by Capt. Patrick Smith, Contributing Writer
This is probably my favorite month of the year for fishing! In saltwater there are plenty of mullet around but so much that it’s hard to get your bait to stand out in the crowd. There’s also a lot of predators around, giant jacks, snook, sharks and tarpon. Slow trolling a live mullet is a great way to figure out who is in the area. Snook and jacks will be on every seawall deep enough to hold them just waiting to ambush bait or even artificial. The DOA Baitbusters and Yozuri hydro pencil would be my first two choices for working the docks, seawalls and edges of mullet schools.
The freshwater really shines this time of the year. This is all very dependent on the cold fronts of course, but on an early November trip last year we managed to release 300+ peacocks and largemouths. But a couple days later it got cold and the bite really slowed down. The year before the peacock fishing went till February before it got too cold for them to be happy. It’s all in Mother Nature’s hands now and we will just have to wait and see.
Live shiners are the main choice on the live bait side but don’t be scared to throw some artificials. Weightless flukes skipped deep under docks and seawalls can be deadly along with Gambler Big EZ in ghost shad worked slowly around structure.
Trolling crank baits is a great tactic for locating fish too. The Rapala sr7 in shiny or bright colors should get the bite. Don’t be surprised if you notice the line peeling off your reel when you hook up with a surprise sunshine bass. In my opinion they are the strongest fish on the lake and taste pretty good also.
Capt. Patrick Smith
www.swamptosea.com
561-503-0848
Captpatrick@swamptosea.com