Redfish Off The Causeway

A lot of guys were catching  redfish off the causeway near the U.S. S. Alabama battleship the other day, so I decided to use the leftover bait I purchased yesterday and try to catch a redfish or drum.

I loaded up two heavy action Penn Fierce II spinning rods and headed out about noon.

The weather was beautiful but the wind was coming in from the Gulf just enough to roil up the water and cause a mild chop on the water.

At the first spot I stopped to fish, there were three anglers close together fishing the leeward side close to the bridge pilings.  I didn't want to horn in on their spot but I did walk over to the one fisherman and asked him if he was having any luck.

He said he was out since 8:00 am and only had one bite.  He told me that the crabs were stealing all his baits.

I thanked him for his report, wished him luck, and moved to another location on the windward side of the causeway near one of the seafood restaurants along that area.

I was skewered a large shrimp on my Penn outfit loaded with 20 pound Cajun Red line and tossed it into the wind as far as I could and did the same with my other outfit loaded with 10 pound mono.

I pulled out a folding chair that my wife likes to use when we go fishing together and took a seat to wait.

It didn't take long before I hooked up with a nice fat hardhead catfish that I quickly released.

I was hoping that today wouldn't be a replay of yesterday's catfish catching outing, but I dutifully put on a fresh shrimp and tossed it out again to wait for a bite.

It was only about 10 minutes before a fish started peeling off line from my other spinning outfit.  

I quickly grabbed the rod and set the hook on a nice fish.  I got out my cell phone and tried to record the fight but the fish didn't give me much of a chance to take many pics of the battle.  It was either lose the fish or lose the video,  I chose the fish.

After a decent fight I finally managed to get the fish closer to shore where I could take another shot at a video.

When I was sure it was a redfish, I decided to land it and keep it for dinner.

I unhooked the red, took a couple of pics (including a selfie) after dispatching it and put it in the cooler.

The fish measured 32" which is legal in Alabama, and made a fine dinner when I deep fried the fillets.

I was ready to go back to the apartment, but I decided to see if I could catch another fish before heading back.

I fished for another hour, missed a good bite which was either a red for a black drum, and caught three more large catfish before giving up for the day.

I took several pics of the area you might be interested in before heading out.

If the weather holds up, I might give this spot another try after work during the week.

Till next time,

Tight Lines,.

Saturday On Dauphin Island

I finally broke down and decided to get my Alabama out of state fishing license renewed so I could legally wet a line on Dauphin Island.

The weather was decent but there was a stiff wind blowing which made fishing on the Island pretty iffy.

I drove down to the bait shop and picked up a mullet and a couple pounds of fresh shrimp for bait.  

The lady at the bait shop said that a few fishermen were catching big black drum at the bridge on the incoming tide, so I decided to give it a shot before driving all the way to the end of Dauphin Island past the Mobile Ferry to fish.

I parked and walked to the spot she suggested to fish and baited up one of my long surf rods with shrimp.

She warned me about the rocks and suggested heavy tackle and since I was using my Penn outfit spooled with 20 pound Cajun Red mono, I felt well prepared.

The tide was rushing in under the bridge from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pelicans were having a ball feeding on the crabs and baitfish that was being pushed through the relatively small opening.

I took a couple of short videos of them feeding before tossing out my baits.

A couple of groups of anglers on the other side of the bridge seemed to be spending all of their time re-rigging,,. At least I didn't see anybody catching anything.

I had  bites almost every cast but they turned out to be catfish of all sizes.

I had to re-tie new sliding sinker rigs three times before I finally got fed up enough to leave the area.  Fishing in the fast current with 2 oz. egg sinkers is fun to a point, but when you get snagged on almost every cast; it gets old fast.

On the way out a couple of locals were coming in to fish and asked me what I caught.  I told them "only cats" and bitched about the snags a bit before asking them what they expected to catch.

They told me that they usually pick up croaker, drum, redfish, "white trout" and catfish in that area and occasionally sheepshead under the bridge.

I wished them well and headed down to the end of the island.

The waves along the causeway were breaking over the road in a couple of places and the water was pretty dirty.   Not a good formula for catching fish.

I got to the fishing pier and watched the crew boat head out to the closest oil rig to resupply the workers and after a seagull took a dump on my shirt I decided I had enough fun for one day.

 

The trip back to the apartment was uneventful but since I still had almost all my bait left, I made a mental not to go fishing tomorrow when the weather was supposed to be more favorable.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Black Drum Are On Fire

The black drum are on fire in our area right now on the flats, along the Klinker Islands, Haulover Canal, and around any of the bridge pilings.

After getting our taxes filed and getting a bite to eat at Victorio's, Karen and I decided to get out for a little bit and wet a line.

I normally prefer using artificial baits but because of the reports I received from the bait shops and local guides, I decided to give bait fishing a shot today and I'm glad I did.

This afternoon we managed to catch and release three nice black drum  all over the slot outside of Haulover Canal in only a couple of hours.    Karen got two nice fish over 24":and I got one about 29"  using fresh dead frozen shrimp.   .

Some of the other fishermen along the banks of Haulover this afternoon were also catching nice size drum mainly with shrimp and pieces of fresh blue crab for bait.

You had to get there early today to snag a spot .   When we first drove up, all the "good" spots along both sides of the canal were taken, but as we were ready to move to another location, Karen said she thought a guy on the other side of the canal was getting ready to leave..  

Karen and I lucked out and got the spot on the north side of the canal just as a guy was driving off in his truck..

It was at a natural coquina rock formation that already had holes for our fishing rods.  Perfect for bait fishing.

I was using 30 pound Power Pro and a 30 pound fluorocarbon leader with a sliding sinker rig and Karen was using the same rig with 20 pound mono as the main line on a Penn combo that I picked up for her at Bass Pro for her upcoming birthday.

We both didn't have to wait long before we had hits and finally hookups.

I didn't have my cell phone charger with me and my battery was almost gone but I managed to get a couple of pics anyway before it died.

I've got some work to do tomorrow morning but I'm hoping to get out later in the afternoon to give it another shot while the bite is still hot.

Till next time

Tight Lines.