Opportunities abound as many days are bright and sunny with blue skies and almost warm.

Photography and Story by Danno Wise

It is often said the morning gets darker before the sun rises. Just as often, it is said the weather gets colder before it gets warmer during the final days of winter.

Enter February. This is the role of the year’s second month – to throw the coldest, nastiest weather Old Man Winter can serve up at the Texas coast before the season gives way to spring. True enough, February is often blustery and cold. However, not every day sees Siberian like weather along the Texas coast. In fact, many days are bright and sunny, blue skies and, well, almost warm. As a result, in order to be consistently successful, anglers need to remain flexible in February.

A “typical” February day, if one exists, is overcast and cold. The gunmetal gray skies often meet water churned muddy by strong winds associated with frontal passages. “Duck hunting weather” – days with a little drizzle or fog mixed in – are not uncommon, either. These days don’t usually see large numbers of anglers on the water, but they do often result in catches of rather large speckled trout and a surprising number of redfish as well.

So, what’s the best way to catch fish on days when most people prefer to stay home drinking coffee in front of the fireplace? Well, step one, as simple as it sounds, is to actually go fishing. Don’t let the weather discourage you.

Once on the water, cold weather days generally require patience and a slow, methodical fishing style. This is true whether the sky is cloudy or clear and whether the water is muddy or not.

Fish will eat on cold days, but they won’t generally be as aggressive and won’t exert quite as much energy to catch a meal. As a result, lures need to be placed relatively close to the fish and moved slowly enough to represent an easy meal. More than at any other time of year, late winter usually requires repeated casts in a given area in order to assure that the lure has been drug within easy reach any nearby fish.