There’s still plenty of time to score, close to port or offshore.
November heralds the beginning of the end for many Northeast boaters. It’s a time when marinas and boat insurers typically require mid-to-end of the month haul-outs, while “DIY” owners gear up for a quick winterization and shrink wrap duties and the shorter days bring a sad resignation that the show is almost over.
With that being said, there are still plenty of fish to be caught. And when the weather cooperates, November brings a wealth of opportunities for boating anglers that long for more. The migration of inshore species to their wintering grounds offshore, combined with the deepwater species waiting for the shallower water to cool off before venturing inshore, is key to understanding the migration process.
November is a month of heavy transition for both inbound and outbound piscatorial traffic. As stripers make their southerly migration for example, they do so as both hunter and prey, asapex predators like big sharks and large medium/giant bluefin tuna also on the hunt. I have seen many car-sized white sharks cruising along the beaches in late November and early December looking for seals and stripers in 20 to 30 feet of water. One good buddy of mine who prefers to remain “anonymous” with his report actually hooked up and brought to boatside two big bluefin during the first week of December last year while trolling bunker spoons and mojos; it’s crazy, but not out of the realm of possibility.
From a personal standpoint, I lost both a big shark and a hefty bluefin within an hour of each other the first week of November last year while flipping flutter spoons in bunker schools in 45 feet of water south of Jones Beach along the south shore of Long Island. When winds are blowing hard out of the north or northwest, it’s a great way to experience big game fishing relatively close to home in somewhat “protected” waters, maxing out your fishing time when the days are definitely getting shorter.
A Movable Feast
Here in the Northeast, there is a wealth of opportunity come November with everything from sharks and tuna, to porgies, sea bass, blues, stripers, weakfish, little tunny, green bonito, blackfish, cod and more. The weather, specifically the strength and direction of the fickle fall winds, are the primary driving force that can make your day either a pleasant one or a second coming of victory at sea.
While venturing out from your home port’s inlet, be sure to check out the action along the beaches before heading further offshore, specifically in the 30- to 45-foot depths. If gamefish and/or baitfish are migrating in your local waters, your echo sounder will light up with the news. It always pays not to pass over or leave fish to try to find fish somewhere else! Techniques like bottom dropping a bucktail/teaser combo with Gulp, working an epoxy jig mid depths or putting squid strips or a chunk of bunker on a hook and dropping it into the commotion down under might pay immediate dividends. If birds are circling or frenetically working a specific patch of ocean, tossing a surface popper, darter or minnow jig into the melee can definitely elicit some wicked strikes from stripers, blues, little tunny or whatever.
If inshore waters don’t show much life, there will definitely be life on the wrecks and reefs further offshore. According to my decades of wreck fishing logbook notes, the beginning of the month of November sees a flurry of action in structure ranging from 165 to 190 feet of water. When wreck fishing this time of year, you don’t necessarily have to anchor up, particularly given the structure may be totally covered with acres of south/east bound fish – if they’re in the neighborhood of course. In many situations, you’ll find a mixed variety of species, and a lot like shooting ducks in the pond with non-stop action. Drop, reel, rinse and repeat!
I have caught cod, pollock, ling, whiting, blues, weakfish, sea bass, porgies and fluke (released) within a few hundred yards of each other during the November migrations and it wasn’t that hard; you just had to be there with a bait or jig on the bottom to score. And sometimes when coming up with just a fish head, rig up a 16/0 circle hook with a #12 to #13 single strand wire leader and more often than not, a hungry blue shark, dusky, mako, thresher or porbeagle might take a second swipe at it on the way back down. Some of the biggest sharks of my 50-year fishing career have come boatside in October and early November, which is why I’m always ready with an outfit that can get the job done if one of them crashes my wreck fishing party.
Tackle For The Task
The cold winds, low angles of light and potentially rough seas of November are not the time to test new knots, nor should you be venturing out with just a single outfit or two. This time of year, it’s a lot easier just to replace a dysfunctional outfit than it is undoing a bird’s nest, tying a new topshot or swapping bottom droppings rig for casting, or vice versa. Accordingly, I practice the “Noah’s Ark” of rod and reel management when heading out on my November trips, which is “two of everything.”
Depending on the type of trip we have planned, inshore or near offshore, jigging and casting, bottom-dropping, mojo-trolling, or flipping flutter spoons, my gear management plan translates to roughly 8 to 10 outfits for a daytrip arsenal. If one last shot at tuna chunking, deep dropping and/or canyon trolling is on the agenda, it’s possible to effectively double that number of requisite rods and reels from 16 to 20, depending on the size of the boat, the number of crew and the plan of attack upon arrival.
This type of primary and backup plan equipment needed puts a premium on multi-function rods and reels that can perform more than one specialty, making them veritable switch-hitters, but with no loss of capability for the changing tasks. Jigging or casting outfits that can double as bottom dropping, chunking or trolling gear (depends on target species, of course) are perfect examples of this multi-mission, chameleon personality required of most of my travel gear. There are only so many rodholders on a boat and no matter what the size of your ride there never seem to be enough.
My basic personal load-out for an inshore trip that might include running down the beach and casting/jigging migrating stripers and football tuna, bottom dropping reef and wrecks, plus any surprise appearances by a hungry shark or large school tuna will include a minimum of four outfits. The good news here is that none of these will break the piggy bank to purchase and all have given me stalwart seasons of reliable service.
Penn 4000 Battle III DX and Tsunami Sapphire XT Pro Spin 6’3”
This Penn spinner is a jack of all trades and works well for casting jigs or surface poppers to swarms of stripers, blues, or albies that are crashing bait under the birds. I prefer the silver DX (aka dealer exclusive) models on all my Penn Battle III/IV and Slammer IV spinners due to their upgraded CNC gear sets and extra shaft bearings, which allows them to stand up to the relentless stress of higher drag settings required to battle larger gamefish. Rigged with 300-yards of 15-lb braid with a 15-foot 30-lb mono topshot, this handy Battle III 4000 DX spinner is also my go-to snap-jigging outfit when drifting near wrecks or reefs and presenting 1-to-2 oz. bucktails or metal jigs on the bottom in deep water. It’s also an ideal outfit for casting and fast-retrieving epoxy jigs and Deadly Dicks for falsies, Spanish mackerel and Atlantic bonito when they are feeding under swarms of sea birds. Max drag on the Penn Battle III/IV 4000 series DX reels is 15-lbs. The Tsunami Sapphire XT Pro is a great tool to handle this combo’s multi-mission task set and is strong, relatively lightweight and can easily toss jigs and poppers up to five ounces or so without a hiccup.
Penn 5000 Battle III DX and Maxel Ocean Max Gold Spin 6-foot, 6-inch: This outfit is simply “one step up” from the aforementioned spin combo and has tamed a number of inshore gamefish for me ranging from big stripers and blues, heavyweight false albacore, inshore sharks and the occasional schoolie bluefin crashing the remnants of the migrating bunker and mullet schools in the fall. This 5000 series Battle III/IV offers a significant upgrade in drag power compared to her little sister, rated at 25 pounds max due to the larger spool and drag stack. She’ll hold 300 yards of 30-pound test and will do everything that her sibling can do, but with a wider range of capability when targeting larger fish. I finish it off with a 20-foot topshot of 40-pound mono and the Maxel Ocean Max Gold rod can handle anything that I throw its way, easily tossing jigs, poppers and surface plugs in excess of 6 ounces without overloading the tip. This combo has what it takes to survive multiple big game battles out on the briny and has brought a number of 50- to 100-pound gamefish to boatside for me and my crew.
Avet SX Conventional single speed and Ugly Stik Tiger Elite Jig 6-foot, 3-inch: Being a conventional reel OG at heart, if I was limited to just one rod and reel combo for a bay, inshore or near offshore trip, this would be the one. The Avet SX Gen-II lever drag can and has done everything for me, including casting jigs to tuna, snapping jigging deepwater wrecks, drifting baits on the bottom with 10- to 12-ounce sinkers, livelining bunker to stripers, chunk-baiting 50-pound tuna, and catching (and releasing) a variety of nuisance inshore sharks in the bunker schools. About the only thing it doesn’t do well is to cast plugs consistently to schools of marauding surface species that are more than 25 yards away from the boat. Lacking special bearings and internal breaking devices, backlashes can be a frequent occurrence, even for experienced casters (that’s where the aforementioned spinning reels shine). The Avet offers a max of 20 pounds of drag and is loaded with 350 yards of hi-vis 30-pound braid with a 30-foot topshot of 40-pound mono. The Ugly Stick Tiger Elite Jig stick has a fast tip with a lot of backbone and is tough to beat as an all-purpose jigging and casting rod, which can also step up and troll when tasked to perform that duty.
Shimano Speedmaster 8II and Shimano Trevala TVC60HB Jig 6-foot: Once again, like with the spinners detailed above, the Shimano Speedmaster 8II is essentially a “step up” from the Avet SX/Ugly Stik, loaded with 400 yards of 40-pound mono and equipped with a game-changing two-speed gearbox. Speedmasters are half the cost of their more expensive brethren in the Talica lineup and offer many of the same features at a more affordable price. Matched to a Trevala 40- to 80-pound fast action 6-foot jigging rod, this combo does all of the heavy-lifting when a tuna or shark presents itself, but can also perform most of the functions mentioned earlier for the important tasks at hand.
The few constants of November are that it’s cold, dark and can definitely turn unfriendly if unprepared. Dressing for the occasion is mandatory; remember that it’s a lot easier to take off layers of clothing if you get warm than it is to add outerwear that you don’t have when you get cold. Adding a lightweight, water resistant windbreaker over your outer hoodie is always a plus, as are gloves that allow you a good amount a “feel” with your line, rod and reel while doing their job.
Good luck with your last call of the season, watch your weather windows and be safe out there.
