Alabama Gulf Surf Fishing

[Erbby49]

In July I will be in Bayou La Batre, Alabama with a group from church to do Hurricane Katrina Restoration work. Since we will be right on the Gulf I am planning to spend some of my free time surf fishing. Anybody have any knowledge or experience with Alabama Gulf fishing. I know I will need a saltwater license and not much else
Thanks for the help.

[Sam]

Should be interesting. Let me know what you find out!

[Erbby49]

[Erbby49]

Leaving for Alabama 5 AM tomorrow Looks like we will be in for some good fishing with Regs. like flounder 14" no limit, Stripers 16" shrimp and squid seem to be the primary baits. I contacted Alabama DNR about their salwater license requirements and because of the nature and time frame of our trip they waived the license requirement for the kids in our group. Also contacted the local fishing pier and he offered 2 for 1 pricing yaaaahooo "Sweet Home Alabama" Taking my laptop but not sure if we will ha the net or not. We are staying in a mititary style camp sitting right on the gulf at http://www.hilltoprescue.org/
Check out the Gallery

[Sam]

Have fun, man! Good luck catching.

[Erbby49]

Man it's different down here. They practically give shrimp away compared to what we pay. No wonder it's the primary bait. Any way the gulf is hot water like a swimming pool probasbly 83 to 88 degrees. Real shallow where we have been so far. We are bunked right on the shore line You can walk out about 100 yards and still only be in about 4' of water then it drops off to about 8'. Nothing spectacular yet the usual bait stealers some small stripers, 1 decent flounder. The fishing pier is wild it's 850" long but the last 100' are on a sand bar and is completely out of the water at low tide. There is a major slough between the 1st and 3rd lamp post on the pier. A real strong current rips thru there and that's where most of the fishman are. Had not had to use more than a 3oz sinker from the shore the guys down here say they almost never go above 4 oz. There is little to no wave action along the surf. That's it for now
Have a great 4TH

[chomper]

Cool report. Always nice to hear about the conditions elsewhere. Hows the rebuilding project going?

[Sam]

If you can get some pictures, that would be great!

Small stripers in 80 degree water? WOW!

[Erbby49]

Cool report. Always nice to hear about the conditions elsewhere. Hows the rebuilding project going?

Man it's TERRIBLE where we are they got hit with a 20' surge houses on 10 foot stilts totaled most of the people in the area are living in trailers cause their houses are not yet restored. And it's been almost 2 years. There are a bunch of houses with a big red Xs on them that means it has to be demolished. A majority of the businesses in the area will not be reopening. Attached pictures of 3 houses that sit about 100 yards from Mobile Bay (4th Pic ) They were hit with a 20' wall of water

[chomper]

Im sure those people are grateful for the help. Thats a terrible disaster and I just dont know what else to say.

Is your group doing demo work?

[Sam]

Im sure those people are grateful for the help. Thats a terrible disaster and I just dont know what else to say.

Same here.

[Erbby49]

Im sure those people are grateful for the help. Is your group doing demo work?

The people are fabulous they have nothing and they want to feed us and give us gifts. When People se the church van with jersey plates they just walk up to us in the gas stations and shake our hands we don't have to say a word they know why we are there.
We are doing both Demo and Restore. It's an experience I will not soon forget.

[chomper]

Guess thats southern hospitality for ya.

[Erbby49]

Forgot to mention you can walk all the way out to that last pylon that's 150-175 yds
in picture 4 above it's only about 4-5' deep and doesn't change much with the tides

[Lagoon Lizard]

Good post...the 850 foot pier got destroyed. The new one being built in Gulf Shores will be 1500+ feet long. Was due to open in March, but now they are shooting for mid July...can't wait. The water depth at the end is 26' deep....bought a new rod & reel just getting ready for it to open. The new pier is supposed to be the longest on the Gulf coast.
Lagoon Lizard