Hello anglers! November is here already and we should start seeing some changes out there as we move through the month. I recorded water temperatures in the 80’s late into October, so it seems things are a little behind schedule. Expect temps to drop very soon as cold fronts begin to arrive. This means migratory fish will be on the move.
Backcountry / Bay / Inshore: It should be a great month for trout, redfish and flounder! I’ve been seeing a lot of bait activity throughout our bay system. Live shrimp, pilchards, or menhaden would be my go-to baits on the flats and around structure. For flounder, you can’t beat a bull minnow on a slip sinker rig or soft plastics on a jig head bumped slowly on hard sand bottom. Keep a lookout for those birds bombing. Spanish mackerel will be making that last big run. Spoons, gotcha plugs and trolled tree rigs will be the ticket.
GULF: There will still be some big kings and mahi mahi hanging around so keep some trolling and free-line rigs tied up. Bottom fishing will yield snappers, triggers, amberjacks, and grouper. If I have a few people on the boat, I like to mix up dropping big and small baits for a variety of species. I would keep at least one big bait down around structure for those grouper. Live squirrel fish are my favorite for gags but many other larger live baits will produce. Keep your hook and leader sizes in accordance to bait size.
SURF: Spoons and gotchas will get a lot of tugs this month as the Spanish mackerel, blue fish, lady fish, and many more make their run down the beaches. Shrimp, crabs and fresh cut baits will produce some red fish, whiting and a few others fished on the bottom. A free-lined blue runner or cigar minnow on a larger surf rod won’t be a bad idea because there will still be a few big kings cruising the beach as well.
Thanks for reading and fish on!
CAPT. JASON SHINGLER
Adrenaline On H20
Panama City, FL
(850) 348-2282