Reports & Forecasts: November 2026
Trinity Bay - East Bay - Galveston Bay | James Plaag
Silver King Adventures - silverkingadventures.com - 409.935.7242
Late summer and early fall typically has James chasing tarpon in the Gulf and this year was no exception, fishing success was quite a bit off the normal pace, though. “We get these kinds of years,” James said. “Tarpon fishing is highly weather dependent and this was about as tough weatherwise as I’ve ever seen with non-stop, nagging southwest wind. I look back at my logs quite often and we’ve had some dandies. Like back in 1997 when we ran 38 days in a row and jumped 157 fish. We managed to jump a few each day this season and got a few to the boat. It is what it is and we gave it a solid effort. Thank Heaven we’ll be back to bay fishing next week.” Although the patterns will be different from when he last ran a bay charter, James doesn’t think it’ll be much of a challenge to get back in the groove. “We’ve got a lot of trout in the entire Galveston System right now and the water is in great shape system-wide. It shouldn’t be very difficult to identify a starting point. Everything from deeper water out of the boat to wading shorelines will be in play.
Jimmy West | Bolivar Guide Service - 409.996.3054
Jimmy’s schedule during early fall is always intense with dove and teal seasons running concurrently, while also trying to squeeze in select fishing trips when conditions lead to a successful surf outing. Such was the case when he managed some very good days in the Bolivar surf recently. “It was pretty close to perfect,” he said. Three to four-pound trout, knee-deep, inhaling topwaters. They’d have probably taken anything you threw; that’s how good it was.” Jimmy says they enjoyed a great teal season, lots of birds and the decoying action was about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, success in the dove fields didn’t quite measure up. “Lots of rain and some of the fields are still kind of wet. That gets the grass to growing and doves just don’t like that so much. Some of our fields are still in decent shape and I’m sure we’ll run some more hunts if the clients are still interested.” Jimmy plans to begin running bay charters again during the last weeks of October. “We’ve been waiting for a few fronts to drop the water temperatures. Water quality is very good right now, nice and salty in East and Trinity Bays. I’m expecting a strong fall fishing season.
West Galveston - Bastrop - Christmas - Chocolate Bays
Randall Groves | Groves Guide Service
979.849.7019 - 979.864.9323
Randall mentions a big difference in the productive patterns as the weather conditions change from the beginning of November to the end of the month. “At the beginning of November, the bays are usually in a state of change. Stronger fronts usually arrive and drive water temperatures and tide levels down. This generates movement in forage species. They head out of the marshes, toward the Gulf. While this is happening, the fishing in drains and guts connecting main-bay areas with backwater areas is productive, especially while north winds are pushing water out, and while outgoing tides drain shallow areas. Toward the end of the month, this pattern has usually played out, for the most part. Then, with cooler water temperatures and less available food for the trout and redfish, the fishing becomes better in deeper basins, in West Bay and Chocolate Bay. Locating fish during this time often means paying close attention to the activity of the local birds, including gulls, terns and wading birds. Slow-sinking twitch baits and topwaters work well early in the month, Norton Sand Eels on 3/8-ounce heads better after the migrations are starting to wind down and the fishing improves in the basins.”
Matagorda Bays | Capt. Glenn Ging - Glenn’s Guide Service
979.479.1460 - www.glennsguideservice.com
The fishing in Matagorda is wide open right now, as water temps have finally cooled down and kicked off a vigorous bite. We’ve been having the best luck by following the working birds and wading the reefs along the intracoastal waterway over in East Matagorda Bay. I’ve been mainly throwing soft plastics rigged on quarter-ounce heads when we’re casting under the hovering flocks. The heavier heads help with casting distance and keep the soft plastics closer to the bottom during the retrieve. The bigger trout under birds tend to lurk under the larger numbers of smaller fish fighting for positions close to the surface. Bourbon-colored MirrOlure Lil’ Johns and Bass Assassin Sea Shads in dark colors have been working great. The topwater bite has been really strong too, especially on Spook Juniors, She Pups and Skitter Walks in white, bone or gold/black/orange. In West Matagorda Bay, the report is pretty similar, but lots of small trout make catching keepers tougher. Redfish have been biting steadily on the shorelines and mud flats, also in the back-lakes near the Intracoastal Waterway. Cut mullet has been the hot bait for the reds, but a good number are being caught on soft plastic paddletails and topwaters too.
Palacios | Capt. Aaron Wollam
www.palaciosguideservice.com - 979.240.8204
We’re having pretty good fall fishing here in the Tres Palacios Bay area. Trout fishing has remained steady, with birds starting to work over schools of migrating shrimp and shad. We’ve noticed that fish are also moving over shell in shallower water, after staying deep all summer. Early topwater action has been good on MirrOlure She Dogs in green/chrome and chartreuse/chrome, worked over scattered shell pads in two or three feet of water. Fishing for reds has greatly improved; we’ve found multiple schools shadowing grass shrimp and mullet on area shorelines. Norton Bull minnows in dark colors with bright tails have been working best for them. Big single reds have been roaming the back-lakes, crushing topwaters worked around mullet schools. Pink/gold/orange One Knockers have been pretty hot on recent outings. Flounder fishing continues to improve. Chartreuse Gulp! curly tails slowly rolled around ditches and drains around the Tres Palacios River and in Turtle Bay have produced some pretty good boxes. Sand trout have finally showed up, and we’ve been catching some pretty good eating-sized ones, throwing live shrimp under corks. These fish are pretty tasty if you get them iced down quickly and eat them while they’re fresh.
Port O’Connor | Lynn Smith
Back Bay Guide Service - 361.935.6833
During the Thanksgiving month, Lynn expects to see big changes in his daily fishing habits, with a return to fishing more during the afternoon hours. “At the start of the month, I might still be doing things the same way I have throughout the warm months, meaning fishing early in the morning, throwing topwaters and slow sinkers, wading around big rafts of bait, in areas with sand and grass on the bottom. I do fish the back-lakes a good bit during this time, especially when strong winds force us to find some protected pockets of water and when tide levels are high. But, after we get some fairly strong fronts and water temperatures and tide levels decline significantly, I’ll change things up. Normally, from about the middle of November through February or so, I like to leave the dock mid-morning and fish through the afternoon hours. When the weather is cool and sunny, the bite is often much better after the flats warm up during the middle of the day and into the late-afternoon hours. Then, I focus more of my efforts in areas with mud and shell on the bottom, in places with shallow feeding stations lying close to a drop-off.”
Rockport | Blake Muirhead
Gator Trout Guide Service - 361.790.5203 or 361.441.3894
Blake expects to be running mostly cast-n-blast charters during the Thanksgiving month. “I’ll be heading out early in the airboat most days, hunkering down in the blinds and hunting ducks until we either get our limits or they stop flying. After we are done with the hunts, we will fish our way back to the dock. I usually spend some time targeting redfish in the back-lakes on San Jose Island. We find them scattered in the shallows when the tide is higher, stacked up in the holes in the bayous when it’s lower. When we’re done with the reds, we usually spend some time targeting trout. The main-bay shorelines in Aransas and Mesquite bays are productive on most days. The reefs out in the middle of San Antonio and Aransas bays also produce some good catching at times, especially when winds are lighter than average. We throw weedless spoons and soft plastics when we’re targeting the reds, mostly. I like dark soft plastics with bright tails, and we do well on them most days. We will throw some topwaters when we’re fishing the shorelines, and we see plenty of nervous bait at the surface, or jumping out of the water to get away from predators.”
Upper Laguna Madre - Baffin Bay
Captain James Sanchez Guide Service - 210.260.7454
The patterns that produce best in November will be influenced by the frequency and strength of the arriving cold fronts. As water temperatures become colder, fish will retreat to deeper water until conditions improve. To catch trout and redfish during this time, the first step is finding areas with quick access to deep water. Productive locations include spoil islands, deeper muddy depressions or flats adjacent to drop-offs. Wading waist-deep potholes will pay off when it’s cooler, but when it warms up, I’ll target fish in shallower potholes in the same areas. A helpful tip for locating fish is to observe brown pelicans, ospreys and even cormorants feeding on mullet and other baitfish. Soft plastics are my top choice this time of year, since the fish tend to hold near the bottom. I recommend using KWigglers Ball Tail Shads rigged on eighth-ounce jigheads. Top colors include Texas Melon, Naked Margarita, Bone Diamond and Plum Perfect. For a slower presentation, I favor a Wig-A-Lo or Willow-Tail Shad rigged on a lighter jighead. When the fish are biting more aggressively, I prefer to use twitchbaits like the Soft-Dine XL, Paul Brown’s Fat Boy or a topwater like a Mansfield Knocker.
Corpus Christi & Baffin Bay | Capt. Chris Elliott’s Guide Service
[email protected] - 361.834.7262
As cooler temperatures and stronger cold fronts begin moving through South Texas, water temperatures will continue to fall, and fish will settle into their fall patterns. Redfish will continue to be found in shallow water along the flats and shorelines where good concentrations of bait are present. Wading will often be a great option, with topwaters producing early in the mornings and on warmer days. Speckled trout will start to be our primary target as the temperatures continue to decline. On warmer days, trout can still be found roaming shallow flats around nervous bait. After a strong front, expect them to move toward deeper potholes, drop-offs and areas with quick access to deeper water. Soft plastics worked slowly around these areas should produce. This is also a great time to target flounder along deeper channels and drains between spoil islands. Small soft plastics like curly-tail Gulp! lures rigged on heavy jigheads are perfect for catching flounder. Wise anglers will pay close attention to the weather this time of year. The fish can be easy to catch right when a front hits, but getting back to the dock when strong north winds are blowing can be difficult, or even dangerous.
P.I.N.S. Fishing Forecast | Eric Ozolins
361.877.3583 - Oceanepics.com
November is arguably the best surf-fishing month in Texas. The finger mullet migration is usually in full force, and mornings are enhanced with explosive jack crevalle action. Jacks will hit large spoons, swimbaits and topwaters. However, the best bet for a bite is usually live mullet. Due to regulations for the winter, anglers should only use mullet less than 12” as bait. Casting out mullet will often entice oversized red drum to take a bite. While all Texas anglers are allowed one tag with their annual license to use on an oversized specimen, all should be released, except ones kept for skin-mounting purposes. These large, spawning red drum are important to the fishery and in addition, the quality of their meat is not good when they reach maximum size. Tarpon will be either on the beach or at the jetties in South Texas until around Thanksgiving, when they normally head back south for the winter. Spanish mackerel and bluefish will also be wreaking havoc on bait in the surf this month. Near the end of the month, the pompano bite will become steady, improving with each passing cold front. Shark action will remain phenomenal, with healthy medium-sized bulls, large blacktips and the occasional tiger present.
Port Mansfield | Mike & Michelle Frazier
Mohawk Mafia Charters - 956.607.4681
November in Port Mansfield generally means light winds, cool mornings and the early-morning wake-up calls from the airboats leaving the ramp, headed off for the morning duck hunts. The anglers headed out should be cautious of drifting or wading too close to the hunters’ decoy spreads to prevent angry and dangerous encounters of various kinds. The light winds should allow for a steady bite all along the west shoreline. We like to start near the shore in knee-deep water early. Topwaters like the Mansfield Knockers in the Sweet Heat color generally produce blow-ups consistently. The best plan is to have one member of the wading party working well out from shore in about waist-deep water. Out there, KWigglers Ball-Tails in colors like Plum/Chartreuse rigged on eighth-ounce Knotty Hooker jigheads produce great results. The saucer area east of the ICW will still be holding fish and is always a good bet this time of year. Peyton’s Bay will be holding some nice reds. Throwing a quarter-ounce weedless gold spoon is a great way to get their attention. They’ll also attack small topwaters and soft plastics with reckless abandon when the bite is hot.
Lower Laguna Madre - South Padre - Port Isabel
Aaron Cisneros | tightlinescharters.com - 956.639.1941
Cooler weather and high tides are the norm this time of the year. The trout have moved from deep water to shallow flats and shorelines. Bait is a key factor in locating fish. With higher water levels, bait schools are moving around all over the shallow the flats. Trout slicks help eliminate dead water in these situations. We’re finding trout in two or three feet of water, on grassy flats. We’re throwing Spook Juniors in bone rigged with single hooks for a while most mornings. Later in the day, as winds pick up, four-inch Z-Man Big BallerZ in Redbone rigged on eighth-ounce Texas-Eye jigheads worked fast over sand pockets and along grass lines help keep the strikes coming. Redfish numbers are healthy, and this is a great time of year to target them. They’ve been found mixed in with trout in less than three feet of water. Early in the mornings, they’ve been working the soft bottom on muddy shorelines, hunting shrimp and crabs. As winds pick up, we’re finding more on grassy flats and catching them at a fast clip on Z-Man MinnowZ rigged on eighth-ounce heads. Motor Oil has been a good color lately. Floating grass makes weedless hooks a must lately.
