Happy November Treasure Coast fish fans, I hope there is a lot for you to be thankful for this month. Unfortunately, I know, good weather, and clean water are not two things that jump to the front of the list after such a difficult September and October. But don’t lose hope, November should change all of that for the better. With hurricane season almost behind us, and hopefully record amounts of rainfall as well, cooler waters and the northwest winds of fall should/will bring, sails, wahoo, dolphin, blackfin tuna and virtually every other species of Atlantic fish migrating down our coast and reefs.
This time of year, is traditionally when we go back to trolling, although the last few years, more and more people have been putting up the kites with a spread of live bait and enjoying great days of fishing that way too. Bait is usually pretty consistently caught this time of year as long as it’s hasn’t been too rough, and the water isn’t too turned up and dirty. Capt. Bill Shuda’s “Home Port Charts” offer a number of great bait catching spots, along with all the best local reefs and wrecks. Chart 36 is our area and having one on board is a must. While trolling or live baiting this month, we would typically focus along the Six Mile and Eight Mile reefs along with areas and wrecks that hold bait in the 75-to-175-foot range, but if that doesn’t seem to pan out, it could definitely be worth running a little further out this year. Keep an eye out for faint color changes and barely visible tide lines. North tide plays a pretty big role in getting bites and usually you’ll find that starting just a few miles off the beach, but the last few months there have been days when the tide is actually moving south or there’s a down-tide out as far as 10 miles. Situations like this usually don’t make for great days of trolling or live baiting, but if you’re prepared, you can really have special deep-water bottom fishing on these days. I always have a few R&R Tackle deep-drop rigs on board along with squid chunks. They have a glow bead and the hooks seem to maintain a better ratio than most, so we lose less fish bringing them up. We use Fin Nor 50 Marquesa reels on a Blackfin Bottom Rod and it’s the perfect combo for 65-365. I encourage hand-cranking in anything less than 500 feet for the preservation of the species and in order to not spin them off when your reeling them in too fast. We have even been dropping down as deep as 1600 manually for daytime swordfish our last few trips and it is amazing what today’s reels, rods and lines are capable of. Speaking of swords, this is a great time of year to target them. Last November on the whole was spectacular. We had one of my most memorable sword fights ever, we had double-digit sailfish days during the Palm Beach Sailfish Classic and the Fish Heads tournaments along with the days following, we great bottom action for snapper and sea bass and we even released a blue marlin in the middle of it all.
If this year is anything like last year. We’ll definitely have some good fishing to be thankful for this month. Hope to hear from you soon. Happy Thanksgiving.
FORECAST BY: Capt. Scott Fawcett
Off the Chain Fishing Charters
Phone: (772) 285-1055
Email: fishscottyf@bellsouth.net
www.offthechainfishing.com
