November Fishing in the Gulf - A Classic Cool Season Bite

Artificial Lure here, bringing you your Gulf of Mexico, Florida fishing report for November 3, 2025. We’ve got a classic cool season morning shaping up, with the sunrise hitting at 6:46 AM and sunset at 5:42 PM, so your prime windows on the water are tightening up as the days get shorter. Over near Florida Power, tides today are running with a high at 11:08 AM just shy of four feet and a second low at 5:37 PM. Expect a mild fall tidal swing—good movement for most inshore bites per Tide-Forecast.com. The weather offshore is moderate, with NOAA and the National Weather Service calling for north winds at 10 to 15 knots, seas about 2 to 3 feet—so it’s fishable for most bay and nearshore craft, but keep it honest if you’re venturing past the second bar. Conditions are matching up for a classic November outing: a little north breeze, but nothing to knock out your plans unless you’re chasing far offshore. Anglers up and down the Middle and Lower Gulf Coast have been weightin’ coolers this weekend with a real fall mix. Inshore, the speckled trout bite is up early—soft plastics in white or chartreuse on a 1/4-ounce jighead have done best at first light. Shrimp under a popping cork produced plenty of slot reds and the occasional flounder at creek mouths, marsh cuts, and oyster bars. If you’re heading out around the passes or the grass flats near Dunedin, Saint Joseph Sound and Alligator Point have produced good numbers especially on the last of the incoming and the start of the outgoing tide according to recent activity from FishingReminder and Tides4Fishing. Keep an eye out for the late morning and mid-evening tide swings; that 11-ish high tide is setting up a solid ambush window for predators moving up onto the flats. Offshore, gag grouper and red grouper are in play, especially on structure 10 to 30 miles out. Fish Emeryville’s recent dock totals on the Gulf side show solid catches of red grouper, lane snapper, and even a few late-season mahi, brought in mostly on frozen sardines and pinfish. Deep-jigging butterfly jigs in glow or pink, plus large bucktails tipped with squid, also turned some heads. If you want to pull a bruiser, amberjack have been hanging around deep wrecks out of Clearwater and St. Pete—stout tackle and live blue runners will do the trick. For beach and pier anglers, the pompano and Spanish mackerel bite is steady. Bright metal jigs and sand flea imitations, plus fresh shrimp, have put fish on the sand near Indian Rocks Beach and Pass-A-Grille. Hot spots this week: launch out of Saint Joseph Sound in Dunedin for inshore action at daybreak—work the potholes and grass lines. For offshore, hard bottom near Redfish Ledge or the artificial reefs off Clearwater hold variety and quality. Closer to the Big Bend, Alligator Point flats have lit up for trout and reds on moving water. Best baits today: - **Live shrimp** for reds, trout, and pompano. - **Soft plastics** like Gulp! in new penny or chartreuse for trout and flounder. - **Fr This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.