Coastal Alabama Fishing Report - 4/2/2018
- Captain Billy Howell
- Apr 15, 2018
- 12 min read
Finally, Spring Is Here - Well, Almost
If the warmer weather this past week didn't get you fired up about Spring fishing, you may need an intervention. Contrary to the previous weeks, the week started out with very little wind, no rain and sunny skies, making for a beautiful Monday sunrise and comfortable commute on the water. Mother nature even gave us manageable seas on consecutive days for the first time in recent memory.
Regarding fishing, the full moon and neap tides slowed down the trout bite in Orange Beach, but there were reports of anywhere from 50-100 speckled trout being caught on the reefs in Southern Mobile Bay. Most fish were caught on live or vudu shrimp under popping corks and soft plastic finesse baits like Fin-s grubs. In addition to speckled trout, good numbers of giant sheepshead were still caught at the gas rigs, larger numbers of pompano on the jetties in Orange Beach, Gulf State Pier and the in the surf. There was also a solid spanish mackerel bite from the pier and on the reefs inside Perdido Pass. For the record, these were not your average spanish mackerel, there were several caught in the 3-4 lb range.
You know the fishing is heating up and the shrimp are scarce, when you run into fellow guides at the the bait shop the day prior to a trip, or at 5:00 a.m. trying to secure their dozens of live crickets. Luckily, Captain Andrew Carter, Krazy Kjun Inshore Charters and I didn't have to arm wrestle for the last dozen, since Fisherman's Discount had plenty. Capt. Andrew reported an outstanding morning of fishing, catching 50-60 speckled trout and an abundance of sheepshead in southern Mobile Bay and the gas rigs.
Offshore, the weather and seas allowed more days for comfortable travel and fun fishing, but still no ling. We certainly aren't far away though, as there were several caught in Destin last week. On Friday afternoon, while cruising for ling, Interesting spot of the week, Captain Taylor Fisher, Tails&Scales Charters spotted 2 blackfish (tripletail) hovering underneath a one gallon, daisy sour cream bucket, just outside Perdido Pass on Friday. Unfortunately, they weren't in the mood to eat. In speaking to a deckhand for a boat out of Zeke's this week, he said they caught their first two king mackerel, one 12 and another 18lbs.
Friday's announcement of a 47 day federal red snapper season brought feelings of joy and relief to recreational anglers. The struggle is reel. Recreational anglers have suffered shortened red snapper seasons the past several years, from 9 down to an all time low of 3 days to catch the iconic red snapper. Fortunately, last year after much negotiation, the U.S. Commerce department extended the recreational red snapper season by 39 days. The 47 day season will run June 1 - September 3, 2018 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In addition to weekends, it will be open for a solid week between June 30 and July 8th. Because of sector separation, the for-hire (charter) season has not been announced yet. When announced, the charter season is expected to be about the same number of days, but will likely run consecutively to accommodate the large number of tourists we host annually.
In other local fising news, ACFA held their monthly meeting. A summary can be found later in this weeks report, along with local fishing tournaments and other fishing related events. If you want to get something in the report, please email it to bentoutfittersfishing@gmail.com.
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 was on the water pretty much all week and reports that the speckled trout bite is improving after the full moon and neap tides. Most of their speckled trout are being caught free lining shrimp on a number 2 Kahle hook or a number 8 treble using 10lb mono.
Early in the week, Capt. Taylor and his groups got into the 1-4lb spanish mackerel while fishing for speckled trout on the reef outside Soldier Creek. Since the trout bite was a little slow early in the week, they ended up tying on pompano jigs and landing about 7 solid spanish mackerel. Capt. Taylor ended the week catching more trout and taking advantage of the pompano bite.
The latter part of the week was spent targeting trout on the inshore reefs and around the ICW and pompano in Perdido Pass.
Saturday afternoon after the storm blew through, winds picked up and the temperatures started dropping, Capt. Taylor took out a couple locals finding an en fuego spanish mackerel and white trout bite on the reefs around Solider Creek. They caught upwards of 40 spanish mackerel and 40-50 white trout using small jigs and spoons.
In about another week, you won't be able to miss the lime green, 24-foot blazer bay with a tower, cruising off the coast looking for ling. The highlight of the week was spotting about a 22 inch and a 16 inch blackfish, hiding out underneath a one gallon, daisy sour cream bucket, while cruising off the beach. The cooler water must have them in conserve energy mode, because they didn't want to eat anything. Either that or they ALSO spotted the lime green boat and used their street smarts.
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.
Wolf Bay - ICW - Southern Mobile Bay
Sunrise Charters - Captain Todd Brice
Cell: 251-979-0584
Capt. Todd Brice fished 6 times this week and caught huge numbers of speckled trout and a few bull redfish on the oyster reefs on in Bon Secour Bay and southern Mobile Bay. They caught their fish on Fin-S soft plastics and live shrimp under a popping cork. Capt. Todd is still finding solid numbers of quality speckled trout along the ICW. Of the trips he took this week, he found a hot sheepshead bite at the gas rigs southeast and west of Sand Island Lighthouse.
Pictured below was part of a mixed bag caught on one of the trips this week.
Captain Todd Brice runs fishing charters out of the Flora Bama Yacht Club in Orange Beach, but is mobile and fishes a variety of waters on the eastern side of Mobile Bay.
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
Captain Patric, focused on speckled trout all week. Weather, wind and customer locations all factored into him fishing the Mobile area all week. His clients caught some great speckled trout, puppy drum, big drum, rat reds and some absolute giant bull reds, two of which exceeded 40". The speckled trout have been very consistent in quality and quantity on each trip, boating at least one speckled trout in the 5lb class. Live shrimp, vudu shrimp, rattlin' shrimp, and yum mud minnows all produced fish. Interestingly enough this week, was that the fish alternated days regarding bait preference, live one day, artificial the next. Captain Patric recommends live crickets if you can find them, but also recommends having artificials on the boat.
Pictured above, is one of Capt. Patric's clients who caught the biggest fish of his life. Great work Captain!
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 Hayes says surf fishing has really heated up this past week with the warmer air temperature. He says, even though we have had a few cold fronts, they haven't inhibited the fishing too much. Capt. Dusty is catching plenty of good size pompano with redfish and black drum also making their presence known daily. Fresh dead shrimp has been his key to success along with the sand fleas and "fishbites."
Pictured above left is a nice pompano caught from the beach this week. Above right, is a bull red caught browsing the buffet
The Pier Review
Captain David Collins
Captain David says says this year, so far, has been the biggest tease; water temps throttling back and forth with the Easter cool snap. He says, there are still plenty of spanish mackerel, but the kings are waiting on that couple of degree rise in water temperature to hang around. The ling are migrating, but he recommends heading East if you plan to tie on that jig! He says there are sheepshead and plenty of pompano to be caught, if you are willing to put the time in . According to Capt. David, there's nothing like this time of year, pretty days when we just expect fish to be there, but as has been the norm this year, Mother Nature has continually kept us humble. Otherwise, I suppose it would just be called “catching."
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 reports, good conditions this week allowed him to run four trips out of Orange Beach, including a double on Thursday. Earlier in the week, he had a couple deep drop trips that turned out to be a little slow. He wasted not time switching gears and went to catch some magnum (big) vermillion snapper, white snapper and triggerfish. Capt. Bryars said it didn't take long fire up the bb's. He ended that trip at his "finishing hole." He refers to it as that, because it has been a great spot for customers to get the train wreck experience catching big amberjack. Capt. Bryars says, come and get your triggerfish, because they are plentiful and large.
Pictured above is a big triggerfish one of his customers caught this week. Pictured below was meat haul consisting of triggerfish, vermillion snapper and white snapper.
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 one for us, but we did spend a couple days offshore, including an early week troll just off the beach. After trolling for about an hour and a half, they wanted to catch something #BIGGERTHANABLUEGILL. While trolling for spanish mackerel, Captain Taylor Fisher spotted a school of cow nosed rays. In an attempt to find out if there was a ling underneath, he cast as far as he could and worked the jig back. On the retrieve, he foul hooked one of the rays and the 20 minute fight was on. You can see some of the video footage on our youtube channel by clicking above. Please subscribe while there. After getting the ray port side to view and take a picture, we released it. We trolled a little longer, but as anyone here knows, the trolling can be kind of slow near shore this time of year and with kids, they need to catch fish. We decided to take some of the live baits we brought along for ling, and drop down over one of the near shore reefs for red snapper.
As the sun was going down, we free lined a live croaker and a cigar minnow chunk and drifted over the wreck. It didn't take long until we were hooked up to a legal sized snapper. The oldest son, Henry, got to reel in his first red snapper. When I say this young man was excited, I believe that to be an understatement. He jumped up and did a fist pump. The biggest of the 3 we caught in that last half hour of the trip was around 10 lbs.
Pictured below left, Henry with his first ever red snapper. Pictured below right was the family meat haul from their trip later in the week.
On Tuesday, the dad called and said they were ready for the offshore trip. Fortunately, we go to host this wonderful family for another day of fun and fishing. Honestly, it was more fun and catching. Within an hour, we filled our triggerfish creel, and the rest of the time was spent catching fat vermillion snapper and a few white snapper.
Currently, we don't have any trips planned next week, but if the forecast holds, the goal is to slip off for a deep drop trip.
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.
Local Fishing Organizations
Alabama Coastal Fishermans Association (ACFA), held their monthly meeting at Moe's Orginal Barbeque in downtown Mobile, Thursday, April 5. I don't have the exact count, but there appeared to be over 200 avid anglers in attendance. Within the past couple weeks, one our beloved local anglers, Rick Tourne, unexpectedly lost his wife. She left behind Rick and their two young children. At Thursday's ACFA meeting, members raised around $ 1,800 for the family by selling raffle tickets for a custom rod built by Captain Bobby Abruscato, Ateam Fishing Adventures For those just now moving to the area, our community of anglers is very tight-knit. It was awesome to see our local fishing community come together in support of the Tourne family.
The meeting kicked off with local legend, David Thornton, commonly known as Pier Pounder, sharing his insight and fielding questions on how to have more success catching pompano. The biggest takeaways from the presentation for me were to: 1. Use light tackle with 6-8' test line to be able to cast further of the beach 2. Use fresh, bite size baits (ghost shrimp, fresh dead shrimp, sand fleas) since pompano don't have teeth and are attacking on the run 3. If the bite is slow, tip the hook with pink or yellow fish bites 4. When the fishing look for beach points, or tips of shallow sand bars close enough to shore to cast to. 5. Work the jog along drop-offs for pompano, redfish, drum and whiting.
Below are the jigs David spoke of with the separate feathered hook.
Pictured above is a nice pompano caught using the jigs.
Next up, Captain Bobby Abruscato, A-Team Fishing Adventures, talked about Spring speckled trout fishing around Mobile Bay and the Mississippi sound. He also shared his preferred setups with the whole group. Key takeaways for me were: 1. Captain Bobby loves a slip cork 2. When fishing for speckled trout during really cold days, speckled trout don't just head to 25 foot water to seek refuge; they seek the deepest water relative to the area they are located in. 3. People who have the set up to allow casting their corks or their lures further, catch more fish 4. When free lining or tight lining live croakers for trout, use a number 4 Kahle hook, hook the croaker and put the rod in the rod holder to allow the trout to eat the bait. When using Kahle hooks, if you allow the bait fish to swim freely and the fish to stalk it normally, you minimize the chances of pulling the bait away from the fish during the stalk and maximize your chances of a safe and solid hookup.
Near the end of the meeting, Butch Thierry shared information about the first and only podcast for Coastal Alabama Fisherman. Each week, Butch Thierry and Joe Baya will talk to local captains to and share the scoop with their listeners. This podcast is free and available for subscription by clicking the link below.
Lastly, they announced how much money was raised for the Tourne family, drew the winner of the custom rod and other items, and distributed various member awards. Despite the forecast calling for inclement weather Saturday morning, ACFA's monthly tournament remained on schedule with the ladies dominating the event. ACFA hosts their meetings on the first Thursday of every month in downtown Mobile, at Moe's Original Barbeque in Mobile, AL.
Local Tournaments
The Salvation Army of Coastal Alabama and its volunteers will be hosting its "FIRST BITE ON FOWL," inshore tournament on Saturday, April 21. Tickets may be purchased at McCoy's, Tackle This - Shoot That and Fisherman's Discount. The Captain's meeting will be at the Bluegill restaurant on April 19, with the weigh-in and awards at Fowl River Marina on April 21 from 2-4 p.m. Their will be speckled trout, redfish and mystery fish (TBD) categories. Please support this great cause, whether it is a donation for prizes or participation in the event.
Upcoming Events
Locally started fishing group nearing 8000 members, Saltwater Finaddicts is hosting Finaddicts at the Grounds Drawdown on May 19, in Mobile. Every ticket purchase will get you food, drinks, in the drawing for prizes and "just an all out good time"! The Well Born Band will be providing the tunes. 15% of every ticket purchased will be donated to the Sgt. Foster L. Harrington Detachment, Marine Corps League. For those unfamiliar with the organization, it’s a local 100% non-profit for veterans. They provide Uber rides to doctor appointments, child care, and cater to various other veteran needs. Justin Lee Fadalla recommends contacting him promptly if you’re interested in a booth or sponsoring the event. He can be contacted at 251-623-3240.
The list of current sponsors includes:
Coastal Culinary Corner
Nothing beats catching and cooking your fresh catch. So, after we brought back grouper from the deep drop trip a couple weeks back, my buddy decided he would cook it up that evening. This weeks culinary delight is courtesy of Jeff and Brenda Bledsoe of Fairhope. Please feel free to submit recipes and pictures of what you cook and where the recipe came from for the weekly blog.
Yellowedge Grouper with Shrimp Wine Sauce
Grouper - Prep and Cooking
Ingredients
4 - 6-8oz fresh grouper filets
Garlic powder, Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Tony Sacheres (Season to Taste)
Instructions
Take a gallon ziploc bag with the ingredients, coat grouper filets and saute in butter over medium heat until golden. Turn and place the lid on pan to steam a bit, if the filets are thick. Remove lid, crank up the heat and brown both sides. Total cook time is about 15 minutes.
Shrimp Wine Sauce - Prep and cooking
Ingredients
1 - TBSP butter
1/4 c - Diced red bell pepper
1/4 c - Diced green bell pepper
1/4 c - onion
1 pk - Knorr hollandaise sauce
Milk & Butter - per packaging
1 tsp - dried thyme
Dash - Worcestershire sauce
1/4 - White Wine
1 squeeze - fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp - dijon mustard
1 c -chopped peeled de-veined shrimp
Instructions
Saute bell pepper and onion in butter until tender. Add hollandaise sauce with butter and milk, per package instructions. Add dried thyme, Worcestershire sauce, white wine, lemon juice, dijon mustard, shrimp then simmer for 15 minutes. Sauce is light, not real thick so cook longer to reduce (thicken) if desired.
Summary
It looks like our weather is stabilizing, with forecast highs over the next couple weeks in the 70's and lows in the 50-60's. Sea forecasts are getting better each week, so make sure you get your boat service knocked out, safety equipment updated, reels cleaned, rods repaired and line re-spooled and get ready to fish. If you are planning a vacation to the area and want to take advantage of great fishing, cruise the bay or islands, there are plenty of options for you. 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.
Comments