Capt. Nestor Alvisa
Hooked on Flamingo Charter
HookedonFlamingo.com 786-387-2443
Both November and December have to be one of my favorite months out of the year to fish out of Biscayne Bay. During this time, I have my eyes set on the schools of migrating pilchards pushing into our area. During these months my targeted species are mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, gag groupers, and yellow jacks out of Biscayne Bay. I’ll start my mornings looking for bait schools along the beach or shoreline. One key thing to look for this time of the year would be the pelicans and terns hovering and diving on the schools of pilchards. Once I’ve located the bait, I’ll motor to them, position my vessel appropriately and proceed by tossing my cast net several times. My main objective is to fill my live wells with as much bait as I can so that I can live chum as much as I want/need. There is no such thing as too much bait in my book! Once we’ve loaded our live wells with plenty of bait, we will start making our way towards the fishing grounds. I like to fish channels, as well as several small wrecks and patch reefs inside Biscayne Bay. Once I get to my desired location, I will lower my MinnKota Instinct Quest trolling motor and spot lock on my spot. I’ll then go ahead and start to live chum the spot (toss handfuls of pilchards over) with the baits we caught earlier. After a few minutes, you should start to see fish blowing up on those baits that we tossed over. Once you start to see life, we are ready to fish! The way I want to present my baits will depend on the current, I’ll rig them with anything from a 3/0 circle, 1/16-ounce jig head, ¼ ounce jig head to a ½ ounce jig head. I’ll also rig my bait through the nose or the belly depending on how I want it to swim. Once rigged, cast it out there and wait for the bite! Another fun method of catching these fish once you get them fired up on the surface, is using artificial lures and flies. Plugs like a Rapala x-rap and baitfish pattern flies that’ll resemble a pilchard will work really well!
