Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook  8/6/25

Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook  8/6/25

By David “The Pierpounder” Thornton

The previous fortnight was a continuation of our humid tropical like pattern with really hot days and intermittent rain showers every few days. We have been spared any recent interference from the tropics, but are now entering a historically more active period. So remain vigilant! Consequently, our fishing pattern has fallen into the mid summer doldrums with a bit of pretty much everything being caught, though dependable patterns have become hard to find.
Since the daylight hours are getting noticeably shorter now, the water temperature is near or at the yearly high. Even the Gulf has warmed into the upper 80 to near 90 degrees, with the back bays a few degrees hotter than that. This has led to some water quality issues, especially in Little Lagoon where shoaling has restricted the flow through Little Lagoon Pass this summer. But dredging is slated to commence again this week which should alleviate some of the strain on this important estuary provided better tidal flow is established and maintained.
The Lagoon ecology already suffered a setback earlier this year when that record cold snap led to a die off of fish, mostly Silver mullet. Though not directly of much economic importance, Silver mullet form the backbone of winter forage fish for speckled trout, redfish, and flounder which are important resident gamefish. Seasonal abundance or relative scarcity of small finfish like mullet and menhaden have a ripple effect through the estuary. So the loss of these small fish may be noted along with fewer gamefish in the fishery for years to come.
Other baitfish like young-of-the-year Scaled herring (called LYs) and Broad Striped anchovies are the primary forage fish for a variety of species in the Gulf waters and passes for the rest of the summer. Their abundance attracts local fish species (like Mangrove snapper, redfish, flounder, and bluefish) along with pelagic species such as Spanish mackerel and various jacks into casting range of shorebound fishermen. Small LYs become the primary live bait for many anglers while spoons and soft plastic paddle tail imitations are often used by many others to target these fish.
Small LYs, to be used as bait can be caught using castnets with 3/8 inch mesh, or with a rectangular piece of 3/8 inch monofilament netting used to make a Red Ribbon rig. For reasons unknown, LYs will strike at a strip of red ribbon. But savvy Gulf Coast anglers learned to take advantage of that fact decades ago to catch these common baitfish by weaving the ribbon through a piece of monofilament netting so the LYs get gilled in the webbing. Then they can be retrieved and used as live bait, or placed in a 5 gallon bucket with an aerator for later use. Two dozen small LYs is about all an aerated bucket can keep alive with 90 degree water temperature.
Lately savvy pier and shore anglers have been concentrating on summer abundant species such as mangrove snapper. These small snapper, along with slot-sized redfish typically attract most of the effort from fishermen near shore, with schools often found around hard structures like jetties and piers. The elimination of retention of over slot redfish in Alabama (+26 inches) should give that fishery a bit of a boost in the future, but it will make it harder on some anglers to find legal fish to take home. Also keep in mind the minimum size limit for Mangrove snapper is 10 inches total length (TL) in Florida, but 12 inches (TL) in Alabama.
These fish may be targeted with Carolina rigs or single drop rigs which are fished in the vicinity of a school. Vary the amount of weight to match the conditions of wind and current for a proper presentation. Live shrimp are essentially useless around hard structures during the day this time of year because of a huge seasonal abundance of pinfish. These 3 to 6 inch colorfully striped panfish are easily caught on a small hook and tiny piece of bait.
Kids and inexperienced anglers can sharpen their skills by catching these little sea bream which are edible (like freshwater bream), or can be used as live bait for larger fish like redfish or for bottom fishing offshore. If you are just looking for something to catch from the Gulf State Park Pier or seawall at Perdido Pass or Little Lagoon Pass, then Pinfish will fit the bill. Small to medium sized Spadefish have also been available at the pier in large numbers recently, and besides being fun to catch, Spadefish are great eating.
King mackerel have been absent from the pier lately, though a stray is not out of the question. As well most of the Spanish mackerel have disappeared for a while, but they should soon be back following the schools of small LYs. Also Tarpon numbers are rapidly dwindling as their beach migration winds down this month. Though a few may still be hooked from the pier this month. We can expect increasing numbers of large Jack crevelle and bull Redfish to blitz the pier periodically as the baitfish return there.
And large Jacks and Redfish may generally be found in the surf near the point at Fort Morgan too as the tidal progressions and abundance of baitfish draws them in shallow to feed almost every morning and evening.
Speckled trout numbers have dropped in the surf lately, but more White trout and specks can be found in the back bays now, or at night around lighted docks and piers like at Fairhope. Slot-sized Redfish and Flounder are another possibility during these nocturnal fishing ventures. So be ready to switch out suspending lures with bottom bouncing jigs tipped with Gulp Shrimp if you don’t see any trout activity around the lights.
Beach fishing for Florida pompano with set rigs may provide an occasional keeper-sized pompano, but they are difficult to target with that setup now, which yields a LOT of bycatch. Small pompano, whiting, and jacks dominate the surfzone for the rest of the summer, but even they may be difficult to catch during calm periods with little or no wind and waves. Especially if it is near Full moon August 9th, or the NEAP tide period around August 13th.
The Gulf waters haven’t been particularly inviting to wade fish in lately with an increase in numbers of sea nettles (stinging jellyfish). Surf anglers may do better walking the shoreline with jigs or spoons to cast at schools of Ladyfish, Spanish mackerel, or various jacks they may find feeding on small baitfish.