11/1/06

I have decided that we here in Beaufort are pretty much done with tailing fish for this season and I am looking to focus on the schooling fish of the next few months. The water is already starting to get significantly clearer. The weed that has been attached to mud flats is starting to die back and wash up on shore. Tails on high tide are dwindling and schools of fish are starting to pack together.
This in no way says there are not reds back in the grass at high tide and there are still ways to target these fish but sight casting becomes much different in those situations. Finding places where the sun will keep these fish a little warmer is usually the ticket. A flat that is warmed by the sun during lower tides, a little more stagnant water to let a specific spot warm more, and dark bottoms that lay around reflective landscapes will hold more fish during these cold/cool months. An example of all three of those being the case would be if you had a large mud flat that was warmed by the sun during low tide, and had a large white shell bank that was closer to the grass line cutting off some current flow. So now you have those white shells reflecting even more heat into the surrounding mud and you have slow water so it has plenty of time to let that heated mud warm it up.
Of course you can also find these schools of fish during the lower tides on the flats where they are trying to stay warm and stay away from dolphin. As this water continues to get colder it will be getting clearer which means you need to make sure you are using a fly with at least a little bit of bright colors to it and a fluorocarbon leader.
Let us know if you want to get out and see these big schools of fish. They should continue to form larger schools and will stay that way through February.

Until next Tide,
Capt. Tuck Scott

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