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Surf fishing the gulf coast????

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Any of you guys ever fish the gulf coast in or around Alabama? We're leaving on the 23rd for a two week romp visiting the wife's family. The second week is going to be spent at a beach house in Gulf Shores, AL. I'm taking the rod rack for the cooler space, be a shame to leave the rods home. I've done some searching, appears they call it wade fishing down there. There's a couple of places that offer guide service, but me being the seasoned surf fisherman that I am {HA!!!!}, not sure I need to pay for that. I don't see a section of our site dedicated to the gulf area, so that tells me there may not be a lot of our kind down there. Might end up paying for a guide if time becomes an issue, not sur how many days of that week I'll be able to fish. I only get one or two good days to fish, I may get the guide to save time, just don't want to pay a couple hundred for a guide if I can walk out front of the house and get some pullage. I plan on hitting the tackle shops first off, but we all know that can be a crap shoot. I'm betting I'll miss the delmarva the whole time i'm there.

 

Phil

My daddy was a pistol, I'm a son of a gun!
(*member formerly known as 'PinMd)'
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Poor Alabama. If they'd have drawn the state line on the east straight down it would've increased their tourism a hundredfold. But instead Alabama really only has Mobile Bay and about 60 miles of gulf coast waterfront. Good luck finding a spot to get some rod'n'reel time.


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Gulf Shores Alabama, my father grew up in a house 200 yards from the Gulf on Pine Beach. I own his property now. Look for Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge out on Rt 180 on the western end of Little Lagoon. You can't drive the beach, the poor beach mouse is endangered :mad: You'll have to walk in. I've caught specs in little lagoon and flounder and ladyfish in the gulf. As a kid we used to gig flounder in the gulf at night using lights, and a gig of course. I have so many memories of that place! My cousins catch cobia in the gulf and other critters around the offshore oil rigs. There's a new pier in Gulf Shores but I've never fished it. I haven't been down to the Redneck Riviera in a few years but we're planning a trip down in Oct or Nov. Love it there and hope to one day retire there! Heaven on earth. Have fun! Love, love, love Gulf Shores! :D(sorry for the rant)

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I've spent some time fishing the gulf, albeit in FL. My father and I have had a lot of success jerking mirro lures on light tackle across grass flats for trout. We always liked red and white, red and black. If it were me I'd try to find a grass flat that I could wade and cast until my arm fell off...It's a blast. And hey, you never know, a snook or redfish could surprise you.

...or I'd throw small pieces of shrimp on a small tandem rig for whiting (and yes, they're called that down there) in the surf. I image you could fill a cooler pretty quickly if you can find some calm, clear surf.

 

Have fun! The gulf offers some fine fishing opportunities.

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Hell, I don't even know where I'm staying. Now the wife tells me the house is on Dolphin Island, that change anythin as far as the fishing goes? And thanks for the info so far, keep it coming!

My daddy was a pistol, I'm a son of a gun!
(*member formerly known as 'PinMd)'
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I was down there in 2006, six months after Katrina, the place was torn up.

We couldn't even get to Dauphin Island then, or many other places

It is good to hear that the area is rebounding.

From just East of Beaumont, Tx to Mobile was a waste land from the shore to a couple miles inland. The USS Alabama in Mobile Bay suffered damage.

Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.
-Thomas Jefferson
There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
-Soren Kierkegaard

 

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We go to Fort Myers every summer. Leaving this Friday for a 2 week vacation. Never been to Alabama, but if the fishing is half as good and the area is half as beautiful as SW Florida, you won't miss Delmarva that much. It can't be that much different. There are so many options that we can't get to them all. You can fish the surf, piers, flats, estuaries, bays, off bridges, under bridges, bays, along causeway, inlets, lagoons, mangroves, jetties, streams, etc., etc. There is almost no limit to what you can do fishing wise and all that is without a boat. It would help if someone local could show you around and help you get started if you want to try some of the obscure places. Maybe a tackle shop so you don't have to spring for a guide.

 

I would just start in the surf with rigs with small chunks and some lures since you have surf fishing experience. Plus that way you can do some fishing while hanging out with your family on the beach. We use small spoons and sting silvers to catch jacks, spanish macks, and pompano. Shrimp can catch you just about anything from whiting to snook. Chunks or whole pieces of herring or pinfish can get you all of that and even bigger stuff like reds, cobia, tarpon, or shark if you're in the right place. We end up with more of those annoying sea cats than anything else. If there is a pier, that is usually a good place for a lot of different kinds of fish. Sheepshead, spadefish, grouper, and snapper along with most of the fish I mentioned above.

 

There are a lot of variables so you will kind of have to feel your way around. Go nuts and have a blast. Let us know how you make out.

 

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