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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
November 4, 2000
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
What’s Biting on the Gulf in November?
I can hardly believe it’s already November. Seems like October just flew by. I sure hope the gorgeous weather we’ve been having holds for a while. Tell ya what, as pretty as it’s been on the Gulf, we’ve been enjoying one of the best fall kingfish runs I’ve seen in years. Of course all it takes is a good hard Nor’Western blowing for a week or so to push them right on down to the Florida Straits. Otherwise if the weather continues to hold who knows we may be eating kingfish for Thanksgiving Supper.
You know occasionally I hear people say they don’t care to eat kingfish. Too oily or some jibber jabber like that. I’ve got to tell ya, if cooked fresh on the grill, I love it. White tender meat that’s so moist it melts in your mouth. Anyway fishing is not all about killing and eating everything you catch. Sometimes I like to just catch’em for the fun of it, and then carefully release them so they can reproduce. You know the way I see it is whenever you release a fish today, it will be there for tomorrow. It’s kind of neat when you think about the fisheries as a reusable resource. As Florida’s population continues to explode we must all work together to protect these valuable resources for us as well as future generations.
King Mackerel – Have been stacked offshore for weeks now. Best areas to locate the main schools of them seem to be over hard bottom in 35’ to 50’ feet deep. One way to locate the kings is to look for the birds. Once you spot some birds such as pelicans or terns more than likely you’ll find baitfish. I’ve said it before; the kings follow the bait schools. There are many methods used to catch king mackerel from trolling different types of hardware to live baiting. There are many types of live baits that work good for king mackerel such as shiners, sardines, blue runners, large shrimp, and even grunts.
Spanish Mackerel – Are everywhere offshore right now. One of my favorite ways to catch them is anchoring the boat and free-lining live shiners to them on light tackle. If you don’t have any shiners try trolling silver spoons behind #1 or #2 planners.
Snapper – Lately we been catching a lot of lane snapper. They seem to be on just about every piece of bottom that we anchor down on. They are beautiful fish, and they are sweet to eat. All you need to do is locate any kind of hard bottom out past 40’ feet deep and drop a rig to the bottom. They will hit any cut bait you put down.
Gag Grouper – This area is known for it’s excellent grouper fishing, and I would say the most sought after grouper is the gag. Recently the minimum size limit was pushed up to 22 inches. This is a good thing due to all the pressure on this species. As the Gulf continues to cool this month look for gags to start moving into some of their winter haunts. Gag grouper often will tend to hang closer to structure such as wrecks, and ledges.
Red Grouper – Most of the keeper red grouper will be out past 60’ foot deep. Although the minimum size for gags was pushed up to 22 inches, red grouper size limit remains at 20 inches. On the days with light winds, try drift fishing new areas. Bouncing jigs tipped with squid or a piece of cut sardine will provoke hits.
Cobia – have already made a showing in the past couple weeks. Look to find them hanging around channel markers, pilings and piers. The artificial reefs are also a great place to fish for them. I like to use small live fish such as grunts or sardines for bait.
If you’ve never had the chance to get out and catch king mackerel and you’d like to experience some of the fast non-stop action these game fish can provide, this is the time of year to catch them.
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