November backcountry fishing florida keys
 

Fishing through October and early November has been pretty fantastic in the Florida Keys. Business is slowly starting to pick up agian as we get into the winter time. This is the time of year offshore for sailfish, and in the backcountry redfish, snook, mackerel, and more. The redfish and snook fishing deep in the everglades has been good. I've been getting lots of snook fishing live pilchards which we catch off the shorelines and nearby islands this time of year. These snook are in the 5-10 lb range mostly, with the occasional larger one. Last week I had double digit snook in number most every day. Redfish have not been quite as plentiful though as it cools off they will more and more become the predominant species in the everglades. Snook are a blast on light tackle if you've never caught one, and honestly one of my favorite fish to target personally. We've also been having a lot of bait pushing down for the fall bait run, mostly black mullet and big schools of pilchards. With the northerly breezes this time of year before it gets real cold the fishing can be excellent if you catch it right. We've had incredible tarpon fishing in the everglades the past couple weeks from this. Early in the mornings I've witnessed over a dozen tarpon from 20 to 150 lbs in the air at once busting bait, it is truly a sight to see. We've been catching tarpon still, mostly in the 30-80 lb range. We caught a couple nice tarpon the other day, and had shots at fish on every trip I've been on. The smaller fish are often much tougher to hook but still a blast to crank on even if just to get a few jumps and be gone! Of course once the weather really cools the water down to 70 degrees or below, the tarpon are pretty much done with in our area until it really warms up again usually in the later winter/early spring. The spanish mackerel fishing in the gulf along with pompano, ladyfish, trout, and cobia can be good through the winter. That is another good option especially on calmer days.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Florida Keys Flats Fishing Guide Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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What good are ladyfish?

Ladyfish are like small tarpon. They jump and are excellent fighters on lite tackle. If you are after bigger fish, then ladyfish make excellent bait both fished live or in chunks.

I could never get excited about catching ladyfish. It's too much like fishing for bait.