November is my favorite month for marsh fly fishing, since the interior lakes and bayous are thick with speckled trout.
I love to fish poppers early, late and on overcast days. These also tend to attract larger trout. Crease Flies, Rainey’s Bubblehead Popper, Skipping Bugs, and Bobs Banger are good options.
Later I’ll switch to the old “Clouser under a VOSI”. The VOSI — or fly rodder’s popping cork — should be about 3 feet above the fly. The Clouser can be substituted with a weighted shrimp pattern.
If we’re coming off a cold front, trout action can be slow, so I’ll scout for reds. If the wind is down, it’s popper action here, also. The poisson rouge will eat any popper, but they often prefer a short version such as a Dink or Pete’s Perch Float Popper.
About this time of year, low light or clear water calls for a transition to darker flies for redfish. Some reader favorites include: copper spoon fly, root beer Charlie, Grey’s Spawning Crab, Haleys Comet in purple and gold, and the Chernobyl Crab.
Crappie can be found close to grass lines and shallow structure feeding on minnows before it gets too cold. Best fly choices are the pink/white Crappie Candy, the black/chartreuse Fluff Butt, The Gray Ghost and the Silli-Butt (silicon skirt tail with ice chenille body).
For cold-water trout enthusiasts, the tailwaters just north of Shreveport — the Little Missouri River in Arkansas and Mountain Fork River in Oklahoma — are now getting biweekly stockings of rainbows. This time of year, you can’t go wrong with black or olive woolybuggers sizes 10 or 12.
