Dauphin Island Fishing Derby

When I left the apartment this afternoon, I had no idea that the Dauphin Island Fishing Derby would be going on in full force.

The weather was great for a fishing trip so I loaded up a couple of rods, a cooler, and headed for Dauphin Island to see if the jetties were open.

I knew by the amount of traffic that something was going on and when I stopped at Jamison's Bait Shop to pick up some fresh shrimp for bait, I discovered that the fishing derby was going on.

As I crossed the first bridge and saw that nobody was fishing the area, I pulled over and baited up my surf rod with a large shrimp to see if I could interest a redfish or big black drum. 

When I spotted a large red snapper carcass on the shore that someone had cleaned, I thought this might be a good area to fish.

I set the rod, baited up my other rod with a piece of shrimp and tossed it out around the pilings to see if I could pick up a sheepshead or flounder.

Instead, I immediately hooked up with a small croaker that was just the right size for bait.

I reeled in the surf rod, changed baits, and sat down to enjoy the fresh air.

There was a lot of small craft activity around the area and it looked like the tide was on it's way out. 

I spent just short of an hour fishing the area without a bite, so I pulled my bait in, released it and headed for the jetties.

When I crossed the large bridge to the island, I could see a mass of humanity on the island.   

There were two police cruisers with blue lights on observing all the activity at the entrance to the island and parked boat trailers all along the road to the ferry and beach area.   My hopes of fishing the jetties were fading quickly the closer I got to the ferry.

As I passed the launch areas, I could see that the fishing pier had been repaired and the barriers to the beach parking area were down. 

There were a few people fishing on the pier who said they were catching sand trout, croakers, whiting, etc. but nobody I spoke with was fishing for reds.

People were out on the jetties but no one was fishing.  The beach was crowded with people and the few fishermen I did see fishing didn't seem to be catching anything.

There were no parking spots available anywhere, and after making the second trip around the parking lot looking for a spot, I decided to call it an afternoon and come back when there were fewer people.

Tight Lines