# Advice for an infrequent inshore fisher?



## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Hey folks! It's me again, I only get down here a couple times per year (more's the pity) from North Carolina while visiting my in-laws. We are here this week, and since we now have a 14-month old, my available fishing windows are even shorter than they once were!

As in the past, I am willing to post and share any action I manage to find (which is rare, but I remain undeterred), and I am shamelessly hoping to find any advice or wisdom on where and how I could focus my efforts this week while we are in town. I come equipped with an 18ft Sea Pro and a decent sonar unit, as well as several medium to medium-hvy action spinning outfits probably best suited for reds and trout, and at least one heavier rod that I could bring a bull red or Jack in without causing excessive fatigue (to the fish, my fatigue is a given). I am willing to make a few lure purchases, and have a few that I have collected over the last couple seasons. I love shallow water action, and wouldn't mind putting a few fish on the table. I keep only what I will eat and C&R the rest.

I have been reading about some action in the bays, and if anyone is willing or able to throw a few details at me, I would be very appreciative and close-lipped about specifics if desired. I have always been impressed with the community here and hope I don't rub anyone's rubarb by asking for advice when I don't have much to give back...yet. 

Also, my father in law is very interested in catching some red snapper this week, and while I understand the concept of bottom rigs, beyond that I haven't the foggiest notion on how to target them. I am an equal opportunity fisherman, I enjoy all of it (but especially the ones I can keep a few to eat).

Thank you all in advance, and I will be happy to post this week if I find anything that might be useful to others. Tight lines!

Sam, from N. Carolina.


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

go out early (day break) or late (sunset), look for birds, they will show you where Spanish and kings are. As you troll around keep and eye on the sonar for holes ect. they are catching fish at night and sometimes during the day at the bridges. the area in front of the old coast guard stations has some holes. have fun


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Cool, thanks for the tips. If I find holes or deeper spots, what does one typically throw in them? Live bait, shrimp, artificials? I managed to catch a few trout earlier this year on Yum Money Minnow swimbaits that I had with my bass fishing tackle... something like that I suppose might still produce some hits? Are finger mullet around this time of year where I can get them in a cast net?


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

Agree to go out early. I can give a very specific honey hole. On an outgoing tide before daylight (3:30-5:30-ish), which we have this week, I have been consistently successful every outing (about 10 in the past month including the best yet on Saturday) catching large redfish in the 25-32", 8-13lb range. Caught 4 on Saturday morning, and a 20-30lb black drum, all out of a kayak.

The location is the mouth of Weeks Bay, where it flows out to Mobile Bay. This is about an hour from Pensacola by car. You can launch right at the mouth at Pelican Point. From the launch, go across to the other side of the mouth, where you see a metal bulkhead. Approach from the "No Wake" buoy headed straight for the corner of the bulkhead where it turns from Mobile Bay into Weeks Bay. You want to be headed into Weeks Bay. Start casting out to the south in Mobile Bay, starting about 100 feet from the bulkhead. Continue your easterly track along the bulkhead, staying about 50 to 75' off of it, and cast right up to it into the current so your retreive is with the current. The fish are feeding in about 2' of water. Slot limits in Alabama is 17-27", 3 redfish per person, and you can keep one oversized fish daily. I throw back about half the reds I catch because they are oversized. I also throw back all the black drums.

Lure: I use the blue top, yellow middle, white bottom MirroLure C17MR, which is a suspending twitch bait. You can buy these at the local Walmart in Foley. While not totally necessary, I upgrade my hooks to size 2 Eagle Razor Sharps, which are a little bigger than come on the lure. I've also successfully landed these fish on the stock hooks, I just like the bigger hooks.

At about daylight, I've not been successful, except to switch to a popping cork with a new penny colored Gulp shrimp. Best success has been before daylight as mentioned above. I have not caught anything under 25" in this spot, but have caught big reds every day I've fished these conditions using the approach above.

Good luck during your visit!


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Wow, thanks for the specific info. I am not necessarily looking for people to broadcast their honey holes, but I do appreciate your willingness to share! I don't know if my available time is going to allow me to get quite that far down the road, but I will definitely check it out if I can get over that way. I have been considering buying an Alabama license anyway, since I was eyeing a couple spots on the other side of Perdido Bay this past Spring.

Are Alabama licenses good from date of purchase for a full year, or are they like NC used to be where they expire in June regardless of when you purchase them? Just curious.

Hopefully everyone understands I'm not looking for specifc honey holes; I won't complain if someone PM's one  but I don't want people to think that's what I'm after. I am hoping for some suggestions on types of places to look for fish, lures to throw, and conditions on which to focus.

It looks from the reports that there are still fish sometimes cruising shallower flats like in Spring, or is that still mainly an early morning / pre-dawn and night time thing this time of year?


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

Alabama licenses go from Sep 1 to Aug 31, so not a huge hickey if you bought one this time of year.

Good luck with your fishing.

Mark


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Thanks for the help. I posted in Barefoot's post 10-8-13 with details, but I did manage to catch a mess of trout today. No redfish, about which I was a bit sad, but I had a great day of fishing so no complaints whatsoever. I hope to stumble across a good place to catch keeper reds close to home, but so far I have not been able to develop any confidence in targeting them. 

Throwing artificials for reds, do you have to fish real slow for them, on the bottom, or will they chase baits? I have yet to ever catch a fish on a mirrodine; I read about them and I throw them a fair amount because of what I have read, but I have yet to be hit on one. 

Can you effectively rig a gulp shrimp weedless? I was picking up lots of grass today till I went with a weedless-rigged swimbait. Wore out some trout but no reds at all. Do you just hang the gulp shrimp under the popping cork and twitch it along? Does it need to ride near the bottom or how deep does it typically hang under the cork? I always thought of redfish as bottom feeders but I am beginning to see that's not the case.


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## Disco (Aug 21, 2013)

I personally catch all my red fish on the bottom. I use a "carolina rig" which is just a normal rig with a weight attached where your leader ties to your mainline. Reds are caught all the time on top water I just havnt figured it out yet lol.

If you want a true weedless artificial shrimp to toss around you have got to check out the new savage gear shrimp. I was sold on it when I saw its action in a tank. Ive been a DOA guy for years and the savage makes it look like a lifeless stick carved out to look similar to a shrimp lol. The savage gear shrimps action is insane.


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## lsucole (May 7, 2009)

If your time is limited --- I would hire a guide and go catching vs. fishing!


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## fishhound1 (Oct 9, 2012)

Some great info for you there!


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## Magic Mike (Jun 30, 2009)

Maybe I missed it, but where are you visiting? Pensacola, FWB, Gulf Shores? Also, if you're wanting to go out in the gulf, here is a public artificial reef list provided by Escambia County - http://www.floridagofishing.com/reefs/nw-reefs-escambia-county.html


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

I'm staying in Pensacola with my in-laws, in Warrington. 

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look. Unfortunately, I am land-locked as of this morning due to mechanical issues with my boat's engine. We tried to get on the bay, and amidst the chop I noticed the engine sounded like it was running rough, and upon further look there is fuel actually dripping out of the front of the engine under the housing when it is running. I'm not a mechanic, but I am assuming I have a leak in the fuel system, so now I'm waiting to hear from the guys at the marine place where I took it to see if I'll be wade- or surf-fishing this week, or if I'll be able to get the boat back in the water.


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

What body of water do you want to fish? The guy from Mobile went above and beyond to put you on a sure thing. If you came here from NC, pulling the trailer over to Mobile Bay should be a chip shot for you. 

I've caught Reds on 13MRs, topwater, jigs, live shrimp, Johnson spoons, bucktail jigs, crocodile spoons, drone spoons, you name it. If you find them and they are hungry, they will bite a bare hook. Check out some of the U Tube films that are referenced on here. Look for birds. The schools push the bait up where birds can attack them......big hint.....something is going on over there. North Carolina has some of the best Redfishing and best fishermen in the country. Don't let your homeys down. Do the heavy lifting....put in the hours.


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

SurfRidr, I'm sorry you are having mechanical problems. It sounds like something very minor. IF you are in Warrington, you are surrounded with good water. The main bay is lousy with Redfish now and also right outside the pass. You just have to be there and pay attention to your surroundings. If you don't get them during the day, try 3 mile bridge at night. Good luck.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

panhandleslim said:


> What body of water do you want to fish? The guy from Mobile went above and beyond to put you on a sure thing. If you came here from NC, pulling the trailer over to Mobile Bay should be a chip shot for you.
> 
> I've caught Reds on 13MRs, topwater, jigs, live shrimp, Johnson spoons, bucktail jigs, crocodile spoons, drone spoons, you name it. If you find them and they are hungry, they will bite a bare hook. Check out some of the U Tube films that are referenced on here. Look for birds. The schools push the bait up where birds can attack them......big hint.....something is going on over there. North Carolina has some of the best Redfishing and best fishermen in the country. Don't let your homeys down. Do the heavy lifting....put in the hours.


I don't mind putting in hours, in fact I would love nothing more. I just don't have the hours to put in. I have family here with me and a very active toddler, so as much as I would love it, I don't have the option to just spend all day on the water learning everything for myself. In most cases I get about 3 to 4 hours at most to be able to run off and fish, and then I have to get home to give Mom and Grandmom a break from childcare duties so they can do some things they want to do, unencumbered by a 14-month old. 

I am aware that Markbx went above and beyond, and I have thanked him for his generosity. However, my time contraints are limiting my ability to drive to Mobile Bay at this time. It's not the drive, I don't mind that, it's the time involved.... an hour spent driving to and from = about 1/2 to 2/3 of my available window. Hence my questions re: areas around Pensacola Bay. I probably should have been more specific / clear about that, my apologies... and what I am really looking for are not honey holes but just general types of water, features, structures, etc to focus on. I am glad the bay is lousy with redfish, I did not find any yesterday but I only fished one stretch of shoreline docks before I had to quit. I hope to get to go look some more this week. It's a large bay and bayou system, so having a place to start does help a lot; I appreciate very much those who have taken the time to answer here and PM me with advice and suggestions!


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

Regarding retrieval of the mirror urge, the C17MR that I use is a suspending twitch bait which runs from the top down to about 2'. When I'm fishing the outgoing tide at the mouth of weeks bay, the current is usually running pretty good, and early AM, they apparently wash toward the bulkhead as do the crabs and shrimp. There is a deep channel adjacent to this that is about 20' deep. I've caught all my redfish in 2-4' of water. I throw up into the current and retrieve back slightly faster than the current. Generally the reds hit this within the first 5 seconds or so. After daybreak, I can't get any hits on the mirrorlure. I change to a pooping cork with either new penny gulp shrimp or finger mullet. Usually takes a lot more patience. I just bought a mirrorlure 52R in root beer color that is a sinking twitchbait that I'm going to try tomorrow after daylight. My fish finder shows a lot of fish in the deeper channel, but I've yet to nab anything yet.

Keep it up, trying different things, you'll get into the reds.

Mark


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Well, we fish mainly the Orange Beach area, my uncle fishes the southeast Mobile Bay / Bon Secour Bay areas. If you are trailering, here is a website with local area launches and any fees to launch 
http://www.watermeat.com/boat-launches.asp
We were doing pretty well around Orange Beach (jetties, bridges, and grassbeds) up until the front pushed through- I haven't seen any reds on the grassbeds like last week. As a matter of fact, it was looking hot n heavy up until Fri or Sat (before Karen). We are hoping to find some action Thur afternoon (hope I'm right about that one).
The last time I talked to my uncle, he was doing pretty good on some reef / structure with trout, and smaller reds and flounder. If you don't already have one, here is a link to the Alabama Conservation reef map
http://outdooralabama.com/fishing/saltwater/fisheries/artificial-reefs/InshoreReefs.pdf
Don't forget that saltwater fishing license- cheaper than a ticket anyday...
Good luck, hope you have fun
Mike


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

*This mornings catch*

>20 lb red caught at my honey hole this AM


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

*My buddies fish ths AM*

And here is what my buddies caught - roughly 20 lb jack crevelle and 15-20 lb redfish


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Nice fish!

Got my boat taken care of today, Tony and everyone at Will's Marine were very helpful.

Hopefully I'll get out in the morning and hit a few fish as well!


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

*Today's catch 1 of 2*

We latched onto 3 good redfish this am at honey hole. Lost the first one trying to get him in the boat. This one is 15-1/2 lbs. caught on the trusty Mirrorlure C17MR - blue top yellow middle white bottom with size 2 hooks. Lost one yesterday on smaller hooks.

A couple of guys in a small boat landed two monsters on live shrimp.

We will be back out there tomorrow AM, high tide is around 4:30AM, so fish should be biting at daybreak. Will be 3 of us.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

*Today's catch 2 of 2*

This one is 8-3/4 lbs.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Nice fish! I managed one slot red today and flounder too small to keep.

I'm on 'host' duty for my wife and father in law tomorrow, and I am sure he will want to just fish the Pensacola pass. Hopefully we'll catch some there tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I am going to slowly learn one vacation at a time till I can get the hang of this saltwater thing.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

*A few more redfish this AM*

4 redfish this AM, here's close to a 30 pounder caught by my son in law:


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

And a 15-20lb:


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Well I in between trying to meet my deadline to get home yesterday at lunch and getting my father in law out on the water today, and cruising along Pcola beach today with my wife, I didn't manage a lot of fishing time since I got the boat back... I had a couple of great days on the water and the engine is running fine.

I managed one keeper red in the Pass yesterday on a live pinfish, 









but I still need to work on targeting the reds with artificials. I look forward to it, but it will have to wait till we get back down here perhaps in the Spring. We have to head back to NC tomorrow.

Thanks so much for all you guys who gave me suggestions, locations, advice, etc. It was quite helpful to have at least had a plan of action on my short windows to do my own thing, and I will continue to soak in the knowledge here to try to learn this saltwater thing!

Take care, and thanks again.


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## Eliaskil (Oct 13, 2013)

Nice fish! You can launch right at the mouth at Pelican Point. From the launch, go across to the other side of the mouth, where you see a metal bulkhead. Approach from the "No Wake" buoy headed straight for the corner of the bulkhead where it turns from Mobile Bay into Weeks Bay.


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## al. river (Mar 31, 2011)

Markbrx400, so i guess you fish weeks bay only when the out going tide is early in the morning due to cooler weather. 10/18/13 ( this friday ) high tide is at noon. Would u go to your hot spot that time of day due to the mid day temperature being higher.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

I'd still go just before daylight. I caught 3 yesterday before daybreak, on an incoming tide. Caught a 4-1/2 lb and 2-1/2 lb right up against the bulkhead, however, the part extending out into Mobile Bay, on my trusty C17MR. When they stopped biting that at sunrise, I switched to a red and gold Mirrorlure SS52R, and caught a 16 lb about 25' off the bulkhead. Folks were catching big reds by the dozens both in boats, and from the shore over at Pelican Point.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

Beautiful red Surfrider! Congrats.


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## al. river (Mar 31, 2011)

Making plans to go Friday about 3:00 am and taking my nine year old son Saturday . Been fishing the north pass cathing under size reds and few slot size. What tide chart do y'all use for Mobile bay? I'm using tide 4 fishing ( point clear ) for the weeks bay area. I like to fish fresh and salt water so what I'm trying to do is like October - December fish for specks, reds. March - May fish for bream,crappie. Summer time mullet and catfish. Trying to plan each month for what biting the best and where i need to go. My plans next is flounder when and where. I have jig alot but never caught one.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

I use the Bon Secour tide chart on the Navionics app, but Point Clear is fine. I have a buddy who still has a net license for flounder, so we catch them via net. Haven't ever caught one on a rod/reel even though they are right there where we fish for reds. Reds and trout are starting to move into the rivers. Won't be long now and we'll be having a hay day.


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## Brandonkking (Oct 19, 2013)

I fished over at weeks bay last night from about 8 till midnight in the kayak. Didn't catch a thing, but I was up at the mouth of the fish river I have yet to take it out at pelican point but I guess I need to.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

In addition to very successful pelican point, my neighbors along the magnolia river say they are now hitting reds pretty far into the river. Looks like they're moving in. I'll give it a try later in the week.


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