Before hunting season begins, you’ll still have time to visit Mississippi’s Gulf Coast and stock your freezer with tuna and other delicious fish fillets. Let’s look at what’s biting this month inshore. Matthew Tusa has fished the Biloxi Marsh all his life, and has guided with Shore Thing Charters for the past 5 years.
“In November, there will be good numbers of trout moving into the Biloxi Marsh,” Tusa said. “The redfish will start schooling in larger schools than they’ve been in during the summer and fall. We’ll often see schools with 6 to 12 redfish as we sight-fish along the shore.
“Unless we have exceptionally bad weather this month, the water in the marsh should clear-up, and we’ll sight-fish for redfish.”
Tusa prefers casting a jig to the reds.
“I like a 1/4-ounce jighead with a plastic Cocahoe minnow,” he said. “We’ll also use popping corks with some of the jigs. I’ll also fish topwater lures such as the Top Dog, the She Dog and the Zara Spook for redfish.”
To catch reds in shallow water, Tusa recommends you lead them like you’ll shoot doves. Try to put your bait light enough on the water so you don’t spook the fish you’re trying to catch.
“If you don’t see the redfish until you’re on top of it, you should cast the minnow in front of its face to get its attention and get it to take the bait before the fish is spooked,” he said. “If the fish are well away from the boat, I try to cast so that my bait will land 4 or 5 feet in front of the redfish. A redfish will usually take the jig before it hits the bottom.”
Most of the redfish in the marsh will be 20 to 27 inches long.”
Occasionally, Tusa will get a big red above the limit. You either can keep five slot fish, or you can have four slot fish and one over the slot, measuring over 27 inches.
If you simply want to catch and release redfish, Tusa says you’ll have some days this month where you’ll catch 30 to 50 of them. The average November speckled trout you’ll catch in the marsh will have a length of 14 to 18 inches. You may catch trout up to 3 1/2 pounds.
“And 4-pounders aren’t uncommon,” Tusa said. “At this time of year, speckled trout will be stacking up in shallow bays. The magic number for water temperature that’s ideal for catching speckled trout in the marsh is 72 degrees. Then you can catch trout in 2 feet of water, using popping corks and Cocahoe minnows.”
In November, the flounder stack up, and if you catch one or two in the same spot, you should continue to fish this same region. Tusa explains that he’s seen flounder so thick in a spot that they’ll lay on top of each other.
“You may catch 12 to 30 flounder in one spot,” he said. “But remember that you only can keep 10 flounder per person.”
On an average day of November fishing, Tusa expects to produce 40 trout, three or four flounder and eight redfish for a party of two or more people — a good box of fish to take home.
The offshore report
Capt. John DePineuil of Bo-joh-lah Charters docked at Point Cadet next to the Isle of Capri in Biloxi, explains that, “November is tuna time on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We catch numbers of yellowfin and blackfin tuna this month using the Yo-Zuri Hydro Poppers.”
DePineuil puts 100-pound-test Berkley fishing line on his spinning reels to catch four to six 70- to 100-pound yellowfin for his party per day.
“We’re fishing the deep rigs and chumming the fish up using dead pogies,” he said. “When we get the tuna close to the surface or see them breaking on the surface, that’s when we begin casting to them. Or we’ll just bait-up with the same chum we’ve been feeding the tuna, and our customers can usually get a hook-up that way.
“When you put out a chum line, most of the fish holding on the rig will follow the fish to the surface, including blackfin tuna, jack crevalle, bonito, snapper, grouper and king mackerel weighing 30 to 40 pounds.”
You can catch big king mackerel offshore in November.
“Usually when we start catching lots of king mackerel, we’ll move off that rig and travel to another rig because we’re primarily fishing for tuna,” DePineuil said. “The wahoo and dolphin are still going strong this month — even 40-pound dolphin or 50-pound wahoo — on grass lines. You also may catch a marlin on the deep rigs this month.”
DePineuil also mentioned that in November, an angler may catch the snapper of a lifetime, although he’ll have to release it.
“We’ll see snapper weighing 25 to 30 pounds plus while chumming,” he said. “I’ve caught a 34-pound red snapper in this region before and seen anglers catch snapper weighing 40 pounds.
“If we’re chumming for tuna, and we spot grouper, we’ll free-line the dead bait or put on a live blue runner and feed line out. Then the blue runner can get in front of the grouper, and the grouper will gobble the bait up. If our customers would rather catch grouper than tuna, we’ll travel to deeper ledges and bottom-drop for them, expecting to catch 12 to 15 grouper weighing 15 to 45 pounds each.”
This past summer and fall has brought a large numbers of white marlin to the deep rigs as well as some blue marlin. DePineuil says you’ll find marlin out on the deep rigs all year long, although the fishing isn’t nearly as reliable as catching tuna, kingfish and grouper in November.
For more information on fishing with Capt. John DePineuil, visit www.bojohlacharters.com, call 228-396-4920 or 228-596-4921, or email captainjohn@bojohlacharters.com.
To fish with Matthew Tusa, contact him at 228-342-2206 or 601-408-9743, or visit his website at www.shorethingcharters.com.
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