WINTER STRATEGY: Finding Fish AFTER a Cold Front
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
Cold snaps used to be automatic no-go days for me.
High wind, falling temperatures, and slow bites made it feel like the odds were stacked against you before you ever made a cast.
Over time, I learned that those same conditions actually make fish behavior more predictable, not harder to figure out.
In this video, I head out during a January cold snap to show how winter fish reposition, why certain spots suddenly become great 90/10 zones, and how a simple strategy can turn a tough-looking day into a productive one.
Featured Software:
- Smart Fishing Spots (by far the best mapping system for finding great fishing spots)
Featured Gear:
Setup 1:
- Rod: Slot Machine – 7’6″ Medium
- Reel: Otis 2500
- Lure: Prawn USA Junior (natural color).
- Rigging: Hoss Weedless Round Eye 1/4 oz Jighead (3/0 hook)
Setup 2:
- Rod: Slot Machine – 7’6″ Medium
- Reel: Otis 2500
- Lure: Tweaker (Black Color Coming Soon!)
- Rigging: Round Eye 1/4 oz Jighead (2/0 hook)
Note: The Tweaker, Prawn Jr, and the rigging setups are in our Ultimate Winter Bundle which allows you to save money PLUS get a free premium lure.
Key Takeaways
- Why winter fish don’t disappear after a cold snap, they just quietly relocate
- The type of depth change that consistently reloads with fish in cold weather
- A subtle positioning detail that made one stretch of structure outproduce everything else
- What the fish behavior on this day revealed about winter feeding windows
- Why two completely different lures succeeded once the location was right
Final Thoughts
Winter fishing doesn’t require more gear or constant lure changes.
It requires understanding where fish go when temperatures drop and focusing your time on those specific zones.
Once you start looking for those winter 90/10 zones, cold snaps become opportunities instead of excuses to stay home.
That’s exactly why days like this have become some of my favorite days to be on the water.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
The 2 core benefits we promise to Insider Club members is to be able to find and catch fish easier than ever before while saving money on fishing equipment.
So I am including links to the quickest ways to achieve each:
1) Finding Fish System
2) Insider Club’s Group Discounts
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Perfect timing and great video. I’ll use this the next opportunity I get to be on the water.
Terrific & timely video. Thanks for putting it together! What was the depth along the dock structure? Luke mentioned a hole just off the oysters, but I’m curious about the basic depth of the area along the dock structure.
Thanks Luke! It’s so reassuring to see that it is normal to catch smaller fish when the temperature drops. Last week I took my nephew out and we caught a ton of small under slot trout and redfish but no keepers. He was so excited because he had never caught so many fish and I wasn’t because none were keepers. That’s what catching awesome fish though out the year does to you, made me ungrateful. Not any more! From here on out, being blessed to be able to fish is gratitude enough for me. Take care, be safe and Have a blessed day.
The cold temps often group the fish together, and the smaller ones are typically most aggressively eating so they are caught most frequently… but there’s always a chance of hooking into a very big one in those same spots. One way to increase odds of the bigger fish is to use bigger lures and/or big chunks of cut mullet/ladyfish which do a good job at weeding out the smaller fish.
Great info as always. Thanks!
Thanks Robert!
Excellent tutorial Luke, those deeper waters close to shallows are great spots. One thing that I believe helps in those conditions also is, WOOD pilings, fallen timber, dilapidated & partially submerged wooden docks as they retain heat from the sun for a substantial amount of time & emit it in the immediate area. Even a couple of degrees increase in the water can trigger a bite.
Great tips George!
Dear Fish Strong Team!
Good morning! My name is Todd Swanson and I am an active member of Fish Strong. First, I want to thank you for creating and maintaining the Smart Fishing Spots app — it’s an incredibly helpful tool for anglers like myself.
I fish frequently in the Flamingo area, and I’ve run into a challenge I hope you can advise me on. Because there
is limited or no cellular reception in many parts of Flamingo, I am often unable to access the Smart Fishing Spots app while on the water. This makes it difficult to use the app in the exact places where I could most benefit from it.
I’m reaching out to ask if Fish Strong has suggestions or plans for how to use Smart Fishing Spots in offline scenarios. Are there options for downloading spots for offline use in advance? Or is there a way to integrate the fishing spots data with a GPS device such as a Garmin? For example, is there a compatible chip, data export, or map overlay that can be used without a cellular connection?
I would greatly appreciate any guidance you can provide — whether
it’s recommended devices, features in the app, or future plans to support offline access.
Thank you in advance for your time and support, and I look forward to your feedback.
Tight lines,
Todd Swanson
Fish Strong Member
Hey Todd, thanks for reaching out. We are working on giving the system the ability to work offline. But in the meantime, the solution is to use the Export feature in the Waypoints section to export whichever waypoints you’d like from Smart Fishing Spots so that you can upload them onto your boat’s GPS unit.
Let me know if you run into any issues in transferring your waypoints over.
OK, great I’ll get that a shot and give you a report!
Thanks Luke
Our pleasure
Being an original native michigander i can tell you what REAL cold weather is because in my opinion southerners have no clue but being now a resident of florida going on 31 years this Sept my blood has thinned out considerably and I usually dont go out unless the temps are at least in the low 50s but this whole week the weather is predicted for the mid to high 20s at night and daytime highs of only about 50 degrees pretty darn cold for Florida’s standards but as far as your info you are definitely spot on because your right fish just don’t dissappear but try and find the warmest water possible which is mostly in deep water then in my case where in my areas of northeast florida they gravitate to oyster mounds with datk muddy bottom structure especially I have found on an outgoing tide because that’s when the water is warmest while we don’t have sandy seagrass flats we do have creeks and marshgrass with tons of oysters and docks in your previous article about rigging the tweeker lure im going to try this lure more in the winter because I know they work and have caught reds, trout, and a couple flounder but these fish were on gulp plastic jerkbaits im surprised you never mention your original plastic jerkbait the one when you made the color Alabama leprechaun (can’t remember the name of this plastic jerkbait only the original color) anyways just got my boat and trailer back from the 2 guys I use for my trailer maintanance and my motor so I am ready to go one final thing to Instagram your lures I always carry what is called a plug knocker basspro shops sell them for about maybe 20 bucks there is a line attached and it has a corkscrew on the bottom that you wind around your line holding your rod in one hand and you lower the knocker with the other hand raising the knocker and letting it slide down hitting your snagged lure it usually frees it after about 2 or 3 tries saved me a ton of money on otherwise lost lures just a thought thanks for the great intel and all you do😉👍
Stupid phone always wants to spell a word that’s incorrect it was your snagged lure not Instagram don’t know how it came up with that word for what I was explaining
Thanks for the helpful tip on the plug knocker product. As for the Alabama Leprechaun Jerk that we used to sell, that is no longer being produced because this PC Tweaker lure replaced it (casts farther and has better darting motion).
As for Gulp jerks, I stopped using them about 7 years ago when they changed their formula in a way that resulted in a softer lure that even pinfish can tear apart… for seagrass zones which hold countless pinfish, using a Gulp product can be a very expensive choice.
I have to agree with your assessment of the Gulp jerk baits. I always get bites on them, but they only ever last for one or two bites before they’re destroyed.
Great learning experience
Thanks Richard!
Slow is the key, to success. Thanks Luke.🎣🙏💯
We’re glad to see that you enjoyed this video Bob