On a Saturday, I decided to take my 3 clients to the backside of San Jose Island, since the tide was falling fast and there are cuts back there where the lakes drain into Aransas Bay. As expected, the areas outside the cuts were holding redfish.

While I drifted in front of the cuts, the clients fished from the boat using some different lures before settling on the ones that worked the best-Devil Eyes in Gold Rush and Pink Hologram with a 1/16 oz jig.

The fish weren’t just nailing the lures, and they were in a holding pattern on the shell-mixed mud, even though the water was still a little warm. The key was to find where the bait food was, because that was where the action was going to be.

Once we got the target areas down it was some good action with 3 limits and also a lot of undersize reds. From now on until spring you need to go to mud bottoms mixed with shell. Find the bait in these areas and go for it.

You really need to take about 10 or 15 minutes to see if you see any bait activity before you pass any area up, because you can end up getting into a good mess of fish that way. Some people will not see bait right away and pass up an area that is holding bait and redfish, but they are not constantly active.

Remember, it is cold, the fish are cold and they are not going to move around like they do in the fall or summer. Also, there are not as many fish so seeing a couple of flicks here or there could make your day.