Coastal Focus: Upper Mid Coast

Coastal Forecast: Rockport
March 13, 2018
Coastal Forecast: Matagorda
March 13, 2018

Caution… The Water May Be Slick

I T’S MARCH AND IT’S TIME to fish the slicks!

In past discussions regarding fish slicks, we have talked about the fact that small slicks can sometimes mean larger trout, and huge, drifting slicks often tend to produce smaller school trout.

Small slicks along area shorelines will typically point you to larger feeding trout. This is a key point to make. On some of the cooler March mornings you may often see small, saucer-size slicks suddenly appearing along a shoreline where you have noticed a congregation of baitfish.

When this happens, you’ll want to move into position slowly, drop the power pole, and bail out over the side of the boat with your favorite surface plug or most-trusted suspending lure. You may have already driven past this particular location earlier in the day, or several times in the past weeks. However, you just now witnessed small slicks suddenly forming out of nowhere, tight against the grassy bank.

Now is the time for you to slowly and meticulously scour the area for what just might turn out to be a couple of big, elusive cold-water speckled trophies. Typically, you’ll also find your fair share of redfish this month as you fine-tune the practice of chasing slicks.

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However, the heart-stopping grand prize comes when you happen upon a career-best trout while examining the underside of one of these slicks with your favorite lure.

When you cast to a slick, try throwing to the opposite side of the slick. This enables your bait to travel across the upwind end of the slick itself as you make your retrieve. Whenever possible, you should cast across the wind, or quartering into the wind to make a more natural presentation and appearance.

Natural baitfish will most commonly be seen swimming at an angle to the wind, so give it a shot and see what happens. Never be afraid to change things up a little bit if you’re not getting desired results.

If you’ve noticed a fresh slick, stopped the boat and waded the entire area with no results, you may wish to give the area time to recover. Head back to the boat and idle slowly and quietly out of the area. On the way, scan the water’s surface in search of any fresh slicks you can take advantage of.

The fish that caused the formation of the slick originally might remain in the area because there is an active food source in the there. Never shy away from trying to locate other slicks somewhere else for a little while. Then return to your original spot at the end of the day.

If the bait appears to still be there upon your return, the trout and the redfish are probably still there, too. You might even notice new slicks on your second visit because you left the area uninterrupted for a period of time.

This revisiting technique is a tried practice that has produced a number of large, cool-weather trout over the years for many coastal anglers. Who knows, trying this just might enable you to end your day with a limit of big trout, and maybe even a story to go along with them.

Don’t forget that March generally is a time of change in the year. The daylight hours will begin to slowly increase each day, and area bay waters will typically begin to warm slowly as a direct result.

This will force anglers to make slight and continuous adjustments throughout the springtime months. Fish will focus on gradual changes, as well.

Fish, such as speckled trout, that are typically more finicky about water temperatures will usually make a gradual move from mud to sand, as warmer temperatures prevail in flats along protected shorelines.

This marks a great opportunity to experiment with tapering and undulating shorelines. Tapering shorelines allow you to cover a lot of ground by wading in a zigzag pattern as you walk from the shallows out to deeper water, and then back to the shallows.

Undulating shorelines allow you to wade the guts in chest-deep water, or to wade in waist-deep water along the sandbars separating the guts. Either way offers you the benefit of exploring different depths of the water column as you search for an active bite.

 

Email Chris Martin at bayflatslodge@gmail.com

or visit bayflatslodge.com

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