Coastal Duck Hunting Recap
There is no doubt that the 2017-18 season was one of the toughest on record. The waters up north froze early and stayed that way for the majority of the season. The east coast had record snowfall as far south as Savannah GA and Tallahassee, FL. These abnormalities are due to the polar vortex scattering our ducks all over the country. In part here is an overall look at the hunting recap of the season.
Our friends at the NYC Ducks Unlimted dinner, we realized that they shared a similar duck season experience. They mentioned that their season started off strong but then took a turn for the worst as the season went on. The polar vortex hit the eastern half of our country with full force. One of the unexpected benefits is the variety of species we encountered scattered throughout the eastern flyway. Surf Scooters and Golden Eyes mixed with the thousands of bluebills and redheads that eventually showed up in our late season. The peak migrations numbers began to appear in late Jan/Feb this year as opposed to pre/ post-Christmas dates of years past.
January And February Fishing Report
Sheepshead was consistently present in the Orange Beach / Perdido Key area in late January. While this remained to be true in 2018, the did delay their arrival. Speckled trout held up in the Big Lagoon until the temperature took a sharp turn south. Redfish also held to their typical pattern of staying around the docks and bridges for the majority of the season. While wind is a major factor throughout the winter months, it did not play as big as a role as the drastic temperature changes did this year.