brooks,
Your Guide to Saltwater Fishing.
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We were alternately idling and using the trolling motor to make our way through the estuary. The wind was not really that cold, maybe forty degrees Fahrenheit, but it was the kind of damp wind that can cut right through even the warmest of jackets. It was daybreak, and we were determined to catch the last of the outgoing tide later that morning. The water temperature was around fifty degrees, which should have told us something, but as I said, we were determined.

Like most of you, I suppose, I can't stand to wait when it comes to fishing. It comes from my father. I can remember as a kid always being the first to reach the launch ramp in the morning, and if we somehow were not first, it seemed that the day was simply ruined.  

As we rounded a shallow bend, we came upon a site I never saw before. The creek was wider and consequently not as deep along this stretch. The lack of rain and its resulting muddy runoff over the last few months made the water extremely clear. I could not believe my eyes when I saw them.

There on the bottom in about five feet of water was a school of redfish in the twenty to twenty-five inch range, maybe thirty or forty fish in all. They lay there hugging the bottom, barely moving as the current swept by them, headed into the current of the now half-low outgoing tide. I almost fell off the bow of the boat in the excitement! The thought of being able to watch the fish hit my bait was more than I could stand.

Carefully, and from a low profile so as not to be seen, we began casting well up current of the fish to work our jigs back to them. As we retrieved the bucktails and jigs to the front edge of the fish, they carefully and deliberately eased over and made a small path for the baits to follow. They simply let the baits go through them with no interest. We knew they saw them because they moved out of the way! 

We messed with these fish trying different lures and even live shrimp for another hour before deciding to move on. Not one of those fish even hinted at striking.

Late that afternoon, after a less than successful day, I met up with a friend back at the ramp. He was going on and on about the number of fish he caught, and as I listened, it was obvious he caught them in the same creek we were in earlier that morning. Only, his fish were not in the creek. They had moved onto the mud flat with the high tide, and he was catching them in a foot or less of water.

I talked to a number of regulars and guides, and they all tell me the same thing. Fish are not as stupid as we think, and they want to get warm. What I witnessed was the migration of cold fish to shallow water at high tide to find warmer water. The shallower water on the flat warms during the day and wakes up lethargic fish. That's why my friend chose not to fish until noon! That's why I did not see many people fishing in the early morning. The fish were as cold as I was and had no interest in feeding!

So take this advice to heart. During cold weather, look for shallower areas in the mid-day sun to find feeding fish. They are more likely to feed when they warm a bit!