Go Fish for 12/23/12 by Capt. Bill Miller

Cold weather should move good fish into the warm water outflows of local power plants.

Cobia are prime targets and can be seen cruising on top. Quietly casting a live bait or big dark colored soft plastic eel on a jig in front of the cruising cobia will usually draw a strike. When cobia are not visible on top, try anchoring on the channel edge and putting over a chum bag. Jumbo shrimp on the bottom and free lined in the chum will draw blind strikes from cobia.

Also expect to find pompano, trout, reds, sharks and many others in the warm water plume. Pay special attention to Homeland Security signs. Some power plant areas are off limits.

Triple tails are hanging around crab trap buoys in the Gulf. A live bait, jig or DOA shrimp cast up tide of the crab buoy and the visible triple tail will usually draw an immediate strike.

Silver trout are solid off Redington Beach hard bottom areas in 10-16 feet of water. Silvers show up like clouds near the bottom on your depth recorder. When you find them a tandem Love Lure vertically jigged will fill your cooler.

Before the cold front Larry Mastry was still catching kingfish in the Egmont ship channel. Mastry was using Sabiki rigs to catch bait around the markers and instantly putting them out on a slow trolled stinger rig. Also included in the catch were big Spanish mackerel, bonitos and sharks. Markers 3 and 4 were the hot spot.

The St. Joseph Sound speckled trout bite is starting to heat up. The deep grass areas and spoil islands are the best spots using soft plastics and jumbo shrimp for bait. A few pompano and blue fish are also being caught.