Reports & Forecasts: November 2022

Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242
James loves fishing in the Galveston Bay system in November. “The patterns turn a nice corner for us over here this time of year. The tide levels and water temperatures drop down low enough to make for some steady action related to the shrimp migration, and also in the shallows, where some of the bigger trout show up more of the time. Wading is definitely the way to go this time of year. We have been catching most of our fish lately wading on a firm, sandy bottom, with some scattered shell. We usually see something of a shift toward better results over a little less firm bottom by November, though, especially after Thanksgiving. So we’ll be watching for that to happen. All of the families of lures work well at times during November. When it’s on the warm side, the topwater bite can be off the charts. I like the She-Pup, but bigger ones work well too. Hard baits like 51M MirrOlures, Catch 2000s and others produce well most of the time. And of course, soft plastics like the Assassin Sea Shads will produce plenty of bites too, especially in places where the trout and reds are gorging on shrimp.

Jimmy West - Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054
Jim looks forward to taking advantage of the bounty the great outdoors provides in one of his favorite months. "November is a special time for people like me. I get to split time between the duck blinds and the boat. The duck hunting can be great at the beginning of the season, if we get strong enough cold fronts to push good numbers of birds down this way. Fishing is usually reliable and consistent too. Once the water cools off, it's easier to catch some fish in the way you want to. We'll have fish on the shorelines in the backs of the bays. Wading will be the best way to target them. We usually catch some pretty big trout this time of year, wading shallow reefs and throwing topwaters and twitch baits. Of course, people who don't like to wade can catch plenty of smaller trout out of the boat. We've normally got birds working in both East and Trinity bays, so locating the fish can be fairly easy. The bigger challenge is often finding the flocks hovering over the bigger trout. Another great pattern this month is wading around the mouths of the drains soon after strong fronts pass."

West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves - Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323
Randall reports continued steady action in the area around San Luis Pass leading into the time he gave this November outlook. "We've been catching a bunch of reds in the back-lakes lately, throwing topwaters. We're finding them along shorelines with some patch reefs. Sometimes keying on places where wading birds like egrets and herons are using the activities of the reds to help them catch their prey. In November, our trout fishing is usually steady and consistent. The patterns depend on how many fronts we get and how strong they are. Strong fronts drive the water out and set up the drama of the seasonal shrimp migration. We almost always have some birds working to make things easy, but we also catch plenty of fish by keying on jumping shrimp, even when no birds are hovering over the schools. We catch best this time of year around migrating shrimp by throwing soft plastics. The best colors depend on the clarity of the water. If the water's clear, natural lures, like tequila gold or opening night work best. If the water's stained, and looks like tea, lures with a mix of black and orange or pink and green work better.

Matagorda | Bay Guide Service
Charlie Paradoski – 713.725.2401
Charlie says November is one of the best months of the year to fish the Matagorda area. "We love fishing this time of year. The shrimp usually move out of the marshes and start the whole working-birds phenomenon in earnest. Our trout fishing has been somewhat inconsistent lately, really good one day, not so great the next. Once the gulls start hovering over the herds of shrimp, the consistency level picks up considerably. Right now, the trout are on the shell. We're not having much luck at all catching them over a muddy bottom out of the boat. Wading shell is the only good way to get at 'em. That will all likely change once water temperatures cool down. Lately, everybody around here is targeting redfish, primarily. We've got a bull tide, and the shoreline coves in both bays are loaded with reds. Doesn't take a genius to find 'em either, with so much bait in the bays. This pattern usually lasts into November, so we look forward to some more fun days throwing topwaters and tails at the reds in the shallows. When we're doing this, the numbers of bigger trout start to creep up. By Thanksgiving, they're usually really much improved."

Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204
With cooler air and the bull tides of the fall equinox in play, fishing in the Palacios area has been awesome lately. We've been catching an amazing number of reds. They're schooling and chasing shrimp headed out of the marshes and into the bays. Best bite is always on falling tides when this scenario develops. Matrix Shad in bright colors have worked best, along with gold DOA shrimp-tails. Bull reds have been thick around Bird Island and at the big jetties. They're taking cut mullet and crabs best. Fishing for black drum has picked up too, with lots of keepers biting peeled shrimp dangled about a foot under popping corks around patch reefs. The flounder have showed up too, and we're catching decent numbers while targeting the schools of reds. Small mullet and mud minnows work best if flounder are the target. We're catching lots of trout under the slot in some of these same areas, and hoping more of the bigger ones show up soon, as water temperatures cool off more. When temperatures do drop significantly this month, keying on places with signs of bait becomes really important, when rafts of mullet and schools of shrimp get flushed out of the drains.

Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service - 361.983.4434
Lynn says the fishing for redfish has been on fire around Port O'Connor recently. "Some of the guys are catchin' 'em out at the jetties. Most likely using cut and live bait. I've been doing great in the back-lakes, throwing lures. The fall months are great for topwater action overall, and catching slot reds on top is a really fun way to have some productive fishing. With the high tides, we're finding most of our fish tight to the emerging grass on the banks in some of the lakes. I'm seeing a good many big trout while fishing out of the boat too. Once we get into the colder weather, late in November, the pattern will likely change somewhat. Around Thanksgiving or so, we move into the time frame when the fishing is often better in the afternoons, after the sun heats up the flats some after cold morning low temperatures. When this happens, the tide usually falls out some, so we spend more time targeting fish around some of the drains which connect deeper, open water areas to the back-lakes. When the tide moves out in the afternoon, pouring warm water through the drains, the action can be epic."

Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
In November, cast and blast season cranks up, and life is good for Blake in the Coastal Bend. "The last couple years, the duck hunting has been really good in November. We usually have a wide variety of ducks early in the season, when the big numbers of birds first show up. The fishing is usually good this time of year for a mix of trout and redfish too. Some of the back-lakes have lots of trout in 'em to keep us busy. We often don't have to leave the marsh to catch plenty. It's a great month to throw topwaters, but we always have our trusty dark Sand Eels with chartreuse tails on hand. The reds tackle topwaters pretty regularly this time of year too. Once the weather gets colder and the tide dumps out some, the fishing is often better on main bay shorelines, in places with a sandy, grassy bottom. At that time, the catching usually gets more consistent on the soft plastics, though good topwater days definitely still happen. It's a great time of year to spend time in the outdoors in the Rockport area, with so many productive and fun options available."

Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay - Land Cut
Robert Zapata – [email protected] - 361.563.1160
The catching is heating up about as fast as the weather is cooling off. We haven't had enough cold weather to cause the fish to move around in response to the temperatures, but the air and water definitely feel more pleasant to us and the fish. I'm finding plenty of fish in about three feet of water early in the mornings, and they're still moving into shallower water as the sun rises high in the sky. Both the trout and the reds are favoring areas with sandy, gravelly potholes on the bottom, or along grassy edges. Slow retrieves are working best, and we're mostly throwing soft plastics on eighth ounce jigheads. Bass Assassin Die Dappers in colors like salt & pepper/chartreuse and chicken on a chain continue to produce best, in the clear water on sunny days. With more cloud cover, plum/chartreuse is working best. I'm seeing lots of stingrays in the places we're wading, so it's wise to wear the ForEverLast Ray Guards at all times. Sight-casting for both red and black drum with shrimp-flavored Fish-bites continues to produce good numbers of fish, with the action coming on flats covered by about a foot of water.

Corpus Christi | Joe Mendez – www.sightcast1.com - 361.877.1230
"We typically see some pretty big changes in the patterns that produce well in the Corpus Christi area come November," Joe says. "During the early part of the month, we normally have some of the nicest weather of the year. The air cools off some, but the water is still pretty warm, especially compared with the water in the bays on the Upper Coast. During this part of the month, fishing the shallows and sight-casting for both trout and reds can be spectacular, as it is during all the warm months down here. Topwater action is sometimes off the charts too. But, later in the month, the first strong cold fronts of the season pass through, and things change. Once the water temperatures fall down into the 50s, fishing around or in the Intracoastal Waterway becomes better, especially for the trout. It's not unusual to find birds working in the channel and along its edges around Thanksgiving, from the JFK Causeway to Pure Oil. Once the fish move into the channels, catching them consistently requires using the trolling motor to position the boat precisely and matching jighead size to the amount of current, meaning using heavier ones if it's strong."

P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361-877-3583 | Oceanepics.com
Once the highly anticipated cold fronts begin passing over the coast, the mullet migration will be in full swing, and the red drum and jack crevalle will invade the surf waters in big numbers. The Upper Coast is usually better for bull reds, while the Lower Coast waters produce more fish in the slot. Using a cast net to stock up on bait this time of year is a great idea. Live finger mullet tossed into the waves can produce bites from jacks, Spanish macks, bluefish and sharks, in addition to the reds. In southern stretches of the coast, tarpon are also plentiful in November. Toward the end of the month, Florida pompano usually show up in excellent numbers. Normally, the first ones to show up are the biggest and most numerous. They'll readily take shrimp-flavored Fish-bites and peeled dead shrimp. Both blacktip and bull sharks will be available in good numbers this month. When weather conditions get right, we also find some the largest tiger sharks of the year prowling in the shallows fairly close to the beach. Anglers heading to the edge of the Gulf this time of year should stay aware of weather forecasts, to prevent getting caught off guard by strong fronts.

Port Mansfield | Ruben Garza
Snookdudecharters.com – 832.385.1431
Getaway Adventures Lodge – 956.944.4000
With the arrival of early-season fronts in November, water temperatures usually fall low enough to motivate people to put on waders. Once this happens, choosing places to fish becomes highly dependent on the direction of the wind. Strong north winds blow almost all the water out of some places, while flooding others. Gladys Hole is a prime example. The drop off at the entrance can provide epic action soon after tides fall off the flat behind it. The west shoreline from there to Little Bay can be good too. Topwaters work great at times, usually during warm trends before fronts blow in. Soft plastics rigged on eighth-ounce heads produce best more of the time. When fishing this area in open water this month, looking for mud streaks in the clear water usually pays off, especially if lots of mullet are jumping in the dirty water. Down south, fishing around Bennie's Island is usually productive this time of year. Down there, it's not uncommon to walk up on tailing reds in potholes and find flounder sitting in there with 'em. West Bay also has great potential when the tides dump out. Some days, catching reds in there is as good as it gets.

Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com – 956-639-1941
With air and water temperatures falling and tide levels rising, fall patterns are swinging into gear in the LLM. With the typical high tides of fall, we're finding most of our trout in small pods, scattered along shorelines with a mostly grassy bottom, with some sandy potholes covered by three to five feet of water. Most of the fish we're catching are under the slot, but we're getting some solid eighteen to twenty inchers too. KWiggler Ball Tails in Mansfield Margarita rigged on quarter-ounce screw-lock jigheads have been producing best. Redfish numbers have been steady too, and we're finding them in lots of places, with so much water in the lagoon. The key is locating an abundance of small baitfish, usually finger mullet, along flooded shorelines. Early in the mornings, we are getting plenty of blow ups on Spook Juniors rigged with single hooks, throwing them right at the bank. Plum/chartreuse KWiggler Willow Tails on eighth-ounce heads work better later in the day. The fish are highly mobile with the rising tides of early fall, so anglers who want to do more catching than fishing have to put a priority on locating massive concentrations of bait to keep the bites coming.