Tampa Bay, FL

1. Redfish — the most reliable early-November bet as the bay cools. Recent roundups keep fish tight to flooded mangroves and oyster bars on high water around Weedon Island, Picnic Island and the Pinellas shoreline, with backwaters and creek mouths holding fish after the recent cool snap. Throw live sardines up under the mangroves, fresh cut bait on the bars, or a gold spoon across the flats — fish the incoming 8:30–11:37 AM up tight, then work edges and creek mouths on the outgoing 11:37 AM–2:30 PM.
2. Spotted Trout — in their fall pattern on deeper grass flats, potholes and sand holes in 3 to 6 feet around Weedon Island and Fort De Soto, especially near oyster bars when the tide is up. Recent shop reports call the bite steadier on plugs and jigs. Try a soft-plastic jig or topwater at first light, then live shrimp under a popping cork worked slowly over the potholes — best on the late incoming 9:00–11:37 AM and the early outgoing 11:37 AM–1:30 PM.
3. Snook — continuing their fall move into backwaters, residential canals, creeks and river mouths, feeding best in the last hours of the incoming and the first hours of the outgoing, and again once the sun warms the shallows. Use live sardines or pinfish around mangrove points, creek mouths and canal mouths — fish the late incoming 9:30–11:37 AM on the points, then the warmer evening incoming 5:35–8:00 PM in the backwaters. Check current FWC seasons and slot before keeping one — Tampa Bay harvest is open through November 30.
Note: conditions are typical for the season today for early November. Sheepshead are starting to show in better numbers around the Skyway pilings, bridge pilings and dock structure on small live shrimp or fiddler crab, mangrove snapper remain around pilings and rock structure, and Spanish mackerel and a few kingfish remain possible around the passes and just off the beaches while bait schools hold.

Tide windows: low 5:30 AM (0.76 ft), high 11:37 AM (2.38 ft), low 5:35 PM (0.97 ft) and high 11:32 PM (2.67 ft) at station 8726674 — an incoming through late morning for flooded mangroves and grass flats, an outgoing to late afternoon for potholes, channels and creek mouths, then an incoming from 5:35 PM through the evening for canals and mangrove edges.
Bait: live sardines / whitebait (redfish and snook) + live shrimp (trout, snook and sheepshead), with pinfish, fresh cut bait, gold spoons and soft-plastic jigs as backups. Find a bait shop near the ramp · Check today's tides & forecast.