If there is one recommendation that might help you catch more trout this month, it would be to slow retrieves down to a crawl. Most fish will normally occupy the bottom third of the water column. They’ll be slow to move in the cold water. Since much of the available inshore food source is a combination of shrimp, killifish and glass minnows, using artificial baits that resemble these can improve your catch. The slowest natural bait is a live shrimp—the prime targets of sluggish Suncoast specks. Smaller baits up to about three inches in length will catch most fish.

A variety of gamefish will be attracted to warm waters surrounding power plant outflows near Anclote Key and in Tampa Bay. Large jack crevalle, ladyfish, pompano and cobia are among the potential hookups waiting in these warmwater climes. Manatees are also attracted to these areas and caution is advised when fishing within a mile of the plants. New restrictions for entry and speed surrounding these hotspots could be in place. Check with authorities before fishing here.

Although snook season opens this month, late-winter snook fishing is hit or miss. Linesiders prefer water temperatures over 70 degrees before they get active. Anything much below that slows their metabolism and makes them very picky feeders. When they do feed, it’s generally for short periods on small baits.

Creeks, rivers and residential canals are traditional hotspots for winter linesiders. Anclote, Manatee and Little Manatee rivers, and the residential canals in western Hillsboro County and the south Pinellas peninsula are all great spots for winter snooking. Dark, muddy bottoms in Old Tampa Bay around Double Branch Creek, Rocky Point and Terra Ceia Bay also provide some tepid winter haunts for snook. Redfish, flounder and black drum share these same honeyholes with snook, so don’t be surprised if your snook outing turns into a potpourri of finny critters.

Low winter tides present wade fishers with prime opportunities to engage in some pothole plunkin’. North winds frequently push low tides to extremes, exposing bare land in the shallows and the deepest holes on the flats.

BEST BET: WESTCENTRAL

Winter’s wrath often limits fishing-feeding opportunities. But few fish feed more frequently in winter than sheepshead. While they don’t have the snook’s celebrity status, the pizzazz of pompano or the back-breaking fighting abilities of a big amberjack, these fish provide fine tablefare, and are available at a dock, bridge, seawall, rockpile or piling near you. These striped fish love crustaceans and mollusks such as mussels, clams, fiddler crabs, shrimp and bloodworms.

’Heads can be as cagey as most any fish that swims, plucking baits from a hook without detection. Many avid sheepshead anglers hide the bait on small hooks and use no-stretch braided lines with fluorocarbon leaders for a better sense of feel and hooksets. Boaters and landlubbers alike can take advantage of these fat fish in their famished pre-spawn condition. Unlike some species that are slow to feed this month, sheepshead are undaunted by bad weather, making them a West Central angler’s top winter chilling challenger.

FS