November gets us past the storms, swells and dirty water of October and into some better fishing conditions. As a result, bottom fishing will pick up as snapper and grouper start to establish their winter patterns. We keep hoping for a quickie east coast red snapper fishing season in 2018. The SAFMC and NOAA have hinted at such, but no word at the time of this writing. Keep an ear open for an announcement on this matter. Snapper fishing really heats up in the 90-foot range. Other species like grouper, trigger fish, and cobia will be taken in this area too. For red snapper, look for the larger red marks on your sonar suspended a few feet off the bottom. The ARS is an easy fish to find with your electronics in this way. If you donât want to anchor, try a whole squid presented on a three-way rig. Put the squid on so that it flows through the water when drifting. Twisting is the kiss of death. A frozen cigar minnow or Spanish sardine will usually draw a strike at anchor.
Trolling should improve for us in the Gulf Stream with Novemberâs cleaner water. Although not considered a banner trolling month, dolphin, wahoo and sailfish will be taken by those who get out and drag some baits. There will be less fishing pressure this time of year. Out of Sebastian, the edge of the Gulf Stream usually falls at about 180 feet (give or take a couple miles). This is a good area to work over thoroughly. As usual, look for sargassum weed and a color change. The best type of sargassum weed is that which forms a clear edge on one side. This gives away the location of a current rip and the fish will feed here. The less desirable âlazy weedsâ are those that lay around an area and are not lined up.
No matter what type of fishing you end up doing offshore, live bait is always a plus. If you are in a fishy looking area offshore and the fish wonât bite your trolled ballyhoo, try drifting a couple livies. Of course, a livie is golden when it is dropped down to the bottom on the reef. Often, there are threadfins (aka greenies) outside Sebastian Inlet near the tide line. If near the surface, greenies will create small splashes that look like someone flicked the water with their finger. Deeper schools will show up on the depth finder as large red masses. Cast a sabiki rig into them and twitch the rod. SISA reefs out of Sebastian also hold good bait. Spanish sardines and cigar minnows will hold on the artificial reef. Drop a #6 green glow sabiki rig down with a two-to-four-ounce lead weight. Tip the sabiki with small pieces of squid tentacles to pick up other baits like pinfish and blue runners. Bethel Shoal buoy to the south of Sebastian is another good bait for bait. Use the small green sabiki rigs with flourocarbon leaders here. The bait can be finicky at the buoy sometimes.
Best of luck out there and remember: âWhen life gets hectic, stay calm and go fishing!â
FORECAST BY: Capt. Randy Lang
Sebastian Gypsy Fishing Charters
Email: gypsycharters@gmail.com
Website:Â www.sebastianfishingcharter.com
