Fort Morgan

What’s biting down there this time of year? Heading down next weekend with the boat and trying to get a game plan together. Will be staying in a condo that’s right across from a boat launch into the bay. Thought about running out offshore a ways and either dropping or trolling but if something is biting good in the bay I might would give it a whirl. Only thing about the bay is that I’m not familiar with it and a little nervous about running it. I’ve got a GPS with charts and a bunch of offshore numbers in it (all came with the boat). Somebody tell me how to catch a dang fish

Redfish will be biting off off the Dixie Bar. Ive always used cut mullet.

The rigs in the bay close to DI and FM are still holding spanish and some trout. Slip corks and plenty of #10 treble hooks.

The rigs should have trout, dixey bar should have reds, the gulf side of fort Morgan should have trout running the troughs. Triple tail can still be found on structure.

If you’d like to pm me when you get here, I can give you a report.

I’ll definitely do that. Thank you!

I should have. Lol

Do the big bluefish still run there in the fall? I remember years ago we were catching ladyfish and spanish wading out there and these huge blues were coming up and tearing them to bits. Caught a few of them and they were huge. Lots of stingrays out there too which offer a surprisingly hard fight.

We used to catch those big blues in numbers in the surf on Okaloosa Island too but it has been probably 20 years since I've seen those big 8-12 pounders around here. Great sport fish, especially on a 3000 series reel with 8-10lb test. Still catch the little 1-3 lb blues all over the bay and along the beach but those big ones dont seem to be around anymore for whatever reason.

Anytime

Yeah those were the same fish we were catching. A 10 pound blue on a flippin stick is a battle. I remember no one ever caught those big blues and they showed up for several years but sounds like they are gone now. Wish I would have fished for them more back then. Wonder why they came and went. I was reeling in about a 2 or 3 pound spanish and got it to within a couple yards of me and several huge blues just tore it to pieces right in front of me. Only the head was left. You could see them knocking ladyfish completely out of the water. Porpoises were out there too I assume eating the blues.

My boy and I were going down Sat to kayak fish in the gulf between GS and FM. The wave forecast went from 0.8 to 2.0 footers since Tuesday. 2 footers are a little too rough for paddling.

Yeah I’m not sure if we’re going to hit the gulf side now. May stay back up in the bay and try to chase some trout and reds

If you get in the gulf, take some pics to let me know if I threw away a fishing day down there.

Water was rough as hell in the gulf and the bay so we put in at Mo’s landing in Little Lagoon. Casted around the grass for a while with only a couple hits and no hookups on top water. Found a ball of LYs swimming around and caught about 100 of them with one throw of the cast net and threw some in the box for bait. Went to the mouth of the inlet that connects the lagoon to the gulf and anchored up for a while and managed to catch a few fish on whole and cut LYs. Would have had about a half dozen Spanish but my buddy wouldn’t put a leader on and kept getting cut off. We had a good time though and then went to the beach and killed an ungodly amount of Busch lights. Can someone with a little better fish ID experience than me tell me if that last fish is a big croaker or a whiting? I don’t know how to tell the difference.

Croaker

We went down and fished the public fishing area at perdido pass saturday and this morn. We got on sum jack crevalle on that seawall man that was sum sho nuff fun. I know they aint no count for nothing but they will sure stretch that string

Yeah I was really hoping we would get into some jacks but I don’t know if they come up in that lagoon.

You should’ve tail hooked that croaker and sent him back down. Best bull red bait you can get and that’s the perfect size.

That big really? I figured you’d use one about 6” or so.

Nah, Nowhere near being too big. A 25lb red will eat that thing like you would a piece of candy. I can assure you that that croaker wouldn’t live more than 10 min on Dixie bar.

Well that will be good to know for the next trip!

Tail hook him on 6/0 or 8/0 owner mutu light circle hook and hold on. I fish 6” croakers all the time in the bay down here for the bigger specks and slot reds and you’d be surprised at how many 3 lb specks or 4-5 lb reds will eat that 6” croaker or bigger. You’d be amazed at how big a bait most saltwater fish will eat. I think a 9-10” croaker is really the perfect bait for big bulls.

I learn new things about fishing down here almost everytime I open a Ft Morgan thread, Dixie Bar, bull red thread...interesting for sure!

Jay, there's some pretty decent guides in that area if you need some pointers!

AND it's DIXEY BAR, not Dixie Bar. The clipper ship, named for Capt John H Dixey, ran up on that sand bar during a hurricane, Sept 14/ 15, 1860. Nineteen men died when the ship broke apart. I pass that area every day I work. It's a common mistake for folks not to spell the name of this area correctly,but it's a part of our history. It seems to stick in my mind, and at my age I forget a few things, but that's not one of them.

Dang man, never new that, thanks for the history lesson. Historians are still trying to figure out what ship wreck the coffee table at J&M Tackle came from that was exposed after Hurricane Camille. Yep, that 800lb table is the keel. Been a lot of slivers sliced off the under side over the years by people digging into it.

Pilot boat capt?

Real close Turkey Joe. Real close

Croaker is the best eating of those 3.

I was thinking the same thing.

I just got back from the eastern side of Orange Beach, had great surf fishing! caught TONS of bluefish (we ate a few one night) a good number of lady fish, small pompano and catfish, and my dad caught a permit! it was some of the best surf fishing we've ever had. we were using fresh dead, whole shrimp and cut bait (lady fish)

That's awesome man! I tried some surf fishing early sunday morning but the current was so bad I couldn't keep my baits from washing up down the beach.

Yeah, Saturday was getting pretty rough. the biggest weights we had were 3 ounce and even those were struggling on Saturday. we were just throwing about 30 degrees into the current and letting it wash about 30 degrees down current. gong to keep a couple 4 ounce sinkers in my kit from now on.

He caught a permit eh?

I was really wishing I had some of those sputnik sinkers Sunday morning lol

Indeed!

post up a pic of that permit

We didnt get any pics since it wasnt a big one (probably 12" -14") We didn't realize it was a big deal to catch one in Alabama until we mentioned it to the guy in the bait shop later that night. He mentioned that earlier this spring there seemed to be more people than usual catching small permit from the surf.

I’ll be down to fish the mud/weed soup after Sally.....but I’d have a lot of line on your reel fishing those big croakers......whatever eats those usually runs like hell. LOL

Was it a bait permit?

+1

Are you sure it was a permit and not a pompano?

My thoughts exactly

Quite a few juvenile permit caught around here in the last few years. Makes me wonder why just juveniles and not a single mature fish.

I guess I can’t say definitively, since we didn’t take a pic or contact an expert, but it was definitely different from the pompano we were catching. The color was much different, just gray/silver with a little hint of orange around the anal fin. No other bright color anywhere on it. Also, the nose/forehead bump (don’t know what it’s called) looked different. Did some quick googling while we had it out of the water and looked just like a young permit.