Over the last decade, November is when shallow water angling action really gest cranked up.

Story and photography by Danno Wise

One of the more common refrains heard repeated among groups of Texas inshore anglers in recent years is November is the new October. When it comes to shallow water fishing, that very well could be true. Once upon a time, October was the month in which anglers focused their efforts on shorelines and shallow flats when searching for solid speckled trout and redfish. While that action can still get going in the weeks leading up to Halloween, more often than not, over the last decade it’s been November before this shallow water angling action really got cranked up.

The trigger for getting fish to move into the shallow flats and along shorelines is cooler water temperatures. As the water temps dip, fish activity – and aggression – will rise. The water-cooling process actually begins in September.

Regardless of the air temperatures, shorter daylight hours are enough to cause water temps to begin their descent. However, without a few early fronts to expedite the process, it can take weeks or, as has been the case in recent years, months before the temperatures settle to a level in which fish are comfortable spending the majority of their time in these shallow water areas begin being more active.

With that said, this November is shaping up to be an outstanding period of fall fishing on the shallow flats and shorelines. The extreme summer heat lasted throughout September. Frontal activity was pretty much non-existent as summer turned to fall.

Additionally, a lack of tropical disturbances thus far, which often serve to push a temperature dropping surge of Gulf water into Texas bays, has played a role. As a result, water temperatures heading into October were relatively warm and fish were still more or less locked into a summer pattern.

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