By Capt. Billy Norris
Fishing this month has been great, despite the return of red tide. If you know where to go and how to avoid the cruddy water, you’ll have a great fishing day! The backwaters have been producing a ton of redfish. Small rat reds from 18-25 inches are abundant, with some bigger stud fish mixed in. Look for them on the flats, against the mangroves, and even in deeper water on a low tide. Snook have also been active in the backwaters and big jacks are of no shortage. Bait has been tough. Although the red tide isn’t killing the bait off while it’s swimming in the gulf, it drops dead as soon as it hits the livewell. Your best bet is to fill your livewell with clean water where you know there is no red tide, and then cut your pumps and close the intake off. When you catch bait, put them in the clean water and run a recirc pump or aerator on them to keep them alive until you get back to fishable water. Once the water’s clean, turn your livewell back on like a regular system.
Nearshore has been on fire. Once you get past the red tide water, fish are waiting! As far as fish for the dinner table, cobia and snapper have been the stars of the show. As we reach wintertime the cobia will thin out, but this past month has been excellent. Mangrove snapper have been readily available on the nearshore wrecks and patch reef. Heavy chumming with a light 30-pound fluorocarbon leader have led to many successful days, limiting out on good mangs. If you’re looking for sport fish, the action has also been fantastic. There are plenty of big barracudas crushing baits and goliath grouper are on nearly every wreck putting your tackle to the test. We’ve also done very well on permit this past month, with some solid fish coming boat side. Fishing has been on fire and will continue to be great through the winter months, so get out there and catch the big one!
Contact Billy Norris at 239-285-7710