November is a transitional month, we are moving from summer time fishing to winter time. My clients will not be catching as many tarpon, permit and bonefish but will start catching barracuda, sharks, jacks and a mixed bag of other fish.
Key west tarpon fishing
My only chance at tarpon this month came during a warming trend with long time client Brian Peterson, we headed out and found plenty of tarpon slowly rolling. The fish had lock jaw early in the morning, however after 8hrs of flats fishing and a change of tide. Brian hooked a feisty 60 to 80 pounder that gave us 3 fantastic jumps before spitting the hook.
Key west shark fishing
Is always fantastic in November, as long as the water temp does not drop drastically. Two fishing trips come to mind.The first one was with Molly and Joel Dausch. The shark fishing was slow but Molly land a huge lemon shark that was 6 to 8 feet long and well over 100 pounds. The second trip was with Shannon and Kevin Donnellan. We must of had 20 sharks drawn to our chum, we landed 4 and lost 3 before they decided to call it quits.
Key west barracuda fishing is just starting to ramp up. My clients are all getting shots and we are starting to land a few. My largest cuda landed was by Kevin Donnellan but my best day was with Tom Rostron. We headed out of Key west around 11 and found plenty of hungry barracudas on our first flat. Throughout the day we kept losing what appeared to be solidly hooked fish. I tried new lures, sharpening hooks but what did the trick was bending out the treble hook. We landed 2 small cudas but had 15 or more eats.
Key west permit and bone fishing was only good for 1 day. Brian Peterson was the lucky angler that day. We caught the incoming tide west of Key west and had plenty shots at permit. We had a few shots off target but a refusal by a truly monstrous permit. Brian presented the crab perfectly, the huge fish rushed the bait and just before eating spooked. We saw a few schools of feeding bonefish in deep water but did not get a quality shot.
Key west jack fishing has been fantastic. When the weather allows me to fish the Gulf. These powerful fish are shadowing sharks and sting rays and will eat just about anything. Almost all my clients have caught jacks this month. Kevin caught the largest and the most, he landed 5 jacks and 1 was around 12 pounds.
Key west flats fishing report brought to you by A.W.S charters. Capt Anthony Skinner at www.keywestflatsfishin.com.