Trying out lots of areas before deciding on where to buy a place. Fishing is important to me, and close to beach is important for wife. One place that keeps popping up is Ft. Morgan. How shallow is the water on the bay side between say the fort and Kiva Dunes? Particularly around the Tacky Jacks sort of area (ie, can I keep my boat on a lift and actually use it during low tide. How is the inshore fishing within 10-15mi of there (closer is better). My current boat is a 23' Haynie Cat that will run through wet mud, but might eventually sell it and buy an actual bay boat.

Thanks for any input. You guys have always steered me straight before.

Its about 5' at the entrance to the dock area behind Tacky Jacks
https://usa.fishermap.org/depth-map/mobile-bay-alabama/#map
You can scroll and zoom in on the map to see the depth at different areas

The square shape is the dock at TJ. This shows the depths around that area

Toothdoc, I observe the fishing in that area for six months of every year. Feel free to pm me.

Message sent! Thanks

Lots of fishing options from that location. What and where to fish will depend on tides, salinity, season and weather conditions. You can fish the wells and rock piles in the lower bay, on calm days run to Dixey Bar or South Dauphin Island, or you can hit Bon Secour or Weeks Bay and their rivers. You can also run east on the Intercoastal to Perdido and Wolf Bays. Fun area to have a boat.

Drifting a croaker on Dixey Bar is hard to beat.

Between Fort Morgan, the marsh, the lower to middle part of the bay, and Dauphin Island, you’ll be tough pressed to find a better place for all around inshore fishing. You’re going to have more reds in Louisiana, but it’s not uncommon for us to catch multiple 6lb+ trout in a summer. Feel free to PM me for info.

What SBS said. The area around Tacky Jacks is ideal.

Thanks for the replies guys. I can look at Navionics, but it’s always just an average. All of those docks along the bay, is it deep enough to have a boat?

Many are, but not all. A lot of the area around Tacky Jacks has deep water. Much of the area east of the pines boat ramp towards Bon Secour is very shallow.

Your boat? You can get just about anywhere. A regular draft bay boat? You’ll find some places you can’t access. We have Louisiana guys offer to trade us redfish trips for trout trips because of the size we catch. I’ve pulled up to middle bay lighthouse and caught a 3 man limit of 3-3.5lb trout. The fishing is different since we use slip corks almost exclusively (other than some topwater and mirrodines in shallower water), but it doesn’t take much to get used to.

We have owned 3 houses on Fort Morgan (many years ago) bay side and all of them had boat access. There are multiple access points to cross Fort Morgan to access the beach…and those beaches are not nearly as crowded.

The fishing in the bay can be good but there is a learning curve. Different species peak at different times and you will need to learn that in order to stay on the hot fish.

I wish we still had a place over there but hurricanes and insurance and a hot market forced us out.

Your right about the insurance, mine went from $4800 this year and my wife reluctantly told me how much it’s going up.

I have a unit at Navy Cove Harbor Condominiums. Each unit comes with a deeded boat slip complete with power for a lift and water. 3 miles to the Gulf. Very Easy/Convenient for fishing.

Some very good info here Toothdoc. If you’ll let folks know a bit before you head this way some of us will be glad to sit down and empty our knowledge, or even get underway on a piece of fiberglass and let you see what you might need to help make up your mind. PM’s work great for me

You guys never fail to impress me. Thanks for all of the advice!

I'm having to factor that in as well. One thing I'm not excited about is the fact that insurance does not cover a boat dock. I shudder at the idea of spending $100k on a pier and boat house only to have it destroyed in a year from a hurricane.

There are some great pier/boathouse builders in the area. Like everything else, some are better than others. Pays to check around on those too.

Don't forget the sea wall. I'd buy a place that already has what you want in that regard and just plan on spending that money in the next 10 years or so - unless it's just a deal on the place.

My folks had a place there until they got tired of getting blown away in hurricanes. Caught a lot of big kings, jack crevalle, specks, redfish, bluefish, sharks and some huge sting rays too.