The reefs of Fort Lauderdale are bustling with fish. Kingfish are biting excellent during the early mornings and then again in the late afternoons. The kingfish bite usually slacks off during the middle of the day, but snapper and grouper fishing is always good during those hours. Kingfish that we’re catching average 8 to 12 pounds and are biting surprisingly well, considering how slow the kingfish bite has been earlier this year. Up until now, we’ve had a relatively slow year for kingfish but it looks like it’s turning around. We’re still seeing the mullet schools coming down the edge and with them also comes a lot of activity. Mahi-mahi, wahoo, tuna, cobia and sailfish are all found following the mullet schools down our coastline. This time of year, we’ll have some of these bigger game fish mixed in with our catches. Tip: Always have a pitch bait ready to throw out there for a mahi-mahi or cobia that swims up to the boat unexpectedly.
In the afternoons and at night, snapper fishing on the bottom is a good bet. Yellowtail snapper and red groupers are biting good, with a few mutton snapper mixed in too. We anchor fish on our night trips, chumming the water and fishing the bottom. Yellowtail snapper are smaller fish, 1 to 2 pounds on average. If you get them chummed up and feeding, you can catch a ton of them. Regular cut bait like squid, kingfish belly and cigar minnows are all good baits for yellowtail snapper. With yellowtails, the more chum you throw out there, the better your catch. Fish a bigger bait on the bottom for mutton snappers and red grouper. A ballyhoo plug works very well or catch a small grunt and drop it back down alive.
Bottom fishing in November will keep you busy reeling in fish. Good luck to everyone fishing this month.
I’ll sea ya on the water.
Capt. Paul Roydhouse
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