When the month of November rolls around, the inshore bite in Savannah, Ga., certainly does pick up. Fishermen get their best chance for catching the well known “Savannah Slam”; redfish, spotted sea trout, and flounder. The secret to catching more inshore fish during November is to use live shrimp as bait. All fish like shrimp because it’s easy to eat, easy to kill, and it’s plentiful. Once you get the bite “going” it’s simple enough to change straight to any sort of artificial shrimp pattern. DOAs (rigged or not), Berkeley scented gulps, Strike King soft baits flukes, are all worth trying.
I prefer presenting live shrimp using popping corks with 3- to 4-foot leaders. It’s best to put a shot weight about one foot above the hook to help keep the bait deep under the cork. Popping corks sound just like a shrimp flapping its tail up against its body. This is a spotted sea trout, flounder, and redfish head turner for sure.
Traditional adjustable floats come in all sizes and work great when trying to find the bite at different depths. My favorite though is to just fish naked! All you need is hook, leader, and bait.
For those fishermen that don’t mind a longer ocean ride, the blue waters of the Gulf Stream can certainly hold the interest of big game fish.
During this time the edge between the cooler western waters and the continuously north pushed warmer waters of the stream is formed. This is where smaller fish feel safe and where larger fish go to feed.
You certainly do have lots of bait options. For anglers that want to do a little rigging I suggest dragging ballyhoo dressed in different color skirts or rigged just plain naked with or without chin weights.
For those fishermen that just want to drag the artificial stuff, believe me it does work. I like pulling cedar plugs that have been soaked in menhaden oil. Forget the painted cedar plugs and just go plain cedar. They really soak up the oil and when trolled leave a nice oily trail.
Another good artificial lure set-up is plastic squid with feathers pulled four feet behind a bird. I have found the best old school artificial squid bait called Dolphin Delight made by “No Alibi.”
And if the trolling doesn’t work, there is always deep water jigging for big gags and scamp grouper. Best jigs for deep water are the big boys Williamson or SHIMANO 7 to 10.5 ounces. All you have to do is to drop these jigs on the ledge, keep them close to the bottom, and work them. Big bites will happen so you better keep a strong grip on that rod!
