December generally brings more consistent cold weather and strong northerly winds. Knowing when these fronts will pass can be very beneficial to your fishing. Once the front has passed, the temperature will drop and the north wind will increase. Strong northerly winds make the nearshore waters along the beaches extremely calm. These brisk, windy days make for some of the best Nordic fishing along the Gulf Coast.

Scouring the beach with Mann’s Stretch 25 or Rapala Magnum X-Raps is a fairly simple method of catching these red monsters. Jigging 8″ bucktail jigs or curlytails will also produce many bites of redfish. Many anglers keep the jigs/bucktails mounted on swivels while trolling.

Perdido Pass has also given anglers some action in recent weeks! Sheepshead has been biting pretty well at high tide. Live shrimp and fiddler crabs (when available) have been the food ticket for convict fish! The pass has also produced some slot-sized redfish and some flooding as well.

What to look for:

Redfish travel in large schools during December and consume enormous amounts of fish for bait. Keep looking on the horizon in all directions for diving flocks of gulls, pelicans, gannets and albatrosses. These birds will concentrate on schools of baitfish. Going over the edges of these bait balls will produce the redfish bite we are all looking for. Jigging through bait balls can also be deadly.