Fishing Bayou La Batre

Saturday afternoon, I got the urge to wet a line and I heard from one of our new employees that fishing Bayou La Batre would be a good choice for some laid back bank fishing.

I originally planned to drive down the Dauphin Island and fish on the jetties for redfish, but I decided that a scouting trip to Bayou La Batre was in order.

The air temperature was in the low 90s and there was no rain in the forecast.

I didn't expect to catch anything with the heat index as high as it was but I brought along a heavy spinning rod with my topwater outfit, just in case.

I was told that Bayou La Batre is supposed to be one of the best places in Alabama for fish, so I followed directions and made the trek.

When I got there, the first thing I noticed was the shipbuilding facilities.  There were vessels in various stages of construction all along the inland waterways.

There appeared to be a serious commercial fishery in the area as well.   I couldn't help but notice a mountain of oyster shells in one area and various businesses dealing with fin and shellfish.

I drove down several roads and stopped to fish a couple of interesting areas from the bank with no outstanding results.  

Shell Belt Road runs along the Gulf and provides some of the best areas to fish from the bank but I continued driving around looking for some better locations to wet a line for redfish.

I stopped along several areas to take some pics and toss a couple of baits, but I quickly realized that some local help was needed to find some good fishing spots.

The amount of shoreline in this area makes catching a red or big black drum a matter of pure luck if you don't know the area.

Anyway, after scouting the area, I decided to run down to Dauphin Island and see what was happening in that area.

As I crossed the long bridge to the Island, I realized something big was going on.  There were tons of people, vehicles, and boats everywhere.

 I quickly found out that a fishing rodeo was in progress and the anglers who participated were weighing in their catch.

I took several pics of the action and these folks in particular with a nice catch of Red Snapper.

I knew that the road to the jetties would be crowded, but I made the journey despite my gut feelings.

There was a long line of vehicles for the ferry, and the boats coming  in for the fishing rodeo weigh in were lined up at the ramps.  

I took some pics, drove past the jetties, and quickly headed off of the island.  

Since I had no bait with me, I decided to pack in the fishing for today and give it a try tomorrow if weather permitted.

I created the following video from the days pics that may be of interest.  Enjoy..

Till next time,

Tight Lines

Indian River Salt Marsh Fishing

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing picks up for shoreline fishermen as the weather begins to cool down during the fall and winter months.

This evening after a 6 1/2 hour drive, I had just enough energy left to head out to one of my favorite spots on the northern Indian River Lagoon.

My wife had her "ditty bag" packed along with a small cooler full of dead finger mullet and large frozen shrimp for bait.

I loaded my rods into the truck along with Elmo our famous "wonder dog" and proceeded out to our spot.

On the way into the marsh area, we saw some swirls along the bank that looked to be redfish chasing some bait fish.

I pulled off the side of the unimproved trail and started pitching a gold Johnson spoon that I use to locate redfish and sea trout, while my wife pitched out a dead shrimp to something that was chasing bait in the salt marsh area several yards up the trail from where I was fishing.

About 30 casts later with no hits for either of us, we picked up our stuff and moved to the spot I was originally going to fish before darkness set in.

When I pulled up to the spot, the water was almost dead calm on the river side and the culvert was open pushing water and bait fish into the marsh area.

There were fish swirls on both sides of the road. Some were obviously catfish with a few redfish mixed in with them.

I cut a finger mullet in half and pitched it just outside of the current on the salt marsh side of the road with my Okuma bait runner setup and started casting with my spoon to the swirls on the other side of the road.

My wife stayed with her green Cajun Thunder dead shrimp and bobber rig.

I missed a small redfish on the spoon and my wife immediately caught a small catfish. I unhooked the cat and before I could continue with my fishing, she caught a good sized croaker.

I took a couple of pics of the croaker and started fishing with a top water plug. Even though the water was dead calm, you can sometimes pick up nice trout and occasionally redfish with long casts and slow retrieves.

After several casts with some halfhearted hits by small sea trout and a ladyfish that jumped all over the place before shaking off; I decided to give up the lures and concentrate on bait fishing.

I caught a cat on the cut mullet bait and recast to a different area. About the time I finished my cast, Karen hooked into what she thought was a small redfish.

After a short battle, it turned out to be a nice eating size black drum of about 25" or so.

The fish inhaled the dead shrimp Karen was using, so I cut the line as close to the hook as I could and let the fish go to grow up a bit more.

Occasionally, especially this time of the year, I'll eat black drum.

They have a taste similar to redfish and the same texture, when they are caught during cooler water periods.

But today was the black drum's lucky day.

The mosquitoes were eating us alive, Elmo was whimpering because of the mosquitoes and I didn't rally feel like cleaning fish after driving 6 1/2 hours.

So we called it a day and headed home.

My wife out fished me again!

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Playalinda Beach Fishing Report

Playalinda Beach is perhaps one of the most pristine beaches on the East Central coast of Florida.

The surf fishing in this area is better than average because of the deeper sloughs in several of the areas and the Eddy Creek boat launch offers shallow water boaters the opportunity to hit some of the better know fishing spots in the Mosquito Lagoon.

Whales Tail and Cucumber Island are easily accessible and normally hold good numbers of slot sized and over redfish and sea trout.

In addition, there are several "holes" that harbor gag grouper if you know where to fish for them.

On the way to pick up some groceries, I called a friend of mine in Georgia and we discussed among other things, surf fishing. He loves to surf fish when he gets a chance to visit both Playalinda Beach and Patric AFB below Coco Beach.

The talk about surf fishing got me to change plans, so I headed for the beach to purchase a Federal Park pass.

Expecting to pay the $35.00 annual rate, I was surprised to find out that I qualified for a Senior Pass that is lifetime and only costs $10.00. I also discovered that the pass allows entry to any Federal National Park. However, you need to be 62 in order to qualify for it.

The ranger at the park said that the surf fishing was good for pompano and whiting, so I decided to make a run to Eddy Creek and check out some of my old spots.

Stopping first at Eddy Creek, I talked to a fisherman who was just coming in from a morning's trip to see how he fared.

He reported that he caught 8 redfish around the slot and one redfish near Cucumber Island that measured about 38"; all by sight fishing. All were caught on a light colored DOA CAL jerk bait.

He said the fish were skittish because of all the guides bait fishing for them, but that they were catchable if you practiced a "stealthy" approach.

Some people on the wooden dock were just having fun catching croaker and pinfish while a kayaker was doing the same in the shallows of the creek.

I moved to three different parking lots to see how the surf fishing was doing and at #8 found everyone ready to head home.

Lots #8, #9, and #10 are usually better for fishing because of the beach contour and the fact that less swimmers frequent this area.

The tide was almost full and the surf was rough. The guys I talked to said they needed 6oz. in order to hold bottom and they still missed fish. Despite the rough surf, there was one guy out about 300 yards in a kayak having a ball fishing!

Contrary to the information I got from the ranger at the entrance; everyone I spoke with said that the pompano had not been biting well for the past 3 weeks however, the whiting and croaker were "hot".

Everyone I spoke with caught whiting, "sailors choice", and some croaker. One guy had an undersized redfish that he returned to the surf.

After taking some pics that you can see here, I decided to get on with my grocery shopping so I could get out and do some fishing in the afternoon.

Hope the info helps some of you surf fishing addicts out!

Till next time, Tight Lines!