Orange Beach/Perdido Pass Report - The Hull Truth

xl883lo · 06-15-2008, 02:08 PM

Took my wife,grandkids(G10&B7), daughter#2(not the mother) and her boyfriend to OB for the week.
1)Started out the week at a friends house in Fairhope went to the city pier on Sunday AM and absolutely nothing was hitting. Only saw one guy get a couple of mullet with a cast net.

2)Monday AM city pier same results.

3)Tuesday AM I left the condo at about 5AM and had the second most succesful day of the trip as I went by Mo's Tackle and landed a 7' 0" Tidemaster(St Croix)........I needed another inshore rod for a made in USA Penn 260 Slammer I picked up the other day.

Mo's had a little sale on so I could not resist. Later I went down to the PP Bridge without my gear and a couple of folks were catching Grey Snapper on live shrimp but all and all pretty slow. Took my grandson (7) down to Zeke's to see the boats come in with the fish. He was less than enthusiastic at first but then he got to touch the fish, see a 77.2# yellowfin(from Summer Breeze II) and feed scraps from tha cut-up table to the pelicans. As we left he asked if we could go back tomorrow.

4)Wednesday AM I went back to the West Jetty.....a few people were catching the typical ladyfish, gafftops, grunts...one guy caught a small Spanish. I went with my Buddy from Fairhope back the the seawall on the westside and there were several huge baitballs. We caught a few grunts on dead shrimp. Something about 13-18 inches long kept running the base of the wall and busting the baitballs but I could never tell what it was.We saw 3 or 4 good size spanish cruising about 20-40 yards out but I never could get their attention. The Jellyfish were as thick as flies.....saw two guys spearfishing on the inside of the rocks....one guy was in a shorty....they must have been Yankee Tourists......I couldn't have stood it.Took my grandson back to Zeke's to see the charters come in.

5)Thursday was the best, although not very successful. My buddy from Fairhope and I launched his boat from Cotton Bayou Ramp about 8 AM. Took my grandson and his girlfriend. We anchored off the west jetty fished till about 10 am(live shrimp mostly).....missed two strikes and caught a big Ladyfish(3/4 oz gold spoon)......Porpoise were everywhere. My grandson started getting seasick(I think he was water watching too much looking for the Porpoise). We went back inside the Bay to Robinson Island to let him get his land legs. While he was in the water he got really nailed by a jellyfish.This is 3 days later.

http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/l...rent=jelly.jpg

We decided he needed to eat so we got him an early lunch at Tacky Jack's. I called the wife to say after lunch I would get my Buddy to drop us off at one of the marinas and she could come get us(my marching orders were be back by noon). My grandson chimes in "but granpaw...grandpaw....I want to fish some more". My wife hears him and says "well if he wants to go out again okay". What a trooper......seasick, jellyfish stung and sunburned and what does he wat to do......go out some more.My grandson is on the right and my Buddy's son is on the left. We went back to see the charters again....this time his sister decided if he was so excited maybe there was something to it so she had to go. She told me when we were leaving I would have to take her out next year....after I take her deer hunting of course.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l.../buddyatTJ.jpg

6)Friday was actually the most productive fish catching day. I went out in front of Poenix VII & VIII. There is a little sandbar the goes from over by the west jetty and ties into the first sandbar in front of VII. I was casting dead shrimp, dead sandfleas and live sandfleas to the edge of the little sandbar where they are 30-70 yards apart. I got cut off twice(using light mono leaders) hooked two spanish one spit the hook and one broke off, landed two pompano one about 8"-9" and the othe 13"-14". All my strikes were on dead shrimp.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...883lo/pomp.jpg

bamaboy473 · 06-15-2008, 02:33 PM

Nice report, just wish you'd been able to catch a lot more! Those man-o-war (not jellyfish, but not the Portugese ones, either) have been lingering around for about a month. They're usually a spring and fall thing, so water's pretty warm for them to still be here. There's a lot less fishing pressure this year, so plan on a snapper charter next year; things ought to be great.

xl883lo · 06-15-2008, 05:09 PM

I usually get down a few times a year to do either saltwater or inshore. I am always limited on water time when I bring the family not just because of wanting/needing to spend more time with them but my wifes health limits her ability to look after the kids. I really would have liked to catch more but seeing my grandson and grandaughter get excited about the outdoors was the best. I also learn more everytime I go out and often learn more when the bite is slow. I was really happy overall. I have really killed them a few time over the years on charters. Three years ago out of Destin five guys from my company went out. We put our cleaned fish for transport in 168 quart and 54 quart coolers and were unable to close the lids(with no ice).

Man-o-war??????I thought those were "Moon Jellyfish"..........

I really wanted to get back over to South Mobile Bay to hit the Oyster Reefs and Weeks Bay/Fish River. This is the closest good put in for my Buddy from Fairhope and it is really suppose to be hot right now...............

Barefootin · 06-16-2008, 05:09 AM

AH, This was one of my favorite destinations for years before moving to the MS coast. Great to hear the names in the old stomping grounds. We had a rash of the jellies a few weeks ago but they seem to have disapeared of late. I would reccomend a charter to take the kids on a half day for Red Snapper, Kings Grouper etc. I loved the near shore, small boat action.