Coastal Alabama Fishing Report - 5/28/2018
- Captain Billy Howell
- May 28, 2018
- 14 min read
Dodging a Memorial Day Bullet!
Summer weather patterns are here, and water temperatures continue to rise. What does that mean for the Gulf Coast? Unwelcome guests start knocking on our door for the next 5 months. Unlike tourists who come and spend thousands of dollars in our Coastal Alabama area, tropical storms and hurricanes, typically cause thousands and most times millions of dollars in damage, temporarily close businesses and put a damper people's vacations.
On Friday, the projected path of our first tropical system of the year was slated to basically walk right up and bust through the front door of Mobile Bay on Memorial Day, with 60-65 mph winds, 5-15 inches of rain and a 3-4 foot storm surge. Lucky for us, once the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico, it took more of a due north track, picked up speed and gradually slid to the East meaning our friends in the Florida Panhandle will feel the direct impact.
Nevertheless, our weekend forecast was full of rain and storms that never materialized. Not only that, but we still felt a negative economic impact from the predicted storm plus disappointed a few people. Some of those impacts include cancelled condo rentals, fishing trips and postponement of the Dave Matthews concert at the wharf and the inaugural Tourne Memorial Inshore tournament.
It will take several days for the Gulf to calm down next week as strong winds will remain in the area on the back side of this storm system. Opening day of red snapper season is next Friday, June 1. The current sea forecast is calling for 2.8 ft seas, with 6 second intervals. Should this forecast hold, we will have a great time heading out to hit the big girls hard. I liken big swells spaced that far apart to riding on a dirt bike track or a small roller coaster. While those conditions are not ideal, most local anglers would prefer these conditions over chop any day of the week. One thing sure, come"hell or high water," on Friday, June 1, the waters will be full of boats headed out to catch monsters of the reef like the one pictured below.
The Inshore bite stayed hotter than a firecracker this week from the Mississippi Sound to Perdido Key. Fairhope Rattle popping with live / vudu shrimp over shallow flats, oyster reefs and trout slicks continued to produce. Slip corks and free-lined shrimp around the gas platforms in southern mobile bay produced some outstanding fish. Topwater plugs in the morning, soft plastic mullet imitating baits like Matrix Shad, and jerkbaits like Unfair Lures Rip N Slash, Rapala Rip Stop and the Slick Lure were producers.
This past Friday, after lunch, Capt. Kevin Olmstead, Point Clear Fishing Adventures and myself dropped the boat in the water and fed our addiction. We arrived to a fairly clogged boat ramp, as people were getting their boats off the water before the impending storm. Bay conditions were super slick with a light southerly breeze when we first hit the water, making it easy to see a wealth of trout slicks all along Eastern shore. We primarily fished the slicks and caught quality fish around every one, though not in large numbers. After about an hour, winds kicked up out of the west and smooth water quickly turned into 1-1.5 footers. Pictured below is a trout I caught on the Matrix Shad Vortex, Shrimp Cocktail with Chartreuse Tail, one of the most productive colors I've used. I neglected to take a picture when the fish first came out of the water, but the lure was actually, totally engulfed in the speckled trouts mouth.
The pier fishing continues to be phenomenal this season with spanish and king mackerel, pompano dolphin, blue fish, lady fish and speckled trout being caught. I say caught, but not necessarily landed in tact. For the past few weeks there has been outrage at the number of sharks that hang around the pier just circling in wait for an easy target as anglers work to get the fish they work so hard to hook up, out of the water before it becomes a shark meal. I don't think Capt. David Collins was planning to have half a fish sandwich, but that's just what he got. Sharks are not allowed to be landed at Gulf States Pier, so for now, reel fast and get those fish out of the water as quickly as you can!
The surf fishing has slowed down just a hair as the pompano bite has cooled off. The biggest complaint I've heard this week was regarding the abundance of floating grass. For those who like to fish the surf, the pompano are still around, so don't be discouraged. There are also plenty of other species to catch from the beach including speckled trout and whiting.
Offshore, this past week we had some gorgeous days to get out and get your fish on! Capt. Michael Pittman, Southern Drawl Charters and his fiance went out this past Tuesday and caught magnum B-liners, two at a time. He reported a solid spanish and king mackerel bite later in the week as he ran a couple trolling trips out past Sand Island Lighthouse off Fort Morgan.
Memorial Day is a day we remember those who gave their lives, so we might be able to enjoy the freedoms to fish. Take a moment to remember and be thankful to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice! Memorial Day also kicks off summer vacations, so get ready for heavy traffic, congestion at the boat ramps and long lines at your favorite restaurants. Plan ahead, leave early and be courteous to others and be safe on the water. Most of all, keep those hooks baited, lines tight and rods bent!
These reports require a collaborative effort from all the contributors, so please click their link and follow their social media accounts. Look for the column header that says weekly drawing, email bentoutfittersfishing@gmail.com your answer to the question to get in the drawing held on Facebook live on Friday nights @bentoutfittersfishing. Also, subscribe on our website at www.bentoutfittersfishing.com to receive these reports as they come out. Please leave comments at the bottom of the blog after reading and let us know if you find the information interesting and helpful. If you would like to get local fishing news or a tournament announcement in the blog, email 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 spent the week catching speckled trout on the flats around Ono Island in Orange Beach and plenty of rat redfish. He said the light bite continues to heat up. Unfortunately, the predicted storm cancelled some of his trips that were scheduled for later in the week, so they pulled the boat off the lift and put it on the trailer to make sure the new rig was available to run as we head into the busy part of the season.
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 - Mobile Bay
Bayside Charters - Captain Patrick Hill
Facebook: @baysidecharters
Instagram: @phill04
Website: www.baysidecharterfishing.com
Cell: 251-379-0560
Captain Patrick Hill had a busy week on the water last week, pretty much using the same techniques and fishing the same areas as the previous weeks. As you can see from the pictures above and below, they caught some outstanding fish.
Capt. Patrick's crews loaded up on Redfish, black drum and tons of speckled trout.
Captain Patrick Hill is very mobile running trips from Mobile to Gulf Shores. Captain Patrick 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
Eastern Shore - 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 says, "What an incredible week of speckled trout fishing! I fished Tuesday through Saturday around Dauphin island. We landed hundreds of keeper and even trophy sized speckled trout on nearly every possible fishing technique possible. Freeline, popping cork, slip cork, hard bait, soft plastic, topwater, you name it we threw it and it worked. We used live croakers, live shrimp, and pogies for our live bait options.
We caught speckled trout on the gas rigs, Dauphin Island bridge, shoals, west end reefs and both the sound and gulf beaches. Our largest trout fell victim to either topwater or croakers, while we filled the fish box with keeper sized fish with every above mentioned technique.
The upcoming week will be slightly disrupted by the tropical storm but the fish will likely keep the feed bags on for several more weeks. Be sure to like and follow my social media pages to stay up to date with all of our clients catches."
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.
Mobile Bay - Dauphin Island – Fort Morgan
Irish Wake Fishing - Captain Jay O’Brien
Facebook: @ IrishWake Fishing
Instagram: @Irish Wake Fishing
Website: www.irishwakefishing.com
Phone: 251-272-4285
Captain JayO says, "The fishing around Mobile Bay continues to be outstanding! I ran most of my trips this past week out of lower end of the Bay fishing all the way to the west end. I found fish at just about every stop just like previous weeks. Some days it took weeding through the shorts but other days were full of quick keepers and even some larger trout up to 6 lbs my clients released. Live shrimp and Vudu's under popping corks and slip corks continue to do the trick here.
I also found fish at Middle Bay Lighthouse and Gaillard Island, as well as various other spots on both the western and eastern shores along the middle section of the Bay. These fish were caught with Vudu shrimp and live shrimp under popping corks, Slick Lures, Rapala Skitter Walkers and shrimp on slip corks. On the lower end of the Bay the CCA Reefs, the Shoals, Peavy Cut, the Rigs and the other artificial reefs continue to produce. Live shrimp, mullet imitations like The Slick Lure and grubs like the Yum Mud Minnow were the baits we used.
The Tripletail fishing continues to be exceptional. We were able to spot and land from the 2nd station of our boat on average 1-4 fish this past week along the Eastern Shore and lower end of the Bay as we cruised in from trout fishing.
The fishing continues to be as good as I have seen it in a while. Get out there and take advantage of it or hire your favorite captain to take you out! Captain JayO is very mobile running trips from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan.
Captain JayO 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. Irish Wake Fishing’s motto is Trophies, Groceries and Good Times!"
"Get out there and take advantage of it or hire your favorite captain to take you out!"
Captain JayO is very mobile running trips from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan. Captain JayO 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. Irish Wake Fishing’s motto is Trophies, Groceries and Good Times!
Irish Wake Fishing would also like to thank their sponsors Islamorada Boatworks, Cajun Custom Rods and Smith Optics.
Mobile Delta
Dippi Outdoors - Dip McMillan
Email: alkeenmcmillan87@gmail.com
Phone: 251-747-9261
Dip says, "May 27, 2018, I went back on the Upper Delta and fished Tensaw Lake. The water was super muddy, but that didn't affect the crappie bite at all. The water temperature is still in the low 80s, so those fish are staging at 5-6 ft on this particular creek. I started out trolling 8 poles on my spider rig, using 3 minnows and 5 jigs. The jigs did much better then the minnows this morning, and I had my limit of crappie by 11:00 a.m. I couldn't have asked for a better morning pushing jigs."
Pictured below are a couple of the jigs they used and a nice mess of fish.
Thank you Dip for that outstanding report! If you like to crappie fish and want to to the where and how, contact Dip to go have some fun in the delta catching some crappies!
Surfside
Shore Thing Fishing - Captain Dusty Hayes
Instagram: @capt.dustin
Cell: 678-897-0167
Captain Dusty says, "Surf fishing has been great this past week with a large variety and fast action. Although there are a lot of ladyfish, hard tails and hard head catfish in the surf, the pompano are still out there. Sand fleas seem to get away from the unwanted species in the surf and you can easily catch them yourself. Peeled shrimp will still work for almost everything.
Captain Dusty spent a few days offshore as well this week and there were tons of spanish mackerel, bonita and blue runners schooling providing nonstop fun on lures!
The amberjack are chewing off the hooks around the oil rigs to the west on big live baits along with African pompano on butterfly jigs
Be on the lookout for cobia coming up the boat over the next month or so around the rigs or any shallow offshore structures.
The inshore speckled trout bite has been great as well around the flats in Orange Beach. Live shrimp under popping corks or hard twitch baits of your choice. The Unfair Lures Stick Minno did the trick for us most of the week for the larger trout. Good Luck!"
Captain Dusty Hayes has been guiding visitors to fish catching experiences in the surf for several years now and is a great young man. Click on his link above for more information on how to book a trip with him.
The Pier Review
Captain David Collins
Captain David says, "Gulf Shores pier is still producing plenty of sharks. You can even get lucky and catch a king there sometimes! There are big spanish mackerel, pompano, redfish and speckled trout to be had. This storm front has pushed good water in and there is PLENTY of bait.....KILL'n Time."
Keep up with the latest Gulf State Pier information at GSPierfishing.com.
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, "The bite was tough for us offshore this week. I'm not sure if it was because of the tropical storm or what. King and spanish mackerel have it up every time we went for them. By giving it up, I mean limits. Had a couple 6 hour trips this week and the triggerfish bit well for us, but couldn't get the other bottom fish to fire off. They weren't as aggressive as they usually are.
Red Snapper season opens this coming up Friday, so hoping for good seas and weather!"
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 and he 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 past week, we made time to perform our 100 hour service work on the big boat since we are about to be slammed with customers dying to catch big red snapper. Next weekends forecast is not exactly what we were hoping for to start out the season, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish. We look forward to keeping those rods bent and making lots of memories this season!
After getting the service work done, we decided to troll for a couple hours and check out a couple spots we had found holding bait. Within 300 yards of Perdido Pass, on our first pass, we caught a large spanish mackerel and pompano dolphin pictured below. Pink drone spoons did the trick for king mackerel this past week for us. We caught the pompano dolphin on a small silver spoon that snaps on the end of a mackerel tree.
John stayed busy on the trolling lines while Annie Auto ran the boat. He did such a good job reeling the fish in, that I let him do it all afternoon. :)
Captain Billy has been fishing the coastal waters of Alabama for several years now and provides a fun-filled, family fishing experience for your family. Captain Billy runs his offshore trips from Caribe Marina in Orange Beach and inshore trips pretty much any where from the eastern shore of Mobile Bay to Orange Beach.
Upcoming Tournaments
Below you will find a mostly complete list of upcoming tournaments put together and posted by Saltwater Finaddicts . Give it a look over and make your tournament plans today.
The Tourne' Tournament will be held on June 2, 2018 to honor the memory of Lori Tourne' You can click the link above to secure your spot in this inshore tourney to support a great cause.
Guardians of the Thin Blue Line are hosting their inaugural "Hookin' for the Thin Blue Line" to raise money to buy much-needed equipment for local Law Enforcement Officers. For sponsorship info or team entry registration, contact Lilly at 251-402-4933 or send an email to: guardianangelstbl@gmail.com You can also find more information by clicking on the link above.
For the 2nd year in a row, The Rowe family will host the Elaine Rowe Memorial, Kid's Day Out tournament at Dauphin Island. Last year was a tremendous success with over 200 kids participating. The Rowe family says, "Join us for the 2nd Annual-Elaine Rowe-Kids Day Out Tournament. We will have raffle prizes, food, drinks, and more! Get those babies outdoors for a fun filled day!" More informaion can be found by clicking on the image above.
Coastal Culinary Corner
This weeks' recipe is Cheddar Ranch Fish. This is a quick and easy way to cook your fish and it has fantastic flavor. The key here is to NOT overcook the fish.
Cheddar Ranch Fish
Ingredients (Fish)
4-8 4 oz filets with medium thickness
1/2 Cup Mayonaise
2 TBSP Dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning (Hidden Valley Original)
1/4 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
1/4 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
Cooking Spray
Instructions:
1. Preheat Oven to 425 degrees
2. Place fish in a large baking dish
3. In a small bowl combine mayo, ranch and cheddar
4. Spread mixture on top of the fish
5. Sprinkle Panko on top of the fish
6. Spray lightly with cooking spray
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Be sure not to overcook. Once you can stick a fork through the filets it's don
Sponsor Spotlight
This weeks sponsor spotlight features Raymarine. Raymarine products uses the slogan "Simply Superior" for a reason. Prior to becoming a part of the Raymarine pro-staff family, we had simple but effective electronics. The previous boat was rigged with a Lowrance, HDS-9. While the Lowrance unit was adequate for what we were trying to accomplish in our smaller vessel, we had to step up our game. Boy, did I not realize what I was missing until we had the dual, 12 inch, axiom displays with 3-D realvision, down vision and side scan connected to Raymarine and radar. Not only is the navigation feature much easier to use but the navigation charts are considerable more detailed. Combine Raymarine Autopilot with the system and you have everything you need for a smooth, comfortable hands free ride that will get you to your destination.
One of the things I have been most impressed with is the side scan feature. Being able to see what's beside us for more than 200 feet around the boat is a huge asset. Not only does the side scan feature help us locate new structures in the areas we are fishing, but it helps us know the shape and exactly where the structure is located.
Nowadays, most of the public GPS coordinates come pre-loaded in the unit but they are not always exactly where the loaded spot is. Cue in side-scan, we can now find the actual location with ease. The 3-D down vision helps us see concentrations of fish in a given area and the contour of the bottom.
We typically run both the 50 HZ and 200 HZ transducers simultaneously. I give high marks to the Axiom products. Customer service provided by Chris Price and the team at Bluewater Ship Stores has been fantastic.
The software is easy to use and easy to set up customized screens to help you catch more fish! Given the choice to start over, I would go back with Raymarine and I recommend it to anyone!
Weekly Giveaway
This week, we will give away another Bent Outfitters Fishing UPF 50, long sleeve, Performance Shirt, a hat and an Egret Baits prize pack. What feature of the Raymarine unit will help you locate structures that are off to the side of where the boat is actually sitting? Email us your answer to get in this weeks drawing!
Summary
Regardless of the forecasts, the avid anglers and boating enthusiasts will find a way to get their fix. Just a friendly reminder; have all your safety gear up to date, be safe and courteous and but most of all keep those rods bent!
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.
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