Inshore fishing on the beach, and in the bay, ICW and crooked island sound will be your best place to catch a fine cooler of fish. On the beach the whiting, sand trout, pompano, will be your best target. A fresh shrimp tail or squid finger is the best bait in January. In the bay, crooked island sound and icw the speckled trout, triple tail, sheepshead and large red fish will be your target. There are so many big red fish that it will be hard to catch one less than 27 in. January weather will be what to watch before going fishing.
January is not usually a good month to try to make an offshore trip as most days the winds are blowing a little too high for safety and good fishing. However, you can usually get 2 or 3 good days and there are plenty of fish that would like to come home with you that you can actually keep. You need to be fishing in waters at least 150-200 feet deep. At this time we do not know what the marine fisheries council will allow us to keep or have to throw back. There are plenty of red grouper and scamp just waiting for you to offer them some bait to eat. Be sure and check the weather forecast before leaving the dock and be very careful as the cold weather in January is not usually a safe time to fish offshore.
Don’t forget to file a float plan, and let somebody know when you are going to return.