Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook June 25-July 9, 2025

Pier & Shore Fishing Outlook June 25-July 9, 2025

Summer is officially upon us as we experience the heat and humidity as well as good shorebound fishing along the coast. Gulf water temperatures in the middle 80s usher in a wide variety of options for anglers on the beaches, jetties, or piers. Thundershowers rule the weather in late June into early July especially in the early morning when land breeze enhanced showers often plague the coastline.
A minor inconvenience for beach goers but sometimes an unpredictable deal breaker for fishermen intent on a morning session. As always, we have to adapt to whatever nature gives us, and sometimes the wind patterns around these thundershowers may bring some unexpected benefits as well.
NEAP tides (around the 1st and 2nd of July) present anglers with another challenge as tidal currents will likely be weaker during that period but much stronger the week before and after.
Surf fishers have enjoyed a wide variety of catches with no particular focus on any one species. Except maybe at the west end of the Fort Morgan Peninsula, where extra large red drum and jack crevelle have been pleasing anglers with their beach blitzes and hard pulls. Heavy tackle is needed to do battle with these beasts which are being caught mostly on lures from surface poppers to hatchet jigs. Most all the usual surf species suspects are available from time to time depending on the nuances of weather, waves, and tides. A few keeper pompano are still being found along the beaches, along with some whiting, speckled trout, slot redfish, flounder, bluefish, ladyfish, blue runner, spanish mackerel, and of course sharks and rays.
This is the time of year when the biodiversity and vitality of the surf zone is most evident. Even when the grown up fish are not biting, entertainment abounds near your feet in the surf.
This is the time of year when the fishing from the Gulf State Park Pier shines brightest. Mornings and evenings provide the most action for fishermen as well as numerous sightseers, but there is still plenty to see and catch even at mid day. Spadefish are a mainstay species for the pier during the summer. These black and silvery-white striped sea bream use the pier to orient their spawning and gather into huge schools at times. Though most are only 6 to 8 inches long they can pull hard when hooked by turning their flat body sideways. They fry up just as good as any freshwater bluegill, but get much larger, often described as hand-sized, plate-sized, platter-sized, and garbage can lids! The larger the spadefish the more challenge they are to hook and land.
Mackerel of course are the most popular draw to the pier, with the more numerous spanish mackerel ranging up to several pounds are caught with a variety of methods.
Lures are most commonly employed for spanish including the ever popular Bubble rig and Gotcha plug. These can be a lot of fun but tend to catch smaller sized mackerel. Savvy pier fishers seeking quality and not quantity use a slightly larger lure like a Rapala X-Rap in the 8 or 10 size to tempt larger quarry in the 2 to 5 pound range. Many still go old school to target bigger mackerel by using frozen cigar minnows, live LYs (Scaled sardines), or even strip baits.
When small or medium sized live baits are not readily available an old trick is to trim down an adult baitfish to make them more bite sized for medium sized mackerel. Shiny top loin strips from LYs, or belly strips from small spanish mackerel, hardtails, or bumpers make excellent baits to target mackerel on light tackle when their bite gets a little finicky.
King mackerel may join in the fun from time to time with occasional blitzes. That is when the smaller spanish may disappear temporarily because kings big enough to eat them are cruising near the pier. King mackerel average about 15 pounds, but are found in all sizes from 12 inches up to 40 pounds. Positive identification between mackerel species is critical because of the difference in regulations on each species in Alabama. Spanish have no minimum size while kings must be at least 24 inches fork length.
Failure to tell the difference could become a costly mistake for inexperienced or inattentive anglers who believe just because it is small or it has spots it must be a Spanish. These two species have several key differences, but the easiest way to tell while the fish is still in the water is the highly visible black dorsal fin of a Spanish mackerel. The dorsal fin of a king mackerel (of any size) is gray (not black), and relatively smaller in proportion to the body size.
King mackerel have always been a huge draw for anglers across the state and even the country hoping to get opportunities to catch them from the pier while on vacation. Folks have even relocated or retired to the area just for the opportunity to pier fish for king mackerel every summer. But mackerel are not the only kings in town this fortnight.
Silver kings, also known as tarpon begin their annual migration in earnest during this time period. These big, beautiful silver fish often exceed 100 pounds and schools of 50 or more may cruise by the pier, often within casting range. As with jack crevelle, in times past most tarpon were hooked incidentally while king fishing with live baits. They are both great gamefish, and not sought as food. In fact tarpon may not be landed legally in Alabama without a $67 tarpon tag.
In more recent times large jacks and tarpon are sightcast to with large plugs or weighted swimbaits that imitate the fish they feed upon. Because of their tremendous size and fighting power, tarpon are targeted with heavy class tackle to accelerate the catch and release process. Quite an exhilarating experience for an angler, especially in 100 degree heat stress conditions!
Fishing around Perdido Pass has been good at times as well, with good numbers of spanish mackerel and even some kings showing up along the seawall and around the west jetty. Even some unusually large kings along with spanish and bluefish have been routinely caught on plugs from the west jetty. But the biggest talk from the pass was the recent catch and release of a large Goliath grouper from the seawall by visiting Tennessean Cooper Dillow while fishing with his father, Doug Dillow. This improbable and outstanding catch was accomplished on gear not set up for a fish that large. Dillow used a 5000 size Piscifun Venom reel on an old Redwolf 9 foot heavy action rod with 30 pound Diawa j-braid mainline to 50 pound Kastking braid tied to 100 pound monofilament and a short 30 pound single strand wire leader. The hook was a 5/0 Mutu Lite circle hook with a live Scaled sardine (LY) as bait.