Thread: First time saltwater advice needed

My family & i are going to Gulf Shores around July 10th & I plan to do some fishing. We will be staying near Plantation/Fort Morgan. This will be the first year i have fished down there. I have been reading on this site for several weeks now and I'm def more educated now after reading some of yalls post. I plan to fish the gulf side of things and possibly Bon Secour NWF since we are staying right next to it. Last year my Father in law and i walked some of the trails there and I thought i would try and fish it this year.I know a world of advice can be given here but any advice would be great. Im strictly a bass fisherman so.... I guess a few questions i have are.... What type of hooks should i use if using live bait? Or would jigs do better? I see sand fleas and hollow bodied shrimp are good? How would i fish those? Carolina Rig or no? Any and all adivce is welcome. Will have a week to fish but most fishing will be done the first few hours of the day. I have no target fish in mind, just wanna have some fish watching the sunrise. Although some Pompano for dinner wouldnt hurt my feelings!! Thanks for any help in advance

There are trout on that beach right now and if it calms down...start fishing before daylight with a Spook, Skitterwalk, or Top Dog. It could be good. Later in the day spoons will keep you in trash!
Carolina rig with small Kahle #2 OR SMALLER and sand fleas or fresh dead shrimp should get you some whiting and/or pompano!

I'm a big believer in TARGETING a species. Your bait and your hook size should be selected based on that target. For instance, if you're going to target whiting and pompano, you'll use fresh-dead peeled shrimp, really small live shrimp, or live sand fleas on a SMALL j-hook or circle hook. Small hooks, because if you use hooks that are too big for a whiting's mouth, you won't catch them very often - You'll just lose your bait. Carolina rig - Yes. I'd use a larger hook and a larger live shrimp for speckled trout/redfish.

I like paddletail plastic baits for speckled trout, reds, and flounder. I've been killing 'em recently on that bait (pictured). You don't have to carry live bait with you, just a cooler/bucket to put the fish in!

eym_sirius,
how heavy and what type of weight do you typically carolina rig with?
how long are those swimbaits you are throwing?

Originally Posted by JAMAKFISHING

eym_sirius,
how heavy and what type of weight do you typically carolina rig with?
how long are those swimbaits you are throwing?

I try to use as light of a weight as I can get away with. Usually, it's 1/2 oz. You can throw it a long way and of course the idea is to stay in the zone as long as possible. Wind and current are factors and I go up in size if I need to.

I use 3" paddletails a lot under lights. I cast way past the lights so that the splash doesn't spook the fish.

Flounder seem to inhale the 3" paddletail plastic better than the 4" bait, which I use for larger speckled trout and redfish. I seem to get more hook sets and better quality hook sets with the 3" than the 4" Twice this year speckled trout inhaled the 3" lure so quickly and deeply that I had to get the lure out when I cleaned the fish! It immediately "swallowed" the bait! That tells me that the fish was convinced that the paddletail plastic was a target prey item!

Beautiful area at first light down there. Sinking mirrolures silver side black back can be deadly on big trout along with mentioned top water baits. Spanish school along the beaches early too so bring some gotcha plugs or small yozuri stick baits. Good luck

What size and color gotcha's are most productive?

Thanks for the info

Originally Posted by nitsud333

What size and color gotcha's are most productive?

I think that the action that you impart to the lure is more important than the color. That said, most of mine are silver with a red head. If schoolie Kings are in the mix, I like that big white one with the red head. You can throw it a mile!

It's impossible to predict what color lure will best induce a strike response on a given day. So the best answer is for you to use the one that you have confidence in. Can you make it dart here and dive there and flash like a baitfish? Then you should get plenty of strikes!

If Spanish are there it really don't matter on color or size they will hit it! White or silver/chrome are what throw or troll.