It was a gusty afternoon but the redfish were still happy! Needed to work hard to find places shielded from a heavy NorthEast wind but it paid off. Caught reds by structure with mud minnows and popping corks. Dotty produced the nicest fish of day, a 7lb red that fell prey to the old reliable blue crab.
Long time regulars, David and his son joined me as we targeted redfish at low tide. The reds were somewhat finicky but ultimately they couldn’t resist fresh chunks of blue crab. Robert caught his biggest red ever, a 27″ beauty while Dad put a nice eight pounder in the boat as well. Finished the charter catching trout with corks.
Fishing has been quite good this Fall and anglers can expect it to improve in November. Chilly mornings combined with lower water temperatures remind redfish and trout that it is time to eat before all the food disappears with the onset of Winter. Take some time to go fishing with the family around the Thanksgiving holiday and make the best of what our fishery offers.
As usual, redfish have begun to congregate in large schools that will only grow bigger. Reds huddle together for protection in numbers from dolphins. Dolphins, who do not slow down in the Winter, find sluggish redfish to be easy prey. Finding and casting to pods of 50-100 redfish can be thrilling and even make your knees tremble on the bow. Smaller artificial lures rigged on 1/8oz. jigheads have proven to be quite effective.
You won’t have to change your lure when you decide to target trout. The same rig of an artificial lure on a jighead produces fine here as well. If you catch a trout, there will likely be plenty of others nearby. Move your lure slowly as the fish are moving slowly too. If possible, try to bounce the jighead off the bottom and set the hook when you feel the resistance of a striking fish. Lures in darker hues of gray and blue are performing the best.
For the angler on the fly rod, the focus switches from tailing tides to the big schools of redfish on the flats at low tide. Darker flies work well but don’t be afraid to throw some copper flies with lots of flash. Most importantly, make sure to take your time and approach these fish quietly as even a small noise will send these spooky fish scrambling away.
See you on the water!
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