Mid-Coast Bays: November 2014

Hello autumn! I welcome the cool crisp mornings. The grass is dewy and you can smell fall in the air. Trees change color almost magically and the bays change during fall as well. Fog will become common as cool night air stretches over the warm waters of the bays. The hours of daylight are growing noticeably shorter than even a few weeks ago.

Weather is the single-most significant factor that affects fish activity. Every one that has spent time fishing knows that rapidly changing atmospheric pressure during frontal passages can bring fishing activity to a halt even in peak activity times. Weather and fishing charts are based on steady fair weather. Changing weather may result in activity levels less than what is shown in the chart. It is also true that knowing when weather will stabilize is equally important to predicting heightened feeding activity.

With the changing of weather from summer to fall, San Antonio Bay undergoes a phenomenon every year at this time and while I know I've discussed this before it warrants mentioning again for those who are new to the area.

In the larval stage, white shrimp follow southerly winds and incoming tides in spring to arrive in the Guadalupe Delta estuary. Here they grow rapidly in the nutrient-rich rich water and abundant cover afforded by various sea grasses. During fall, when north winds drain the marshes, these now much bigger shrimp migrate into the open waters of San Antonio Bay, headed to the gulf where they will mature and spend their adult days. Following this centuries old migration will be numerous saltwater fish species. Sand trout, redfish, sheepshead, black drum, flounder, and of course, speckled trout.

Birds hovering over schools of feeding fish will be one of the first indications that this migration has started to take place. My experience in years past, probably due to lighter winds, is that this tends to happen more in the morning hours than afternoon.

Once you have spotted the birds and located a school of feeding fish, taking a silent approach from upwind of the school is important. Blasting your way right up into the middle of the birds may allow you to snag a few fish on the initial casts but a better approach is to motor up close to where the birds are working and then use your trolling motor to get you within casting distance. The fish are much less likely to spook away from you giving you the opportunity to make many more casts before they become aware of your presence and dissipate.

Baits of choice for me will be soft plastics rigged under a rattling cork. Whether you decide on an artificial shrimp or one of Bass Assassin's more natural-colored soft plastics, the use of a cork allows you to keep that lure in the strike zone longer than without. I also like to use a cork that is weighted, allowing for more distance when casting. A rig with about 18 inches of leader is a good length when fishing open water under birds. "Popping" your cork every five seconds or brings your soft plastic to life, enticing those feeding fish.

Flatfish, AKA flounder, is another species that gets a lot of attention during the month of November. During the fall, mature flounder will be making their way to the gulf to spawn. This becomes a no-brainer when searching for them. Searching out cuts and inlets that are in the area closest to passes to the gulf will greatly improve your success. An outgoing tide improves your odds even more.

Anything from fresh-dead shrimp to a 4" GULP Swimming Mullet in pumpkinseed will catch flounder. I usually opt to rig my GULP baits on 1/8 ounce jigs. Keeping the offering moving slowly across or near the bottom of these inlets is the best ticket for lots of flounder bites. Flounder are notorious for only mouthing the bait for a few seconds following a strike so an immediate hook-set is not always the best idea. This can take a few practice "misses" before one gets the hang of it. Rod and reel will be the only method allowed this month to catch flounder. In an attempt to improve our flounder fishery anglers are limited to keeping only two per day during November.

Speaking of limits, back in September TPWD officially lowered our trout limits here on the mid-coast from ten per day to a more conservative number of five. I am excited to say the least. I believe these lower trout limits and the reopening of Cedar Bayou will bring some long-overdue relieve to our over-pressured bays systems here on the middle coast.