How to Win in the Wind – Inshore Kayak Fishing in Heavy Winds

Happy Monday Spacefish!

So I am going to start by asking a question? Have you ever faced wind gusts so intense that it blew you over, capsizing your kayak? No? Well, neither have I, but this weekend I came really close.

I am writing this on Sunday night, this will be a recap of my trip today. Tomorrow morning, a strong arctic blast cold front will be bearing down on us. I really wanted to be able to go out and fish and go in detail on how to make the most of a pre-frontal fishing trip, when I saw how intense the winds would be I decided to stick with it. That being said, I picked a spot where I would be able to maximize my fishing potential and be able to mitigate the effects of the wind as much as possible.

I was going to have a report this week about my first trip on the northernmost tip of the Kissimmee Chain, but since we have the cold fronts rolling in pretty regularly now, I decided to call an audible. A few weeks ago I wrote a report with a good gameplan for fishing during the actual cold front, but today I am going to break down a gameplan for fishing the day before a front moves through.

My goal in writing this is to provide you all with a tangible plan on how to get out, catch a good number of fish from a kayak on a blustery pre-frontal winter day. Most of these days tend to follow a similar wind pattern – from SW/SSW early, shifting to a W, and then rounding the curve and becoming a pummeling NW/NNW Wind by the afternoon. Once that wind shifts and starts pounding us from the north, the temperature will start to drop, and the next morning will be chilly! With this gameplan hopefully you will be able to maximize your kayak fishing experience and take advantage of the feeding that occurs the day before the arctic cold front hits. I have followed this gameplan the last 2 Sundays and caught not only back to back inshore slams, but I have caught a high volume number of fish, from a wide variety of species.

Spot #1 – Fish the Flats Aggressively

Rarely do I use the terms January, and topwater in the same sentence, but today I am. I don’t throw topwater very much from November-March, but when I do it’s usually on the last warm day before a cold front, or on a warming trend after a few days of below average temps, basically what I am looking for is a window where fish are actively feeding. I don’t target Snooky looking shorelines as much as I opt to bomb plugs over flats and take advantage of the hungry “roamers” like Trout, Redfish, and Jacks. On my last two trips I have caught all 3 species on topwater, specifically the Rapala Skitterwalk in Bone Holographic. I use the smaller version of the skitterwalk, and use a slower than normal retrieve. I still employ a “walk-the-dog” retrieve, but it’s more of a slow sashay than a tempo’d frolic. I let the one knock style rattle call the fish as I use a slow “tick, tock…tick, tock” style retrieve, just enough to keep the bait moving, and I use sharp twitches to activate the one knock rattle in this bait.

If the fish are swiping and not really attacking, or if the initial topwater bite slow I switch over to suspending twitch bait style plugs like the Paul Brown Soft Dine XL (the “fat boy”), or more traditional inshore twitch baits. Lately I have been comparing the Yo-Zuri Inshore Twitch Bait vs the MirrOlure MirrOdine, both have been catching fish. I will go into more details of my exploration into wintertime plug fishing in a future report, but what I will say here is that if you go with a similar approach, don’t be afraid to slow this bait down if you’re not getting bites. I typically start with an aggressive “twitch-twitch-pause” but I will evolve into more of a “flick-flick” or “bump-bump” and really long pause (4-7 seconds) retrieve if that’s what the fish want.

Spot #2 – Find Deeper Mangrove Shorelines, Depth Contours

Once the winds start to pick up and start hitting harder from the west, I like to find a mangrove shoreline that’s a little deeper or has a shallow shelf with a deeper drop off a few yards away from the shoreline. This is where I start to increase my odds of catching Snook, but I have also been catching Trout, and Redfish as well on deeper mangrove shorelines.

My two baits of choice this winter have been a 3-4 inch paddletail on a ⅛ to 3/16 oz jig, or a heavier twitchbait like the MirrOlure Heavy Dine. The Heavy Dine is the same size as the traditional 17MR but is heavier, and sinks faster which makes it effective on deeper shorelines, and on the ends of docks. I fish it with the same cadence I described earlier, I am just targeting deeper in the water column.

With the paddle tails I like to keep the bait moving while keeping contact with the bottom. If I am fishing off the bottom I like the twitch bait with the pauses, if I keep the bit moving I like to keep it lower in the water column. With the winter dry season in full swing it’s easy to get good casts under overhanging mangrove cover, and near the structure without needing to be a great skip caster. For me this is a great time to grab that bait caster and fly my lures into precise locations. I let the jig hit the bottom and take my time getting the bait out. I like dragging it along the bottom with a bait caster, it reminds me of fishing a worm for Bass.Remember winter time is not a time where you need to fish like you’re in a 2-minute drill, slow down and methodically work the spots you picked before you launched!

If the fish are swiping and not really attacking, or if the initial topwater bite slow I switch over to suspending twitch bait style plugs like the Paul Brown Soft Dine XL (the “fat boy”), or more traditional inshore twitch baits. Lately I have been comparing the Yo-Zuri Inshore Twitch Bait vs the MirrOlure MirrOdine, both have been catching fish. I will go into more details of my exploration into wintertime plug fishing in a future report, but what I will say here is that if you go with a similar approach, don’t be afraid to slow this bait down if you’re not getting bites. I typically start with an aggressive “twitch-twitch-pause” but I will evolve into more of a “flick-flick” or “bump-bump” and really long pause (4-7 seconds) retrieve if that’s what the fish want.

Spot #3 – Wind Protection at All Costs!

If I am still on the water by mid-to-late afternoon it becomes a game of wind protection at all costs. This past weekend the wind gusts were up in the high 30’s which were insane! Last week the gusts were in the low to mid 20’s. Either way at that point I am tucking myself into wind protected areas.

Usually at this point in the day, you will know what the fish want. What colors, what profiles, what cadence of retrieve, etc. So I really won’t waste anymore of your time here, for me I have really honed in on what’s worked to that point and stick with it!

Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Yes!!! It is, I will say this about inshore fishing in the winter…you may not be able to cover as much ground as you do in the summer, and you may spend time hunkering down in wind protected areas, BUT if you choose those spots well, they could be loaded with fish, and you can leave the water with some of your higher volume catch days. I used to really dread the winter, but over the past few years I have really been honing in on my winter strategies and it’s honestly becoming one of my favorite times, if not my favorite time of the year to fish.

This past Sunday I went out, and I nearly got capsized moving from spot to spot, several times in transit I questioned my own sanity. But I also was able to catch 25+ total fish at the 3 spots listed above and I caught the following species; Trout, Snook, Redfish, Black Drum, Jacks, Ladyfish, Mangrove Snapper, and even a freaking Whiting…inshore… an inshore Whiting, on a paddle tail. How crazy is that?

One of the things that really help me on days like this though, is a good reliable kayak. Maybe you are reading this because you want to get into kayak fishing, maybe you are reading this because you already are and you want to take it to the next level…either way, I encourage you to stop into Kayaks By Bo in Cocoa and check out their inventory and talk to the staff! They are friendly, and super knowledgeable and will be able to do an amazing job helping you figure out exactly what you are looking for.

Stay warm this week guys, I hope you got a chance to fish this holiday weekend! Be safe, be happy, and go catch some fish this week! Until next time!