Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook 11/26/25

Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook 11/26/25

By David “The Pierpounder” Thornton

Our previous fortnight was dominated by a sharp drop in air and water temperatures, followed by a gradual warming trend. As usual, fishing (or rather catching) fell off dramatically during the cold spell but rebounded some during the warmup. This typical Gulf Coast fall pattern including a series of fog bound mornings. Mostly light and variable winds and waves in addition to virtually no recent rainfall (locally or upstate) has resulted in the gulf waters remaining remarkably clear and calm. A welcome end to this year’s Atlantic hurricane season featuring NO activity in the Gulf! Thank You, Lord!
Gulf water temperatures did below 70 degrees during the cold snap, but have rebounded a few degrees during the recent warmup. This resulted in an upsurge of activity for pompano, whiting (Gulf kingfish), and ground mullet (Northern kingfish) in the surfzone from Perdido Key to Fort Morgan. Relatively few other species were reported (redfish, bluefish, or drum), and virtually all the pelagic species (jacks and mackerel) seemed to have skedaddled during the cold snap. Though there are a few small spanish mackerel still lingering around the end of the Gulf State Park Pier and west jetty at Perdido Pass. Likely due to a concentration of small LYs (Scaled herring) gathering at those locations in the clear, calm water.
However, bottom fishing for large croakers and suspended live bait fishing for sheepshead seem to be dominating the fishing scene on the end of the pier now. There have been some scattered pompano caught from either end of the pier lately, as schools of migrating pompano stop by to feed around the pier at times. Live shrimp, dead shrimp, and jigs will catch pompano this time of year in addition to other species as well. But with the water temp still around 70 degrees, pinfish remain a nuisance to anglers until the water cools again.
In the shallows, anglers targeting whiting have had to contend with huge by-catches of pinfish. Live pinfish do however make fine bait for the occasional bull redfish or red snapper. A similar situation is present along the seawall and jetties at Perdido Pass too, where pinfish dominate the bite until cooler water (in the middle 60s) should force them offshore.
Recently it seems angler effort and availability of bull redfish has waned at the pier, Perdido Pass, and near Fort Morgan since the previous cold snap. But there was a nice flurry of activity at these locations just before the large aggregations of redfish completed their spawn cycle and followed after migrating menhaden schools into the Gulf. This is typical for late November, though there could still be occasional schools pass by the end of the pier, and certainly some singles picked up there, as well as from the seawall and jetty at Perdido Pass, or along the beaches. Though this year’s regulation change, disallowing retention of redfish over 26 inches in Alabama, may have something to do with it too.
We are now in the midst of the seasonal transition as fall is drawing to a close. Length of daylight hours influences which resident species are available, but weather conditions, sea state, and tide status control where and when these fish will be feeding, for the most part. As the days shorten more, and waters cool, it becomes more imperative for anglers to identify feeding locations and times in order to remain successful. The situation is exacerbated as more wintertime anglers (snowbirds) enter the scene and exert more fishing pressure on the limited resources. During periods of clear and calm water, anything anglers can do to give them an edge over the competition (bait, tackle, tactics, or timing), or finding more remote venues to fish may increase the number of fish they catch.
Good bait is paramount to enticing fish that may be pressured ,or affected by colder water. Never forget that fish are cold-blooded animals that respond in accordance to to their environment. A change of just a few degrees in water temperature on a daily basis can trigger or shut off a bite. Try to observe any patterns of fish feeding, noting the conditions and timing of such activity. This time of year, warmer afternoons accompanied by a rising tide is a commonly observed pattern for shore anglers to catch more whiting and pompano right up to dark, maybe even after sunset during the full moon period around December 4th.
More water flooding into beach troughs allows these normally wary fish to venture closer to shore in search of food, and savvy anglers can catch them even on light or ultralight tackle during these times with the right setup (terminal rig and bait).
Live shrimp, fiddler crabs, and other live or fresh dead baits are often crucial to getting lethargic or wary fish to bite once the waters cool. At the same time, these conditions often interfere with their availability in bait shops, who try to keep up with demand on a daily basis.
As a result, anglers may have to compromise their intended approach to fishing if they cannot garner an adequate supply of preferred bait for that day. Fishermen may have to settle for inferior baits like frozen shrimp that do not have as much appeal to their target fish.
Fortunately this time of year, lower daytime tides make it easier for anglers to gather ghost shrimp for their personal use. These 2 to 4 inch long invertebrates live down in the sand along the beach front and back bays. The entrance of their burrows, which are one to three feet deep, are often marked by a small (inch high) round mound with a hole in the middle.
With a little effort, ghost shrimp can be extracted in shallow water by individuals armed with a ghost shrimp pump ($35 to $70 at bait & tackle shops). Two or three dozen of these shrimp is plenty of bait for each angler for a day, or even more.
Though they do not typically live for an extended period outside their burrows due to their fragility and tendency to foul the water with excrement. But ghost shrimp are relished by a variety of fish species, so they make excellent bait. However, they are easily cast off a hook. So, a piece of threadlike Magic Thread (available in area bait shops) can be utilized to wrap the bait and keep it on the hook.
The timing of our tides is crucial in determining when fish might be moving or feeding in a certain location depending on the other factors related to weather. But the tide predictions are the one factor most easily predictable, except in cases of storms when the water level may be higher or lower than predicted. We are fortunate in a way in this part of the world to experience only diurnal, micro-tides. That means only one high and one low tide each day with a water level variation averaging only a foot most days during each tidal fortnight (13 ½ days). This makes tidal influence on our sealife simpler to predict, though it will be a lot more subtle to observe than in other parts of the world.
After the NEAP tide on November 29th we will see morning low tides, followed by a rising tide each afternoon moving into December. The timing of lowest water is about 40 to 60 minutes later each day, while the difference between low and high water level increases each day until December 7th. Afterwards daily tidal variation will decrease as we approach the next NEAP tide period in mid December. The Alabama Marine Resources Division produces a fine calendar each year with monthly tide graphs that can greatly assist anglers in determining these tide trends, and they are free!