Inshore fishing along Alabama’s beaches is unbeatable, thanks to the abundance of opportunities our area offers. From charters and marinas to piers and miles of beaches, you’ll discover a myriad of spots to reel in a catch. While deep-sea fishing is a popular type of fishing for many anglers visiting our shores, you don’t have to venture too far off the beach to hook a keeper. The Gulf of Mexico boasts a variety of species that inshore anglers can pursue year-round in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
As we head into the new year, the first inshore species that becomes easy to catch is sheepshead. Sheepshead head to nearshore waters during the early spring to spawn. Before they head out, the fish hang around inshore structures and feed on barnacles and other crustaceans. Sheepshead will most likely be found around rock and concrete jetties, pilings, petroleum platforms, bridges, and oyster reefs.
Sheepshead find live shrimp and fiddler crabs hard to resist. If you’re having trouble finding live bait, don’t hesitate to use freshly dead shrimp. You can also cut oysters into chunks and slide them on your hooks. With sheepshead, always take plenty of bait because they are known as the premier bait-stealing species on the Gulf Coast. The bag limit on sheepshead is 10 fish with a 12-inch minimum fork length.
The only inshore species that isn’t available to catch all year is flounder, the tasty flatfish found in the bays and estuaries all along Alabama’s coast. To protect flounder during its late fall spawning run, the season is closed for the month of November. Other than that time, you can hook flounder anywhere inshore fishing Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
While most anglers catch flounder on jigs or bull minnows fished on the bottom, some people continue a long tradition of gigging flounder along Alabama’s beaches. Certain environmental conditions, such as calm or very little wind, make it easier to see the fish. At least halfway back from a low tide, a rising tide prompts the flounder to move into the shallow water to ambush bait fish. Sometimes, a neap tide will work, but a low tide doesn’t seem to work well in most areas.
Alabama’s saltwater fishing regulations include a flounder bag and size limit of five fish per person with a 14-inch size minimum, so be sure the fish is legal size before you stab it with the gig. A saltwater fishing license is also required so be prepared for the fall flounder fishing run.
Probably the most soft-after species by Alabama inshore anglers is the speckled trout (spotted seatrout) and redfish (red drum). Both species are regulated under slot limits. For specks, anglers can keep six fish from 15 to 22 inches total length. One oversized trout is allowed per day. For reds, anglers can keep three fish from 16 to 26 inches total length with the same allowance of one oversized fish per day. Specks and reds will start coming out of their winter haunts and start feeding in the spring.
Speckled trout will take a variety of artificial lures during the spring before the fish become finicky. Minnow-imitation plastic baits with a ¼-ounce jighead will work hopped along the inshore areas that include structure, especially oyster beds and grass flats. Shrimp-imitation baits under a popping cork also work.
When the weather gets a little warmer, the trout will transition to live bait. If you’re using live shrimp, take plenty because every fish in saltwater will eat shrimp. The larger trout may inhale a shrimp, but baitfish like croakers, mullet, pinfish, and menhaden are often preferred bait when inshore fishing Alabama beaches for this species.
Trout prefer water temperatures from the low 60s to the low 80s and will hang out on the flats in fairly shallow water. When the weather gets hot, the trout will be in shallow water during low-light conditions at dawn and dusk and move to deeper waters during the heat of the day.
Redfish will hit many of the same lures as speckled trout, but when redfish are “tailing,” probing the bottom in such shallow water that their tails are exposed, a Johnson Silver Minnow spoon in gold color is hard to beat.
If the wind is blowing, you may end up in Little Lagoon, which is a great place to catch white trout. Bounce grubs off the bottom as you drift along the lagoon. It may take a while to find the fish, but once you do, it’s a white trout bonanza.
Although you’re technically fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, I consider surf fishing for pompano and whiting as an inshore fishing adventure. Surf anglers typically use a double-hook rig with the lightest pyramid weight allowed, depending on the surf and current conditions. A 1/0 or #1 hook (bait hook or circle hook) is usually best for pompano. You can use lighter tackle when the whiting are biting because they tend to weigh around a pound or so.
Scouting is important for both surf fishing and inshore fishing. Look for sandbars within casting distance. These two species tend to live between the sandbar and the beach and will take bits of shrimp, sand fleas and ghost shrimp as well as FishBites. Head to the numerous tackle stores, where the staff will be happy to supply you with all the tackle and bait that you’ll need for your surf or inshore fishing outing.
If you prefer fishing with light tackle, nothing beats a day casting for the numerous inshore species available in Alabama waters around Gulf Shores in Orange Beach.
