Anglers who fish any part of the Mobile Bay system in November need to be prepared for some low water and some hot fishing. When the cold fronts blow through, the water in Mobile Bay gets pushed out
into the Gulf by the strong north winds, so boaters have to exercise extra caution. It is easy to run aground on a mud bar, but it can be pretty hard to get off again. However, the fishing can be very good in November on the Mobile Bay system.
After a cold front blows through, I like to look for deep holes in both the Bay itself and in feeder streams. I concentrate on inlets and bayous where the fish can find deeper water where the temperatures are more comfortable for them. Also, the lower water concentrates baitfish, crabs, and left over shrimp in the deeper pockets, and the specks and redfish can find easier food. Specks, redfish and lots of flounder will be found in the deeper pockets and holes, and they will all bite the same bait and lures. Also, it is not unheard of for anglers to find tripletail still around pilings, posts and crab traps floats in the bigger water of Mobile Bay.
In November, I like to use live shrimp, but it can be difficult to find live shrimp in November, so I fall back to finger mullet which can be cast netted fairly easily. Whether shrimp or finger mullet is my bait, I use just enough weight on a Carolina rig to get the bait down to the bottom, and I tend to lighten up on my gear. Twelve pound test line is plenty heavy for November fishing in most situations, and the lighter line allows me to feel gentle bites much better. If I can’t find live shrimp, I have good results with soft plastic grubs- GULPs are good as are Deadly Dudleys on small jigheads. Work these slowly, bouncing them off the bottom to imitate a shrimp trying to find a place to hide in the mud.
I like to troll- I don’t use the main outboard but rely on my trolling motorin the rivers that feed into Mobile Bay. Fowl River, Dog River, and Bayou Le Batre River can all be very good in November. When I troll, I pull soft plastic grubs, diving plugs with lips that bounce on the bottom, Rat-L-Traps, and MirroLures to establish what the fish want on a particular day. When I find fish by trolling, I mark the spot on my GPS and make several other passes trolling through the area. Some very nice messes of fish can be caught in late fall by slow-trolling the deeper holes in any of the tributary streams of Mobile Bay.
So, don’t let the cooler weather put you off – give Captain Yano a call and we’ll go fishing.