Got a trip to the beach coming up and the boys are dying to try the fishing. Anybody got any tips to share? We make an annual trip to the beach, but have never fished the surf or a pier. I have lots of freshwater gear, but don't mind picking up something new if it will make a difference. Tell me about rigs, bait etc. Thanks. CD.

goto the pier forum and you can find all the info you need.
http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com/

I'm down here now. When the weather breaks I'm gonna ride over and see what's happening at the pier. I heard they were catching alot of fish before the storms came thru.

I will be down the 15 thru the 22, gonna give it a try myself.

Im at Gulf Shores now and can say fishing has been great for some. My boy and I have hooked 4 stingrays and had a blast fighting themand I did catch a 22lb Red Friday night. It is gonna be dinner tonight. We are using bait fish caught on Sabiki jigs. Lots of reds,spanish and kings being caught. Planned on fishing today but rain, wind and lightning has kept us in the camper today.

I hope you meant to say you caught a 22 inch redfish, cuz a 22 lb. redfish would be over the 27 inch slot limit and therefore be illegal to keep.

you can keep one oversize in al. and two slot or three slot reds.

What he said ^^^^

It was 22 pounds. Only one I caught so therefore it was my one oversize.

They arent sting rays, they are some type of bat ray. Best thing to do is cut him off as soon as you hook up, keep from pissing off alota the local guys on the pier. They dont like it when you make them move for a ray. Just a heads up.

The reds and kings have been hot off the pier, and you can catch all the bluefish you want on a bubble rig.

My bad, thinking of Florida regulations not Alabama. Wish we could keep three slot sized reds. We just were given one more slot red, for a total of 2 per day, recently. It had been one for years.

The "local guys" need to STFU and let a kid catch all the dang rays he wants. That's the problem with the pier. Always has been. There were a few of the "locals" who thought they owned the thing and would literally try to tell people what they could/couldn't do back in the day.

Sad.

x2 what Bamachem said.

x3 what Bamachem said. Seems like, most of the gulf piers are that way. The piers, are for "Everyone's" use and enjoyment.

Went around this time last year and caught a few nice specks at the 3-4 foot depth with live shrimp on medium spinning tackle. you will see them roll in and just drop it down and let the shrimp do the work. when it dies, replace it.

I dont think it would piss 'em off if you could actually Catch the ray... but it's usually just a long long fight, running around and under peple and a mad scramble to get lines out of the water, followed by either getting spooled or just cutting it off.

It doenst bother me. I dont like the pier period.

Thats why they don't like shark fishing on piers. Same deal,wrapping everyone up.

Instead of being pissed off the pier fishing veterans need to take the time to teach the kids how to catch "trophy" species. I would love to fish the pier when I'm down there, but have no idea what to do. Imagine being a kid and not knowing anything about fishing except using worms and bobbers and being on the pier.

The GS pier ain't as bad as some of you make it out to be. Most of the locals will hook a fish and hand a rod off to a kid standing there and let him fight it. Some of the locals even have kids tourneys there as well. The whole thing about fighting a ray for an hour or more is the tangle ups acroos the pier you get from fighting it back and forth. 90% of the locals will share info with you on how to fish the pier. They even have a forum for the pier, just go there and tell them your coming down to fish and want some tips and watch the help you'll receive. FL pier fisherman, that's a differnt story. Here's the link to the pier site (http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com/general-discussion/?PHPSESSID=qc7vkk9o96et0b7p3vhooehgp7),it's owned by local pier fisherman. Oh yeah, if your gonna fish the end of the pier leave the braided line at home.

^^^THIS^^^^ is true, my Uncle just got back a few days ago and had 2 Grandaughters with him, on 3-4 different hookups, a complete stranger handed the rod to one of the girls and let them reel them in! I have never fished from the pier but love to go watch them catch em!