Wintertime Jigging in the Channels of Biscayne Bay

By Jan S. Maizler
Article & Travel Editor
Photos By Jan S. Maizler

Searching for Inshore Winter Action

Wintertime in South Florida often presents water temperatures that drop far too low to suit the comfort ranges of our indigenous flats fish- this is particularly the case with bonefish, tarpon, and permit. The Gray Ghost tends to be less available in the shallows when the mercury drops under 70 degrees, while the Silver King and Quicksilver are already gone after the water temperature slides under 75 degrees.

The third week of January 2009 featured an extremely robust cold front that pushed a freezing Canadian air mass through the bay. Water temperatures tumbled into the low sixties and our shallow water fishing plummeted to a big zero. Unlike those fish, I'm a warm-blooded mammal (and a hot-blooded angler), so my hunger does not rise or fall with the mercury.

Even in the deeps of the coldest days, I'm ready to go fishing and I needed to find some fish and habitat that would still provide some action despite the icy air. Fortunately, my home waters of Biscayne Bay feature enough depth to create some warmer temperature sanctuaries for finny gamesters.

South Biscayne Bay in particular is comprised of miles of. east-west flats interlaced by many channels, which have some fairly dramatic drop-offs that go from 2 feet in the shallows to 15 feet in the cuts. This habitat has been a reliable cold weather "fallback" tactic for flats and inshore guides in the past and no doubt, into the future.

The key to success in fishing these channels is to choosing the right cut in the midst of a myriad of choices as well as determining what angling methods are employed once the choice has been made. The best way to navigate this possible maze of decisions is to hire a guide who is skilled in this form of fishery. And this is exactly what I did.

Planning and Learning Is Always the First Step

I had always known about Captain Ken Collette's mastery of the Biscayne Bay fishery. When I queried him by phone about his involvement in this cold weather enterprise, not surprisingly, he acknowledged many years of engagement in this specialty. Most important was his ready acceptance to guide me for this one-day project.

During our conversation, Ken provided the kind of information that would orient me as to personal tackle choice as well as deepen my conception of these channels. The first thing that Ken made clear is that in general, certain channels produce larger numbers of gamefish than others and specifically, channel choice would also predict what species you'd be catching.

Specifically, Ken said, "the key aspects to this specialty are the water column and the solid structure that surrounds the water from the sides and below." Regardless of the many species we were hoping to take, he felt that the proper lure presentations should start from the bottom, particularly when no fish were showing on the surface: in this way, a retrieve along the entire water column was assured.

As regards distribution of gamefish along the water column, he provided the following breakdown. Permit and bluefish could be found finning on the water's surface in addition to feeding almost down to the very channel bottom. Efforts for pompano should be directly involving bottom-bouncing lures, except for those rare flat days when they finned on top. Crevalle jacks, ladyfish, and big blue runners could be fished at all levels of the water column, except when these predators were on top hitting bait. Ken encouraged a slow bottom-bouncing retrieve for the (hopefully) abundant red groupers, mutton and mangrove snappers, as well as for tasty chunky porgies.

Ken had much to say about the importance of anglers learning all about the solid structure that surrounds the channel waters.

He felt that the "side structure" of the flats edges formed contours all along the channel's length. These very contours formed the kind of sculpted walls and variations that directed the "traffic" flow firstly, of bonefish and pompano and secondarily, of bluefish and mackerel. These traffic patterns have been long familiar to, for instance, shallow water tarpon anglers who fish the famed Buchanan Bank near Islamorada.

The solid structure of the channel bottom would be fairly predictive of certain species. Channel bottoms that oscillate and have lots of vegetation, sea fans, and possibly rocks could be expected to offer snappers, groupers, porgies, and other bottom fish. Conversely, "prairie-style" bottoms of sand, turtle grass, and/or marl might reasonably be expected to draw bonefish and pompano.

Regarding free-ranging predators like mackerel, bluefish, jacks, and blue runners, the bottom itself augers less in the prediction equation than the presence of bait and the simple historical preference of these fish for certain channels without any demonstrable reason. After the usual "hot channel" choice, trial and error casting along the length of the cut may be necessary until the gamesters are located, whereupon anchoring or staking up would well be in order.

The final factor Ken discussed was the tidal temperature significance in fishing the wintertime channels of South Bay. He was sure that the incoming tide would bring the warmest waters of the day into the channels. Conversely, the coldest water would flow into the channels from the shallow bays-, which of course would be far more chilled by cold overhead air masses than ocean waters adjacent to the Gulf Stream. The reason why anglers might want to factor tidal temperature into their channel fishing is that any warmth-sensitive species like bonefish or permit that have taken refuge in the cuts are more likely to grab bottom-bounced offerings during the warmest waters phases. Species that tolerate cold water-like mackerel and bluefish-will strike on the warmer incoming or colder outgoing tides.

Gentlemen, Start Your Jigs!

Four days (and another cold front) later, I arrived at Crandon Marina and found Ken's Action Craft skiff in the water, tied off and ready to go. After we greeted each other and I handed Ken my two twelve-pound plug rods, I asked him what terminal tackle we'd be using. He said, "jigs, and lots of them." I went back to my SUV and brought out a bag of white Spro bucktails in 3/8 and ½ ounce sizes.

As we idled through the marina waters, Ken told me to rig a short leader of either 30-pound or 40-pound fluorocarbon leader, and then fasten my bucktail with a loop knot. This would provide the freest-swimming jig that would have decent bite and chafe protection from the ladyfish, bluefish, and mackerel that we hoped to encounter.

As we got into the channel, Ken pushed down the throttle and off we jumped into the expanses of South Biscayne Bay. He ran his skiff past Cape Florida and then past Stiltsville to the west of us. After we were about two miles further south, he slowed the engine and idled into a channel.

Since the water was fairly calm, he scanned the surface for fins or bustups, but found none. He said that the fish were there, but probably hunting deeper in the water column. Before I made my first cast, he encouraged me to allow all my casts to culminate in hitting the bottom first and then beginning my retrieve. He was sure this was the most effective approach to the water column when there was no surface activity.

It wasn't long before we were both hooked up to large blue runners, which we released. Other casts yielded nice-sized jack crevalles amongst the ‘runners and the occasional mutton snapper when the predators would let the jigs alone enough to sink to the bottom. I did find that a fresh shrimp tail on my lure would hook more snappers, although the jacks and ‘runners hit the unadorned lure with abandon.

After I literally tired of catching these three species, I asked Ken if there were other channels featuring other kinds of fish. Happy to oblige me, he ran his skiff perhaps another mile south and then idled into another channel. As he pointed his bow westward and followed the channel, he spotted some explosions. He idled towards the action, and then cut his engine 50 yards uptide as he eased his skiff into the flats edge. He poled the remaining distance as quickly as possible, then tied off his vessel on his pushpole.

By that time, I'd already cast towards the channel center and was tied into a feisty bluefish of about five pounds. Ken quickly hooked up as well with another blue. During the next hour we had fast action with good numbers of blues and ladyfish.

When the action slowed, Ken took us to another channel further south for bottom fish. In this case, a shrimp-tipped bucktail was the rule. We were both hooking up red groupers or fat porgies on every five or six casts.

I was thoroughly satisfied with all the catching and releasing of fish Ken put us on and yet, it was barely mid-morning. We had a whopping potpourri of action in air temperatures that never topped fifty degrees and waters that never warmed past the sixty-five degree mark. It was good to experience the rare luxury of "calling it a day" well before lunch!

Contact Data

Captain Ken Collette
Phone: 954-463-0512
Web Site: www.kencollette.com
E-Mail: kencollette@msn.com

See all the photos from the outing in Jan Maizler's Photo Gallery.