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The View: November 2023
We need to put on hoodies; we need to feel the chill on our earlobes; we need to savor the warmth of a cup of hot coffee on a blustery norther morning; and, we need a great fall season of hunting and fishing in Matagorda.
Duck season runs Nov.4-Nov.26 and Dec.9-Jan.28. We will hunt the mornings and fish the afternoons, most days. If you are not a waterfowler we have plenty of boats available to get you on the water at dawn. However, if you like to point a shotgun and bend a rod in the same day, November is the best opportunity.
Flocks of screeching gulls should work throughout the month over trout in East and West Matagorda, and Tres Palacios bays. Half-Moon Reef in West Bay is always good when the wind allows. This month, soft plastics and topwaters are a good bet and don't be surprised to find birds working near the reef.
Bull redfish have been found all along the beachfront. All the jetties are players as well. The Matagorda jetties are holding lots of redfish on cracked blue crabs, mullet, and fresh table shrimp. As always, this time of year encourages slot-sized redfish to school in bunches of two dozen or more along the grass lines. Spots like Shell Island, Twin Island, Cut Off Flats and Zipperan Bayou in Matagorda are almost always good. Mud Lake and Crab Lake are players along the shorelines with live shrimp.
Spots like Boiler Bayou, Don's Pipeline and Alice are holding good numbers of Gulf trout. Their white fillets are perfect when battered and fried in peanut oil, and help by taking the heat off speckled trout. We enjoyed an influx of sand trout in October and it really took the pressure off our speckled trout population. Many captains have been encouraging clients to keep sand trout for table fare and let the specks swim.
The Freeze of February 2021 put a strain on our trout population. It’s up to us to be conservation-minded and release more than we take. We are pushing for a return to conservative limits for the 2024 regulations. TPWD has been holding public scoping meetings and we hope you had opportunity to get out and preach catch and release and tighter restrictions on trout to get our populations back.
Good numbers of fish will be in the Diversion Channel this month. It's a lot like bass fishing – pitching lures to sunken logs from previous river rises. Don't be afraid to toss a topwater along the bank. Solid trout hang on the edge in 5-8 feet of water and will bang a Super Spook, Skitter Walk, or She Pup.
As with most November days, we will be duck or goose hunting the mornings and fishing the afternoons. Afternoon fishing is just as profitable and there is no better time to dupe a trout on a topwater than when the sun is dipping toward the horizon.
Again, please be mindful of our diminished trout population and consider catch and release. The fishery will eventually recover, but the rate of recovery is largely determined by the attitudes and practices of anglers.
Gone are the days of killing fish to post hero shots on social media. It just ain’t cool.
We cannot take, take, take and expect our bays to give, give, give. Please treat our bays like it is your private bass pond just a few steps out your back door. You wouldn’t keep all the bass you catch out of your own pond, would you?
Contact Sunrise Lodge and Properties for hunting, fishing, vacation rentals and real estate sales and/or advice.