Fishing The Right Bait

Fishing the right bait has a lot to do with what you catch and this Sunday proved the point, again.

I decided to take a ride down to Dauphin Island this afternoon to wet a line and check out the bite in the area.

When got down to Jamison's bait shop, I picked up a bag of ice and some freshly netted shrimp for bait.

The tide was almost at flood and although I planned to fish the jetties around the Fort past the Mobile Ferry, I wound up fishing around the bridge just past the bait shop.

When I pulled into a dirt road that led to the bridge, there were several other vehicles parked at the spot, so I naturally assumed that the bite had to be on.

I intended to fish under the bridge but a few anglers were already there and I didn't feel like encroaching on their territory, so I grabbed a spot near some pilings where a flock of Pelicans were enjoying the afternoon sun,

I skewered on a shrimp and had bites almost immediately when the bait hit the bottom.

I started catching small sail cats and progressed to catching some nice "brown mullet" aka Whiting; all of which I released.

I was hoping to pick up a redfish or two but all I could entice this afternoon were more whiting and catfish.

I got bored catching fish on almost every cast so I decided to move on to another spot.   As I moved to my truck, I spotted a guy with a nice stringer of fish so I decided to see what they were.

When I got up to where the stringer was tethered on a rock, I took a short video of three nice redfish that somebody had caught.

As I was getting ready to leave, the fisherman who caught the fish introduced himself and we started chatting about fishing spots, conditions, and baits.

Terry was sharing his knowledge of the area with me and we had a nice conversation about catching baitfish and using them for reds.

The fish he had on the stringer were caught on live fingerling mullet under the bridge in the deepest area.

Terry said that you could avoid the rocks by casting in a specific location underneath the middle of the bridge and usually during an incoming tide, you could hit redfish after redfish at that spot.

Terry also said that live finger mullet on a sliding sinker rig was by far the best bait for this area.

I took some pics of him and the fish he caught and told him I would post them on my site, so here we go..

As I was preparing to leave, Terry said he had a freezer full of fish and didn't feel like cleaning his catch so he offered them to me if I wanted them.

At first I hesitated, but decided I liked fresh redfish better than trying the jetties with some shrimp for bait.

I loaded up the reds into my cooler, packed up my rods, and headed back to my apartment to clean some redfish for dinner.

Next time I hit the area, I'll be fishing with live mullet.

Till then,
Tight Lines