Coastal Alabama Fishing Report - 3/26/2018
- Snoop Bloggy Blog
- Apr 2, 2018
- 9 min read
The first full week of Spring brought us shorts-worthy temperatures, but Mother Nature continued to tease us like a fish nibbling a bait, hammering us with 18-23 knot winds out of the east then southeast winds early in the week and 18-23 knot northeast winds over holiday weekend. For the locals, this early Spring weather is not all that surprising, but is vastly different from the early Spring we experienced last year. Other than Easter Sunday and the Monday following, next week is looking like it could be another warm but windy week with some rain mixed in, not a great forecast for those who like to travel offshore.
How do you feed an addiction when Mother Nature is being so ornery? How do put together successful trips when your livelihood depends on it? You take the weather for what it is and make the most of it, or make the call not to go. Not only did we have tough fishing conditions this week, but we had to contend with a full moon and neap tides. This week brought an improved speckled trout and flounder bite in Orange Beach, the Eastern and Western Shores of Mobile Bay, and down around Dauphin Island. Good sized spanish mackerel are being caught at Gulf State Pier and the inshore reefs in Orange Beach.
Now is the time of year when popping corks with live shrimp are welcome wake-up calls for these feisty fishes. One of our young local captains, Lyons Bousson, Jr. and the crew over at Fairhope Rattle make the best weighted popping corks around, so make sure you stock up before chasing dem trout.
.Pictured above are two redfish caught in Weeks Bay using the Fairhope Rattle.
If you were planning to surf on your vacation in Alabama this past week, you were in luck. Strong winds this week had waves crashing the beach. Unfortunately crashing waves are not optimal conditions to fish in from the beach, but they aren't impossible. While the beach bite was a little slow, the pompano and whiting bite has been fairly good from Orange Beach to Fort Morgan.
Offshore and beyond this week, well, let's just not talk about it. Seriously though, the conditions were horrendous. If you were brave enough head out, I give you kudos and might call you a bit of crazy. Upon an early return from a 6 hour charter, Saturday morning, Captain Bryars Bishop, Reel Kill Charters, reported 5-6 foot seas, wind chop and short wave intervals. On another note, at least one more ling was reported and posted to Facebook this week.
If you are just now adopting fishing as your favorite hobby, don't let Mother Nature get you down. Be patient, make decisions on where you fish based on given conditions, keep those hooks wet and rods bent. It's called fishing for a reason, anything else would just be catching. Even seasoned anglers still learn things every time they go out. If you are here on vacation, trust your captain to do their best to provide the ultimate experience on the water and remember any day fishing is way better than being at work.
In other fishing news this week, CCA in partnership with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and University of South Alabama Marine Sciences are launched their new speckled trout and redfish tagging program in Alabama. The program has been appropriately named, #TAGALABAMA. This past Tuesday night, at the Bluegill restaurant, Blakely Ellis, Executive Director of CCA Alabama and Reid Nelson from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab held a tagging orientation meeting. There were over 40 inquisitive attendees present to go through orientation. The new tagging program will give recreational anglers the opportunity to participate in fish tagging research. The program is open to all CCA members with an active membership. Captain Richard Rutland, Cold Blooded Fishing, was a charter member of the tagging program and shared his experience tagging speckled trout and redfish and fielded attendees questions. After completion of the orientation, everyone received their free tagging kit with tags for Speckled Trout and Redfish. If you are interested in participating in the tagging program and couldn't make the orientation class, you can either attend the one in Orange Beach, AL on Tuesday, April 3 at 6 p.m. at the Senior Activity Center or you can email info@ccaalabama.org.
INSHORE REPORT
Orange Beach / Gulf Shores - Wolf Bay - ICW
Tails and Scales Fishing Charters - Captain Taylor Fisher
Instagram: @tail_scalescharters
Cell: 251-550-9301
Captain Taylor had a busy week of fishing. Capt. Taylor reported a hot speckled trout bite on the reefs near Perdido Pass. On Thursday afternoon they caught about 35 speckled trout, free-lining shrimp and bumping gulf shrimp through the water column. They also caught some keeper sized flounder, mangrove snapper and spanish mackerel.
Capt. Taylor says the warmer temperatures have definitely heated up the bite. With 4 trips already scheduled this week, and this full moon out of the way, he expects a great week of fishing.
Captain Taylor has been fishing the Orange Beach / Gulf Shores area from over 10 years, runs his guided fishing trips out of Caribe Marina and always shows his customers a great time.
Eastern Shore - Weeks Bay - Mobile Bay
Bayside Charters - Captain Patrick Hill
Facebook: @baysidecharters
Instagram: @phill04
Website: www.baysidecharterfishing.com
Cell: 251-379-0560
Captain Patrick, said this week was really no different than the past couple; high winds, rain, and a with a few nice days mixed in. He says it's just part of living and fishing in south Alabama, especially in Mobile Bay. The good thing is, more times than not, there are still plenty of options to get your fish on, minimalizing Mother Nature's adverse effects. Capt. Patrick says they were still able to locate plenty of quality speckled trout, redfish, a few flounder, sheepshead and black drum to the north around Mobile and Theodore. They found success using both artificial lures, such as Norton's sand eels, and live shrimp. He found the bite to be a little different each day; hot and heavy action one day to grinding it out the next. At the end of the day though, they were still able to put productive trips together every day.
Pictured left above was a nice speckled trout caught. Pictured right is a solid bag of speckled trout caught by his crew.
Capt. Patrick typically launches off highway 98 under Fish River Bridge, but will determine launch location based on where the bite is. Capt. Patrick has years of experience guiding and providing a great fishing experience on the water.
Gulf Shores - Mobile Bay - Dauphin Island
Ugly Fishing - Captain Patric Garmeson
Facebook: @ugly.fishing
Instagram: @ugly_fishing
Website: www.uglyfishing.com
Cell: 251-747-1554
Referencing the age old saying, March winds bring April Showers, Captain Patric says, March lived up to its name and but he hopes April holds the showers back. We were plagued with wind on every trip last week. He took his guests to 6 different areas over this past week. Bon Secour, Weeks Bay, Point Clear, Three Rivers, Mobile Causeway, and Fort Morgan. First, Point Clear and Fort Morgan failed to produce much for him and his guests. Capt. Patric best guess was that they were poorly timed visits. The bulk of his action came from Weeks Bay which is not an area I have ever done really well before. Over the course of the week they landed over 200 speckled trout and at least 30 redfish. Many of the fish were undersized, but provided a lot of rod bending action. The Mobile causeway area has been very consistent in both numbers and quality as of late. They landed approximately 30 fish, both speckled trout and redfish, with some solid speckled trout. Most of the redfish were either over or under slot. The Three Rivers Area was very productive for redfish. They were able to land, tag (orange tags) and release 12 redfish and caught over 15. Most of the redfish were undersized. Bon Secour offered a consistent speckled trout bite. Bon Secour offered the best option to get out of the wind and catch fish. Bon Secour did provide the only topwater action for the entire week, so that made up for a reduced number of fish. The common theme this past week was one tactic in all locations. A simple popping cork rig with either a live/fresh dead shrimp or a baby vudu. In Capt. Patric's opinion the "baby vudu shrimp" by egret baits is the best shrimp he has ever used. Since live shrimp are hard to come by, he recommends buying a couple packs of the baby vudu. He says you won't be disappointed. Captain Patric says he only has Friday, April 6, available for charters but has availability the week following.
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Pictured above, left, is a nice speckled trout caught by his crew. Pictured above, right, is a MONSTA black drum caught in Weeks Bay.
Captain Patric Garmeson is very mobile running trips from Dauphin Island to Gulf Shores. Captain Patric has years of experience fishing our local waters and is sure to provide you and your family with a fun-filled, fish catching experience on the water.
Surfside
Shore Thing Fishing - Captain Dusty Hayes
Instagram: @capt.dustin
Cell: 678-897-0167
Captain Dusty says, this past week was tough for surf fisherman on the northern gulf due to the the high east - southeast winds . Once the the wind calmed, the fishing was pretty good ! A lot of good sized pompano are being caught! The guys to the east, from Pensacola to Destin have seen great numbers of pompano in the last few days. The Alabama surf has produced a good amount of pompano , redfish , black drum , and the dreaded hardhead catfish. Catfish are more common after high wind and rain because it provides an opportunity for them to do what they do best, "scavenge." High winds and rain makes for dirty water and gets them prowling. Captain Dusty says, this upcoming week should be really good for pompano! Capt. Dusty also says, for best success, be sure to have plenty of fresh dead shrimp , sand fleas, and fish bites. Fish Bites can be purchased at various locations, with a guaranteed good selection at Lost Bay Tackle in Orange Beach.
The Pier Review
Captain David Collins
Captain David says, the spanish are back and no I don't mean the conquistadors. With the spanish mackerel bite heating up there should be reports of king mackerel soon. Capt. Collins recommends spending a little time soaking cigar minnows. He predicts any day now a ling(cobia) will be caught at the Gulf State Pier since we have had warmer waters and there have been reports of them being caught at the famous Florida piers. If you're fishing from the beach you might have an opportunity to catch "ling dingers" running. Capt. Collins reports that sheepshead and pompano are also still being caught at the pier.
A friend of mine, Randy Reid, reported seeing approximately 35 spanish mackerel landed in 25 minutes of spectating at Gulf State Pier on Sunday, April 1. Pretty much every fish landed was on small Gotcha plugs.
Offshore Report
Orange Beach, Alabama
Reel Kill Fishing Charters - Captain Bryars Bishop
Facebook: @reelkillcharters
Instagram: @reel_kill_charters
Website: www.reelkillcharters.com
Cell: 251-714-6008
Captain Bryars says, conditions prevented them from fishing offshore this week, but he is looking forward to the ling (cobia) starting to show up off the beach. He is also encouraged by the increase in landings of spanish mackerel this week because it typically means the king mackerel won't be far behind. Better days are ahead of us, even though it probably won't be this week. Capt. Bryars does have some deep drop trips scheduled this week, so stay tuned for updates and pictures in next weeks blog.
Capt. Bryars has years of experience fishing the Alabama Gulf coast and guides out of Caribe Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama. His trips always brings in a boat load of fish shows his clients a great time on the water.
Bent Outfitters Fishing - Captain Billy Howell
Facebook: @bentoutfittersfishing
Instagram: @bent_outfitters_fishing
Website: www.bentoutfittersfishing.com
Cell: 601-938-7161
This week was a light week for us but when we were on the water, we ran a couple inshore trips on the Eastern Shore. Due to all the northwest wind last week, the water on the eastern side was pretty muddy. The days we were out, we found good numbers of school sized trout and a decent amount of redfish. On Friday, Saturdays' forecast was 8-13 knot winds and for 2-3 foot seas, making a rough but manageable trip. By the time I woke up and checked the stats, the winds were howling at 20 knots. The 42012 buoy out of Orange Beach wasn't even registering the wave heights, so I texted Captain Bryars to see if he was on a trip to get a heads up on actual conditions. His exact words, "It was freaking 5-6 footers at about 10-11 miles out and I don't recommend it." At this point, I backed up and punted and rescheduled the trip until June, during the expected Red Snapper season. While we cannot always accurately predict or control the weather, we do have to occasionally make unpopular decisions with clients. It is always our goal as captains to make sure you and your family not only have a great time on the water, but that you arrive safely back to the dock.
Captain Billy has a few years fishing experience in the Alabama Coastal area and guides trips out of Caribe Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama. Captain Billy has a history of putting clients on fish and showing them a great time.
Summary
If your not wetting a hook right now you are missing out on an opportunity for some fun. Special thanks to all the contributors for this report. We look forward to keeping you informed each week of what's happening on the water. Don't just wish, FISH!
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