Most marshes will have huge areas of mud and oysters showing at low tide. The only water will be in those creeks and sloughs. Spartina grass is high and “dry” and the wading birds are making meals from the snails and small crabs that get caught in the small tidal pools. As the tide begins to move in, these flats and bars begin to be covered with water again, and the grass will be flooded, sometimes as deep as two feet, depending on the moon stage.
So, why is it important to understand the marshes? Because the fish you seek use these marshes not only as a nursery, but to feed on a daily basis. In warm weather, the larger redfish, sheepshead, trout, and flounder will be found back in the headwaters of these creeks. They prowl the flats looking for food. As the tide changes and the water begins to move out, these fish will move out as well, and head for deeper water in the larger creeks.
In cold weather, the larger reds and flounder have moved offshore. The creeks and flats will be populated with the juvenile fish, usually smaller than any legal size limit. They migrate onto the flats at high tide on a bright sunny day looking for warmth. Even in cold weather, the shallow water on the flats will warm several degrees in the midday sun, and the fish look for that temperature difference. That is not to say that there won’t be any large fish there – their could be. But, for the most part the larger fish of the species have moved out for the winter.
On a bright, sunny winter day, I would not even head for the ramp until the sun is up. The fish are lethargic in cold water, and that sun needs to do its work. I pick a day when the high tide is around 1 p.m. and plan to be back on the flats at that time. I find flounder, redfish, and trout there on most occasions. They are small, but they can usually be caught in good numbers; and, catch and release is what I do.
Not every day is as good as I make it out to be. On a day just after a cold front, the wind is usually whistling and I find the fish have developed lock jaw. They sense the high pressure with their lateral lines, and they tend to not feed on a high pressure. But, on the day before a cold front, as the pressure drops, you will find me back in the flats, looking for fish, and usually digging a few out.
