Hello fellow anglers January in S.W. Florida another year passed. And we are starting a new year of fishing. There are many options this time of year of species to target. Let's talk about the inshore possibilities. There should be plenty of trout on the grass flat in two-to-four-foot depths. Popping corks with live or artificial baits are a good bet to harvest some keepers for a fresh fish meal. You may also use some top water lures and suspending like mirror dine or catch two thousand by Mirror lure. Also, some soft plastics with paddle tails to make some vibration to get their attention. If you find an area that they are very aggressive you could even use a fly rod with some top water flies. If you want to target red fish, they like to hang around the roots of the mangrove and on the cooler days you may find them hanging out in the sand holes on the flats. Fishing along the mangroves like you would bass fish trolling motor along and hit the pockets and out cropping's gold spoons or soft plastics are a good bet. If you are fishing the sand holes anchor a long casting distance from your target spot and use shrimp or quartered blue crabs or cut bait, lady fish or sardines. Also, around the passes where there is some sand flounder can be targeted with a shrimp and a jig slow rolled across the sand. They could also be offshore on the edges of the close to shore reefs around the edges in the sand. The near shore reefs should be holding sheepshead too. And in moving water around the passes, you could cast some pompano jigs tipped with a small piece of shrimp to target the pompano. And depending on the temperature of the water you can hunt for king and Spanish mackerel. My Pop's always told me kings at 68/ 72-degree water was a great time for the kings. Also, in our area there are some natural ledges that if you use shrimp, you may find an area that you could catch hog fish. This is the same areas you can find some of the snappers, lanes and mangroves. There will be white grunts and porgies too. All of these species are great eating and are fun to catch. Always look at the regulations for the size limits and bag limits. I use the Fishrules app from FWC. And if you are able to get into federal waters 9 miles some of the rules are different. So, if you would like to come along with Capt. Bart Marx and catch some of these species or you would like me to come on your boat for a training session give me a call 941-979-6517 or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegacharters.com and we can get you on the calendar for your memory making trip. And always remember singing drags and tight lines make me smile. <*(((((>{