# Bama Coast Report - August 8 & 9



## Surf Dreaming (Jul 11, 2014)

Alright, so I made my first surf fishing trip and was able to catch some fish. I started Friday (August 8) at Fort Morgan, fishing the gulf side. Was there at sun up. I used cut shrimp with a piece of Fishbites to help hold the shrimp on. It added some color and scent so I thought it couldn't hurt?? After catching about 7 catfish I decided to try a different approach hoping to catch somthing different...and bigger. I put a 4in Gulp Swimming Mullet on the #2 circle hook. Hooked it right through the eyes. I assumed there was enough current from the tides to keep it swimming around so I fished it like I was fishing the cut shrimp...a 1 ounce weight at the snap swivel with a 2 foot leader. About five minutes later I saw my rod dancing around. After picking it up out of the PVC pipe and starting to reel I quickly relized I had a decent fish on the line. Seconds later my drag started singing. I'd say it took about 5 minutes to get him in, as I fought fairly conservative wanting to make sure I didn't lose him. I've attached the picture below. I think it's a Black Drum? My foot is around 10-11 inches, so the fish is roughly 30 inches.









At around 1100 I went over the the Ft. Morgan marina and fished the docks/piers using the same baits. Caught a few little fish, but nothing to write home about. After leaving the marina I went over to West Pass and fished the channel and lagoon side for about 1.5 hours (rougly 2 pm). Didn't see anything and didnt catch anything. I finished up Friday driving to the other beaches to scope out where I wanted to fish Saturday.

Saturday morning I was at Cotton Bayou before the sun came up. By first light I was getting nervous at a storm brewing north of me. After fishing for 15 minutes I decided to head back to the car and see what came of the storm. Shortly thereafter I decided to head East where there were no clouds. Ended up at Perdido Pass. Fished here for about 2 hours and caught the strangest creature I've ever seen in person. It was a fish with wing looking structures...and legs! It was only 6-8 inches long and black.

Finished up my day at the GSP pier. I think I got there aroun 11:00. Got to see alot of action in the water, apparently the fish were still pretty active. I put on a Sabiki rig and caught some baitfish and quickly put one on my hook and dropped it in the water. Had a huge hit and five minutes later when I pulled my line out of the water my hook and several inches of leader were gone. The man next to me gave me a steel leader and after putting it on had the front end (hook was in the back) of the baitfish chomped off. The next several hours were really slow for the whole pier with the exception of several blues getting caught.

Also, at some point in the day, wanting ot check out as many fishing spots as possible, I checked out the Jeff Friend trail (trail head off Ft Morgan Rd., Little Lagoon). Walked about 1/4 mile to the first water opening and fished briefly. The water was really shallow and since I was there all alone I just didn't feel safe wading out, so I bolted after about 15 minutes.

Was hoping someone could identify the below fish for me, caught it at the marina.









All in all, I'm eager to get back down there do some more fishing...and hopfully catching. Thanks for all the advice yall given.

SD


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## WAReilly (Jun 2, 2014)

The big fish is definitely a black drum. It has those chin barbells under the chin. Some redfish have no spots, and when they get big like this fish, the only way you can tell if if the fish has those barbells. Nice fish!

I believe the little fish is an Atlantic croaker. They are great bull red and grouper bait. I'm sure other fish eat them as well.


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## Jason B (Jul 3, 2014)

2nd the IDs


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

Agree with the I'd's above. The other fish you described was a sea robin.


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## Bravo87 (Jun 19, 2014)

For the second one, bait!


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for the report, and nice drum!


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