Fishing Opportunities
In Gulf Shores & Orange Beach
If you visit Gulf Shores and Orange Beach with fishing on your mind, you’re in luck. Alabama’s beautiful coast offers various angling opportunities from the surf’s edge to the far reaches of the Gulf of Mexico.
Inshore Fishing
If you brought your own boat, you want to try inshore fishing for redfish, speckled trout, and white trout in the bays, like Perdido Bay, Wolf Bay, Bon Secour Bay or Little Lagoon. Live shrimp is available at numerous tackle shops in the area, including J&M Tackle, Sam’s Stop and Shop, and Hooked Up Bait and Tackle. If you want to try artificial, try shrimp imitations under a popping cork or minnow imitation baits.
For those without a boat, many inshore guides can treat you to a day on Alabama’s coastal waters, and they know all the local hotspots for trout, redfish, and flounder.
Offshore Fishing
Numerous charter boats also offer reasonably priced, four-hour trolling trips for Spanish, kings, and bonito. You might get lucky and hook into a bull redfish that will strip drag and test your tackle.
Heading farther into the Gulf’s offshore waters, Alabama’s beaches offer some of the best charter fishing on the Gulf of Mexico and will head out 15 to 30 miles to fish for reef species in Alabama’s vast and unmatched artificial reef zone that covers more than 1,000 square miles. Depending on the season, the target species could be Alabama’s iconic red snapper, amberjack, triggerfish, and vermilion snapper. Alabama’s charter fleet has vessels, called six-packs, that accommodate six anglers or larger boats that carry more than 20. Several head boats offer walk-on day trips to catch reef fish species.