REEL SPORT: Fishing the Gulf Coast

REEL SPORT, Fishing the Alabama Gulf Coast. Tips for Summer Fishing by Captain Bobby Abruscato

When the water temperatures are the warmest of the year (over 75 degrees), speckled trout tend to stay more active in water deeper than 8 feet. Both Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound are loaded with submerged structure and all of it in water deeper than 8 feet holds trout.

The most effective technique is to drift a live shrimp under a slip cork near the structure. Be sure to set the depth of the shrimp so that it is in the lower third of the water column. If the trout are active, this will locate them.

From there, try tight-lining a live croaker. The summer months are the only time of the year that the trout seem to have a taste for them, but what a taste they have! Don’t be afraid to put a croaker the size of your hand on either.

You’ll have plenty of action, and that big, hearty croaker may entice a monster to bite. Redfish start to school as they go pre-spawn during the summer. During this period, it is not uncommon to see schools of hundreds of redfish lazing on the surface as they head for the open Gulf.

Fish them smart and you can have some of the most incredible fish action of your life . . . if you can find them.

For more fishing tips from Captain Bobby Abruscato and the A-Team, please visit www.ateamfishing.com.

REEL SPORT is a regular column by Captain Bobby Abruscato, owner and founder of A-Team Fishing Adventures on Dauphin Island, Alabama.