Gulf Shores Little Lagoon

[spottedbass]

Anyone have any tips for fishing there? My son and I are headed down there on May 6th for 6 nights. I am taking my aluminum bass boat to fish the lagoon. We would like to catch redfish, trout, flounder and some croakers.

[crosshairy]

The Lagoon itself is pretty shallow in most parts (see a satellite image). The channels that lead toward the pass that connects it to the gulf can hold fish during the daylight.

I've never caught a decent redfish in the lagoon, but I've never used a boat. I've seen pics of folks in kayaks and such catch some in daylight, so it's do-able.

I've caught quite a few speckled trout at different times. My best luck has been either around the piers at night, fishing by the lights, or near the pass. Around the piers, I like to use live bait - live shrimp, or baby croakers/mullet/bull minnows that I've cast-netted. I'll either fish them under a float, or (with the minnows) hop them Carolina-rig style.

At the pass, I've caught more fish on the gulf side in the surf on an out-going tide, but perhaps an incoming tide on the lagoon side would be just as good. Definitely watch the tide charts to see what direction the current is going.

Plan on takings some jerkbaits and Berkley Gulp shrimp for lures, as I've caught various types of fish with those. At the pass, you can also catch bluefish, Spanish mackerel, and ladyfish, but they don't seem to come into the lagoon that much.

I've seen a few flounder caught, but most were closer to the beach/pass area. I'm guessing they don't like the lower salinity in the lagoon.

Be careful for stingrays if you are out wading - sometimes there are lots of them in the lagoon. They will readily take live bait, but I've never caught one on artificial. You can sight fish for them. Really big ones are good to eat fresh, but I wouldn't waste my time on little ones, since they seemed like a lot of trouble to clean. My brother caught a 22-lb one off the Gulf Shores State Park Pier a couple years ago. The fresh meat was awesome - tasted like scallops - but the stuff we froze and thawed for later was barely worth eating.

Go to http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com/ and register for a free account. You can read the pier fishing reports (posted daily), and there are some reports of other areas that come in sporadically. That place is a wealth of information, and is searchable (similar to this forum), so you can read old posts and get all of your questions answered in a hurry. I would advise you to fish the pier as a first choice if the fish are biting, as you stand a chance of catching a lot more and bigger fish from there than you do in the Lagoon. I use the lagoon as my backup spot, but I understand if you are wanting to do some DIY adventure with your boat.

Good Luck!

[jad2t]

My wife and I rented a house on the lagoon a couple summers ago and I did some kayak fishing. I wound up with some good size trout, one being my personal best at 26 inches. We got a couple solid meals each off that fish just a few hours after I caught it, can't get more fresh than that! Several short trout, a small red, and also a 20 inch trout, which we also ate. That lagoon has a great population of speckled trout and sand trout. There are some reds in there, mostly smaller ones, but plenty in the harvest slot are caught. I didn't find any though.

Paddle to the South bank right in the middle where there is the inlet connecting it to the ocean. Fish it on incoming tide. That was advice given to me by a local guide and it was a game changer. There are also plenty of flounder in there.

Also, x2 on the stingrays. There are a lot of them. If you don't know the "stingray shuffle", find out what it is and make sure you are doing it if you plan on wading!!

[crosshairy]

I goofed on editing my post earlier and this didn't show up...

The east and west ends of the lagoon are more grassy-banked and have more shore structure. I've only fished the east end before, but I can attest that the grass holds shrimp (which can be cast-netted for bait), which draws in reds and specks. The salinity of this water will be lower after rains, since it's the farthest from the pass to the gulf, but the area seems to hold fish pretty well.

The canals and cuts in this area (and any others you can find) hold a lot of smaller baitfish and lots of crabs, so they are a good spot to catch bait. On high tides, larger fish will get up in those shallows, too.

Last point - be sure to rinse your boat well inside and out, and flush everything out, once your trip is done. You can see some of the minor damage to aluminum boats that comes from use in the salt over on sites like www.tinboats.net - you might want to review posts over there about proper care of an aluminum boat after use in saltwater.

[spottedbass]

Thanks guys. I have checked the tides charts and looks like I am going to have so big tides changes. I will definitely fish the area at the pass when the tide is coming in. I also plan on fishing dock lights in the wee hours.

I am staying at the surf and racquet club. I talked to a condo owner there and he said the area where you park your boat has fresh water to rinse your boat and trailer down and to flush your motor.

[FishAddict]

Consider going to Gulf State Pier to change up a little. Kings should be around by then, spanish are already around. You do need a pier license to fish there, like $11.

[FishAddict]

One more thing, if your trailer is a painted trailer (IE not a galvanized trailer), I'd think twice before launching in the salt. It will flat eat one up. You just cant get all the salt out of them.