Coastal Fishing Connections - Alabama Report - 7/15/2018
- Captain Billy Howell
- Jul 16, 2018
- 14 min read
Going out with a BANG! **UPDATE**
We are headed down to the wire in the 2018 federal for-hire red snapper season and have a big weekend coming up with the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. There isn’t any need to sweat the forecast on Monday because it could change in the next few days. Buy your ticket, weigh a fish and get in on the drawing for the boat!
Ever since 2014 when sector separation was initiated, the charter and recreational fleets have had different seasons and until the season was extended by 39 days last year, recreational fisherman had gotten the short end of the rod for the last few years. It took a while for the Gulf States' to compromise on the Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) pilot program, but hopefully it will be successful and turn into state management of Gulf waters. After all, the states are in a better position to oversee what is best in my opinion, at least in Alabama. Each state on the Gulf of Mexico has a vested interest in good management because fishing is a big tourist attraction, brings in "boat"loads of tax dollars from lodging taxes, bait, tackle, fuel and accessories and let's not forget, it provides means to an end for those who are working on the water.
Federally permitted vessels have different guidelines than state water permitted vessels. State water vessels can only be in possession of red snapper on days the season is open for recreational anglers and are restricted to state waters. Federally permitted vessels can only fish state waters when the season is open for that species for all anglers both in federal and state waters, but not beyond the time allotted for the red snapper season. This years season for federally permitted vessels was 51 days, so July 21st at midnight, the sun sets on another busy season. State water Season will officially close this Sunday July 22 as announced by Alabama Marine Resources today.For more information and the press release go to Alabama Outdoors Official Page. This can be confusing to tourists who come down to fish offshore during the week and see some boats bring in red snapper after they were told they had to release theirs. That is one thing from a guides standpoint that needs to be corrected.
While the bulk of anglers that come in for the summer to book trips are looking forward to catching red snapper, there are plenty of other fish to be targeted including vermillion snapper, white snapper, grouper, lesser amberjack, mangrove snapper and any other reef species that bite. Don't forget the bluewater species like dorado, wahoo and tuna. Saturday may be the end of the red snapper season but it is not the end of the world.
Other fish that may be targeted after red snapper season closes are king and spanish mackerel and cobia. Trolling and drift fishing large schools of bait is a great technique for catching kings, spanish and cobia. In talking with Captain Robb Hall of Tidalist Charters this week, he has been having alot of success drifting live and dead cigar minnows for king mackerel and cobia. Funny story from Captain Hall this week was him using his bait catching rod to catch cigar minnows and having a cobia inhale the live cigar minnow on the way up. The battle of a lifetime ensued and they even got the fish to the boat 4-5 times and attempted to gaff it, only to have it dive under the boat and finally break the sabiki off. Below are some pictures of the fish they have been catching.
Check out the guide reports below to read the latest on the fishing from Orange Beach to the Mississippi sound!
Until next time, Get out there, keep those 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 coastalfishingconnections@gmail.com your answer to the question to get in the drawing held on Facebook live on Friday nights @coastalfishingconnections. 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 coastalfishingconnections@gmail.com
INSHORE REPORT
Orange Beach / Perdido Key / Gulf Shores - Wolf Bay - ICW
Liquid Force Charters - Captain Dusty Hayes
Facebook: @liquidforceinshorecharters
Instagram: @capt.dustin
Cell: 678-897-0167
Captain Dusty says, "There are lots of redfish in the bay right now! Most of the docks are holding them with a variety of live baits. The mangrove snapper are plentiful but finding keeper size fish is the tricky part. I have also seen a good number of keep white trout over the past week that were caught on bull minnows and shrimp. Here are a couple of pictures from our trips this week."
Captain Dusty has been offering guided fishing trips for several years in Coastal Alabama out of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores and is sure to offer a great time on the water and catch fish!
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 was on a working vacation this week and had this to say, "Short and sweet! My family and I left town Friday July 6th for Orlando for a business/family trip. We made the 8hr Drive In 7hrs with my wife driving like she was testing her skills for the Indy 500.
We arrived in Orlando at 0100 Eastern. We woke up at 0830 and headed toward Sea World. The rides are great, the sights are awesome. Anyone who enjoys marine life should go to sea world and plan to spend the day. My family and I hung in there all day and boy was it worth it. The #electricocean was incredible and well worth the wait.
Sunday and Monday we set out to hang with Mickey Mouse and his friends at Magic Kingdom on Sunday and Animal Kingdom on Monday. My takeaway from Magic Kingdom is don’t go with the whole family because everyone wants to do something different. My five year old son capped the day off with a ride on Space Mountain and then we watched the mind blowing light and firework show. Monday was dedicated to Animal Kingdom and the Safari ride was great for all ages, the bug life show was awesome and the Everest roller coaster was a bit more than my 5 year old was ready for. Spoiler alert... Everest goes backwards about halfway through the ride.
Tuesday we made our way to LEGOLAND in Winterhaven, Fl. LEGOLAND was really cool with both an amusement park and water park in the same place. LEGOLAND was really cool and is recommended for kids 3-12 max unless they just really love LEGOs like the guy at the “driving school”.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it was all iCast all day. Wow! I was completely mind blown and only made it through 2/3rd of the show on the first day. I was better focused on day two. Made several new contacts. The show is a who’s who of fishing. Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Peter Miller, KVD, BlacktipH, you name a fishing personality and they were there. Friday, I pulled the whole family into the show and we landed some great product samples and discounted items to bring back to the house.
Sunday we picked up the Blue Wave from Bluewater Graphics with the brand new wrap installed. Check out my Instagram and Facebook pages for a peak at the boat with the new wrap. Monday I will be back on the water guiding and doing some pre-fishing for the Alabama Deep Sea Rodeo.
Best of luck anglers, thanks for reading and remember it’s going Good, Bad or Ugly so get out and make it happen."
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 trout bite continues to be finicky, but we are still catching fish. We are still having to cover a lot of ground to put together decent boxes of keepers though. Capitalizing on the bites you get is still extremely important. Live shrimp and Vudu's under popping corks as well as slip corks continue to be the ticket in most areas.
We have still been concentrating on the wrecks, artificial reefs and rigs from the middle part of the bay all the way to the lower end of the Bay on through the Mississippi Sound. There are also still some fish early in morning on the shallow flats. These fish were caught with Vudu shrimp and live shrimp under popping corks, Slick Lures, Rapala Skitter Walkers, Yum Mud Minnows, live shrimp on slip corks and free lined croakers. The Tripletail bite continued to be good this past week when the weather was right.
We caught fish in good numbers this past week but it seems all the pressure is starting to take its toll as we saw numerous fish who refused to eat.The nearshore snapper fishing continues to be good when the weather permits. Live or dead pogeys or live croakers have been doing it for us.
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 the delta is hot, hot, hot! "The heat this past week was just unbearable to fish after lunch time, so I just took a few days off and got a game plan for the crappie tournament in mobile at Bates Lakes. We went Friday morning and pre-fished for a few hours and found some really good fish, some of the best quality fish that I have caught all year by far. The crappies Friday morning were stacked on tree logs on main river and some were suspended, but they were definitely hungry. We used a different method this trip, since we were on the Alabama river. We were using jigs but we tip them with minnows. All the jigs we were using had some chartreuse color to them. That was definitely a hot combination. We found several spots and had a good feeling about the tournament Saturday morning.
Saturday morning after blast off we went and tried the area that the fish were suspended in, because it was definitely loaded with white some giants. As soon as we got started, we caught 3 giants, then missed about 4-5 good ones. Then it was right after another catching some good fish. I told my buddy we will just stay in this area all day. We ended the trip around lunch time with one of the best trips I have ever been on, catching quality fish. We managed to get a first place win with 7 fish weighing in at 9.78lbs"
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
Orange Beach - Gulf Shores – Fort Morgan
Bama Beach Bum Fishing - Matthew Isbell
Facebook: @bamabeachbumfishing
Instagram: @bamabeachbum_fishing
Cell: 334-391-5913
Bama Beach Bums' Matt Isbell has had another busy week with sand between his toes.
Matt shared the following with us. “The water has been very calm and clear this past week. It made for a tough bite a couple of days but we are still having some great days catching pompano. Sand fleas, shrimp, and Fishbites are all working to entice a bite. I think people get too hung up on what bait to throw and focus less on where they are throwing it. Pompano like to cruise at a particular depth from day to day. Be sure to vary up your locations until you find a pompano and then focus your efforts in those areas.
If you can get out to the beach before the sun comes up you can find large schools of blue fish. These fish are so much fun to catch and honestly are good table fare. Many people will tell you they are no good, but if you bleed them and eat them fresh it’s a great eating fish! While throwing topwater lures or jerk baits for bluefish you may luck up and find a trout or two. In just the past few days we have just started seeing schools of redfish cruising by again.
They had been absent for the past couple weeks in the surf. There are also tons of bull whiting, but they have been difficult to persuade.”
Matthew Isbell is the one and only, Bama Beach bum and has been guiding visitors to fish catching experiences in the surf. Not only does he offer guided surf fishing trips, but he also does a lot of instructional videos to help people catch more fish in the surf. His Youtube channel currently has over 2800 subscribers. Click on his link above for more information on how to book a trip with him.
The Pier Review
Captain David Collins
Captain Collins is excited to share with us the happenings at the pier. “It seems the water temperature has jumped right on up there. I'm seeing the LY's dying and thick tarpon. These two go hand in hand. It's actually a few weeks early. The mackerel bite has reduced to early morning and late evening and you have to fish a little deeper. Speckled trout are still available EVERY night if you can sweet talk them into playing the "fishing game" and red runs have been back to normal. There will be one or two just about every day for a while. This year seems to be pretty sparse for flounder with only a few people getting their hard earned fix. The whiting and ground mullet are there to be had if you put in the work. They are definitely worth it (great food). It's hot out there so be sure to stay hydrated as not to let this heat spoil the fun. Hydration is the key.....keep your bait wet and wiggling and you will get bit.
Keep up with the latest Gulf State Pier information at GSPierfishing.com. or on Gulf Shores Pier Rats.
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 has had a busy week hammering sow snapper offshore and has managed to find the grouper and is still on the AJ, plus a few shark bites! Captain Bryars has been swamped and was unable to get his report in this week but that’s ok, I see him and his cart of fish at the dock every day. Enjoy the pics!
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
Captain Billy says, "This week has been a solid week of fishing for us with mixed bags of fish and a monster cobia! We started off early in the week inshore on Mobile Bay catching a nice mess of speckled trout under Fairhope Rattle popping corks with live shrimp. We were able to help young Ethan catch his first speckled trout this week.
The rest of our week and through the weekend was spent offshore red snapper fishing. Between the high water temps, dolphins and sharks and pressure from getting hammered the past 6 weeks, the red snapper bite has been very finicky. We have had to use a variety of techniques and different baits this week to catch limits of good fish. Rather than finding the majority of good fish in the upper portion of the water column like we did during the first part of the season, we are now catching the majority of our fish right off the bottom. With just under a week remaining in the season, we have a few openings left.
Highlight of the week for us was the 42.8lb cobia caught and pictured below.
For the first time ever, we hosted a group two days in a row and the majority of the group was from Louisiana, which means it was fun! While the first afternoon was full of big fish, the second day proved to be a finicky bite. Below are a couple pigs from their trip.
On Saturday we were fortunate to host a group of locals; Tanner and Amanda Martiniere and their family. While we had to work hard for our fish, we caught 12 quality red snapper, most of them in the last hour of the trip right off the bottom using butterflied ruby red lips and pinfish. We did have a nice mess of "bonus fish," 9 vermillion and 1 mangrove snapper.
This week we also put our first mixed party together and it worked out great. We had a repeat customer whose party fell apart and a couple people from Missouri who had never been offshore. They couldn't have asked for a better experience. They got all they could handle with their red snapper and even got to tangle with a shark or two.
Until then, keep those lines tight and rods bent!"
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.
Coastal Culinary Corner
In this weeks coastal culinary corner we are going to share a new way to prepare your fish. I had never considered this type setup but it sounds fantastic and I will be trying it soon. First I need to buy me one of those pelletized grills like the Pit Boss 820 or a Traeger.
Grilled / Smoked Taco Fish
Ingredients:
4 - Fish Filets
1 - spoon Mayo 1 - package taco seasoning
Preparation:
Filet fish out of the skin. Warm your grill to the proper temperature. Take the mayo and the packet of taco seasoning and mix it together. Put it in a ziploc bag to get good coverage. Place fish onto the grill and cook for 10-15 minutes, the Voila!
Sponsor Spotlight
We love supporting and promoting local businesses and great people. This weeks sponsor is H2O Junky. “H2O Junky is a family owned business that was created to reflect our love of the water. For as long as we can remember, the water has called to us. It has assumed many forms over the years. Whether from our plastic kiddie pools, the clear waters of Lake Martin, the rushing waters of the Coosa River at Moccasin Gap, the softly falling occasional snow, or the waves that crash along the shores of the gulf coast; its message has never changed. "Enjoy yourself!" We've never failed to answer.
Our constant pursuit of the joys found on the water have been what some might call an addiction. Maybe. From splashing in a puddle, skipping rocks across the lake, skiing and knee-boarding in a gravel pit, casting towards that ripple on the other side of the pond, hurtling down a snow capped mountain, or running 90 miles out in search of that trophy fish; we've chased the pleasures offered by the water with reckless abandon. We know you have too!
H2O Junky was born out of our obsession with water, and the insatiable desire to be near, in, on, or under it. Whether you get your fix from boating, fishing, swimming, paddling, diving, or simply floating in a pool, pond, lake, river, or ocean; our products are intended to celebrate and enhance your enjoyment of the water. Embrace the H2O Junky in you! Feed Your Addiction!!” You can visit their website to order apparel at https://h2ojunkyllc.com ”
Weekly Giveaway
H2O JUNKY is giving away a t-shirt, hat, koozie and decal to this weeks lucky winner.
Read below and get in the drawing for this week!
Congratulations to the winners of this weeks prize from Caribe Marina.
This week's question. What fish did Captain David Collins say he was seeing a lot of from the pier. (Hint: It’s the Alabama State fish)
Submit your answer via email to coastalfishingconnections@gmail.com
Like and Follow the 2 new social media accounts set up for the weekly report to get an extra entry into the drawing.
Facebook: @coastalfishingconnections
Instagram: @coastal_fishing_connections
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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