[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ell we made it through most of the year, summer is gone and the kids are hard at work in school, Halloween just came and went and now it’s already time for Thanksgiving!! November brings us cooler weather and water temperatures, but don’t put away the boat and fishing tackle just yet because there is still ample opportunity to get a few more fish for the freezer. October typically shows us our largest body of fish for the fall with our world class wahoo fishery and the large volumes of blackfin tuna swimming around. The good side of it is that there is still a good quantity of these fish around in November, the bad is that it may be a little longer run to get to them and you need to be prepared for some tougher weather.
Here on the Crystal Coast we do manage to keep this body of fish around for a good while with decent catches lasting right on into December. The main trick is being patient and waiting for a good weather window to get out there after them. The days are shorter, air temps will be cold, the inshore water will be cold and you will not find good offshore water temps until you get very close to the fishing grounds. Obviously there is never a good time to have a problem on a boat but cold weather/ cold water fishing is a different animal entirely and your prep for such a trip needs to be right on point! Make sure you have everything as “ready” as possible and then be sure that you have all proper safety gear and plenty of warm layers, if you have a problem this time of year you are likely to be waiting a while for help (especially since PEDRO is no longer here to help us!).
The upside to all this is the fish will be there and if you watch your satellite shots you should be able to find some very nice temperature breaks to fish. Fishing is fishing whether its summer or winter, some days they bite and some days they don’t. If you can identify a likely area to fish this time of year you will probably find a fairly large temp change there. Once you find that in the 30-50 fathom range just keep working around until you find the bait, and then stay on that bait until you get the bite – the fish are going to be here, you just have to find where they are wanting to be. Otherwise there is no big secret for tackle, everything should be rigged on piano wire and I always use a good solid hook (very sharp!). You need the wire for the wahoo and the tuna will readily bite the same rig. Fish any of your favorite color combinations but I would suggest keeping at least 1 blue/white out there. A planer rod is going to be your best friend anytime you are wahoo fishing, many days it will get 80-90% (or more) of your bites.
Fall and winter fishing is good here on the Crystal Coast, but the potential weather hazards and longer runs make your preparation that much more critical than usual. Make sure everything is working properly, think about getting an EPIRB if you don’t have one, pack some warm dry clothes and get those hooks razor sharp! Once that all done find a likely spot and get yourself offshore for some late season action.