There is a large winter fishery habitat from Dunn Sound, the upper Calabash River and the large flats behind Bird Island, according to Jeff Burleson (Carolina Sportsman, February 2022). 

Guide Brandon Huskins of Any Tide Charters notes that redfish will congregate in areas where there is a 2-3 degree temperature increase occurring in the middle of the day. If you have a shallow draft boat or a kayak you can get to potholes in the backs of creeks, places where the redfish are schooled up during the winter. When the sun heats up the water over dark mud and the shallows during low tide that makes a big difference to a fish. One strategy is to set up near the pothole an hour or two before low tide and let the fish pour out of the shallow spots. They will either be in the potholes or will be feeding along oyster bars and sand flats that lead up to the potholes.

The creeks do not hold as much shrimp and baitfish as during the warmer months, but some mullet and mud minnows do overwinter there. Since food is scarce the redfish may not be too picky, but a slow bait presentation will still work best. Try mud minnows on a jig head or similar artificial fished correctly will work. As always, shrimp are a go-to! 

Huskins likes to use lightly weighted Ned Heads with small Z-Man soft plastics. Cast to the target area and wiggle or bounce the lure a little and if they are going to eat, they will take it. He reports days where he can catch 20-30 fish without moving his boat. An exciting fish story to say the least!

He says that redfish are homebodies, and they will routinely come to the same potholes every day for a week or two as long as they don’t get run out of the house by tides or something else. 

Brandon can be reached at Any Tide Charters (843-877-7068)