The only thing we will have to worry about in the month of November is the weather. Will it let us go fishing, or will it be windy and cold? The fish will not pay too much attention to how fast the wind blows, but they will be feeling how cold the water temperature is when it drops below 60 degrees. You may have to plan your fishing trips a little differently in that the inshore fish will be in the deeper holes and further offshore. At the present, the speckled trout, flounder, redfish, and sand trout are really coming on strong, and I hope they continue to do so during the month of November. The flounder that are so plentiful and so large are following the drop in the water temperature and moving to the offshore, artificial structures in 25-75 feet of water. I saw a flounder yesterday, October 14, that was as large as I have seen in several years. He measured 24.5 inches from nose to tail. I could not imagine a dinner plate large enough to hold him!
Offshore fishing is really great at this time and I fully expect it to continue through November and into December. The average gag grouper is about 15 pounds, with some of them going as high as 50 pounds. Along with the gag grouper are a lot of scamp and back in a little shallower water the red grouper will take your bait as fast as you put it down. Be careful or you will be over your limit before you realize.
There are still plenty of large king mackerel, wahoo, and a few large mahi mahi waiting for a good bait. The amberjack are as large as I remember in the last 25 years, and they just seem to be plentiful on most all of the larger wrecks. I am not sure why there are so many large amberjack this year, but I am certainly happy about it. If next year’s fishing comes on as good or maybe even a little better than this year, I don’t see how our government regulators can continue to put the restrictions on any of us from bringing home a couple more fish. We could certainly use them on the table and maybe we will stop killing so many that we throw back because of their restrictions. The red snapper are more plentiful and larger than I have seen them in several years.
Don’t forget to file a float plan, and let somebody know when you are going to return.