Fishing Report: Nov. 20, 2020

Every Friday morning, Captain Dylan Hubbard of Hubbard's Marina joins Good Day to fill viewers in on his fishing forecast as we head into the weekend. Here is his fishing report for Nov. 20, 2020.

Inshore:
The redfish bite was on fire this past week with active redfish action all over the bay, intercostal, bridges, piers and passes! Flats and oyster bars had large schools of redfish following around the mullet and ladyfish schools. Lots of bait around had them feeding well too. Cut dead bait on the bottom like whitebait, cut mullet or ladyfish are all great options. At night, we are seeing them around the bottom on the dock lights and bridge lights around the passes. Some big bull reds have been found around the mouth of the bay and around local fishing piers along the beaches. 

Snook action was a little tougher this past week as they are really starting to stage up for their fall patterns as they move back into the bays towards their winter time areas at the mouths of the bayous, creeks and rivers. For now, they are on their way loving dock lines and flats at the mouths of canals or points. They are about the free lined white bait on the flats, mangroves and dock lines. However, soft plastics and bombers are good artificial options. 

Trout are biting well right now around the local passes at night around bridge lights and dock lights and further back into the bay around the mouths of canals adjacent to flats. They are getting more active around the flats and edges ambushing the active bait. Keep in mind, when you find one trout there’s often many others in the same general area too. They love those free lined white bait or shrimp but love those slower moving artificials too like soft plastics. 

Mackerel are back in action along the beaches and around local bridges and mouth of the bay. Passes and our fishing piers are great places to find them after sunrise for a few hours. They can be found easily by the presence of birds feeding on all the bait they push to the surface and often there’s some jack crevalle and even bluefish mixed in feeding heavily with the mackerel. The mackerel are even back on the deeper edges of the flats feeding on any bait that travels too far from the protection of the shallow water areas on the grass flats. 

Sheepshead bite has picked up more and more as our local waters cool off. We should see this trend continue more and more behind each front. These guys will replace the plentiful mangroves around our local structures. They love small pieces of shrimp or barnacles on light tackle with a small hook. 

The triple tail are back in action now that the crab traps are back out. We are seeing these guys hiding around the buoys of local traps, on the markers in the bay, and virtually any floating debris they can hide under. Plus, occasionally you can find the golden dock light at night that holds triple tail closer to the passes. These guys love to hammer free lined shrimp or soft plastic lures tossed close to their hiding spots and they are incredibly good eating too! 

Cobia are also back in the area right now were seeing quite a few of them caught recently around local bridges, on the flats and even in the passes. You can find cobia in the bay out to the deepest offshore waters so you just never know where you might encounter them. I often find them following schools of mullet, rays and even sometimes dolphin! One of my biggest cobia I caught inshore was right behind a pod of dolphins that moved up on a flat I was drifting. 

Near Shore & Offshore:
Weather is once again a big issue in our report this week. We had only a handful of days to get out there. However, behind Eta we had some great fishing once the water calmed down and cleared up and we're hoping that will be the case through this weekend and into next week as the wind is finally starting to let up! 

The hogfish bite near shore is going well. Still not on fire but picking up quite a bit and we are seeing them around 40-80ft of water pretty good on live shrimp. We even got a few nice big 10-12lb hogfish on our recent 39 hour in 120-160ft of water. However, most commonly we target them in the near shore waters around 30-80ft of water. Out deeper they are just trickier because there’s more aggressive fish around. These hogfish are the last to chew most of the time and are very leader shy and smart. Due to this the deeper you go the harder it is to specifically target them. However, a live shrimp and light tackle may give you the shot no matter your depth. However, you just never know with fishing and that’s why I love it so much! The biggest hogfish I have seen caught was nearly 20lbs and it came up on a small live pinfish. 

Gag grouper action is going well and is slowly picking up with the water cooling down. We are seeing quite a few caught around the shipping channel by guys trolling or using live pinfish on jig heads. As you move deeper we are seeing them around 50-80ft pretty good on live pinfish and big dead baits around those ledges. Then out deep we are seeing them spotty but good sized around 120-160ft. These areas will only get more and more fish and the fish there will only get more aggressive over time. 

Red grouper are biting well around 70-140ft and we are seeing good numbers of them too. They love those dead baits like cut squid wings, cut threadfin, or live pinfish. Great time to go hit some potholes and ledges for these guys and perhaps a gag grouper along the way. 

The lane snapper are so crazy thick right now from around 60-110ft of water we are seeing tons and tons of these fish. They love squid pieces, live shrimp and chunks of threadfin. They are pretty large in size right now compared to our typical lane snapper size too. These guys are often mixed in with the red grouper on that good hard bottom area. 

Mangroves are biting pretty good now too, definitely the lanes are more aggressive and prolific in that 70-100ft area but you get some nice mangroves mixed in and as you go deeper you will see more mangroves than lanes. Plus, we are seeing some good sized mangroves out deep right now too. Around 120-160ft on our 39 hour trips we are seeing some good 5-9lb fish mixed in with the bountiful mangrove catches we have seen on those chunks of double snelled threadfins. 

Kingfish are active out there in the deeper waters from around 50ft and beyond we are seeing good numbers of kingfish. The mackerel are thick from the beach out to around 80ft of water. We are seeing some cobia occasionally throughout the near shore and offshore waters. Keep your eyes peeled for them when out there fishing and have a pitch rod ready! Blackfin tuna are starting to show up more out deeper past 120ft of water too! Great time of year to get out there and go fishing, when the weather allows!

For more fishing reports, photos, videos and more check out Hubbard’s Marina on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Snap Chat just simply search @HubbardsMarina and don’t forget our family motto, “If You’re too busy to go fishing, You’re just too busy!” Thanks for reading and checking out our report – Capt Dylan Hubbard, Hubbard’s Marina – Call or Txt me anytime at (727)393-1947 | https://HubbardsMarina.com