[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ell the cold winter temps have been here now for a while now and the trout still remain in the deeper holes in the tidal rivers adjacent to Mobile Bay and the Sound; Live bait will be very hard if not impossible to find so you will need to use soft plastic shrimp and minnow imitations like the vudu shrimp, gulp swim mullet or shrimp or yozuri crystal shrimp and minnows. Youwillneedtofishasslowasyou can and make sure the baits stay in contact with the bottom, jig lightly, and again, I cannot stress enough, if you think you are fishing too slow, slow down more. The do nothing drift will continue to work as well in the middle or deeper parts of the tidal rivers.
Something to look forward to in mid to late month and on into the coming month or two is the Sheepshead spawn. They will school in huge numbers around any good structure like the gas wells and any rock piles or jetties. For these, try to find the freshest dead shrimp you can if you cannot get your hands on any live shrimp. Fish as close to the structure as you can but be ready to reel fast, when they take the bait they can wrap into the structure and cut you off; check your bait often as they are notorious bait stealers; you will go through a lot of bait once you locate the Sheepies.
On the gulf side, just off the beach you can find large schools of big redfish. These are great fighters and fun to catch but don’t really have any table value; these are breeder stock fish so please practice catch and release with any redfish over the slot limit of 16 to 26 inches.
Most of all, find a pretty, warmer, sunny day and get out there on the water !
Call me, lets go fishing !
Until next time, tight lines and good fishing !
Capt. Charlie Gray