Fishing Report – November 4th, 2022

Here is the November 4th fishing report. My reports are published in the Tampa Bay Times every 4th and 20th of the month! Thank you for reading, and I look forward to getting you all out on the water soon! Capt. Brian.

Warm temperatures have allowed snook to continue inhabiting the beaches and passes although they are transitioning towards the back country but slower than usual.

The larger female fish have mostly moved into the intercoastal waterways however there are several smaller male fish congregating around the passes, jetties in interior beaches of the barrier islands from Clearwater to Tarpon Springs. It is unusual to see so many snook this late in the year however we have only really had one cold front Which did drop temperatures fairly quickly although they have rebounded.

Bait is very plentiful on the flats and snook are responding to sardines which are netted in the morning. I am setting up to catch bait just before the sun rises, chumming over the grass flats in 2 to 4 feet of water. I’ve been using a 10 and some times 12 foot cast net with quarter inch mesh. They are made with less weight for shallow water, however when catching bait near deep water structures such as channel markers, I have other nets that are much heavier to sink quicker. Pin fish are also being caught in the cast net. I have been using mostly pinfish for redfishing as the tide rises the fish begin to push towards the mangrove shorelines.

There has been a very strong population of Mullet in Saint Joseph sound, making it easy to target the correct shoreline for red fishing since they use the schools of mullet for protection. Several black tip and lemon sharks have been cruising the flats looking for an easy meal so the red fish, snook and mullet are all targets. Occasionally we will hook the shocks when using cut pieces of bait while red fishing. If they’re hooked just right you can win the battle, but most times their teeth contact the floor, leader and cut off after just a few seconds.

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