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,.