Thread: Fort Morgan surf fishing

Heading down next week and was wondering what should be running. I will be staying gulf side, near the Rookery.

reds, whiting, pompano, Spanish, ladyfish.

Also, what is everyone's thought on fresh vs frozen shrimp?

Live shrimp>fresh dead shrimp>frozen shrimp

I have used fresh dead and frozen in years past. Just wanted to get the advice of more seasoned anglers, in hopes of a more productive trip this year.

Originally Posted by mav72

I have used fresh dead and frozen in years past. Just wanted to get the advice of more seasoned anglers, in hopes of a more productive trip this year.

Mav72 (made me think you were a Mavericks fan). I've used all of the above fishing gulf side and caught things on all of them. I use gulp shrimp a lot as well, when I don't have the time to get bait. We drive down from Dallas with the two little ones (6 and 2) and my ability to disappear for 30 minutes to go find bait doesn't always go over well. Those are the times I break out the Gulp! another member on the forum that fishes a lot down there suggested floating (hollow) gulp shrimp. I will be giving that a try this year as well.

Frozen shrimp are excellent for catching catfish and stingrays.

Stick to live and freshly dead for anything else.

No, my first car was a '72 maverick

Originally Posted by Mattb

Frozen shrimp are excellent for catching catfish and stingrays.

Stick to live and freshly dead for anything else.

This is good advice. I never target rays and hardhead catfish, so I'll never use frozen shrimp. I'll also never use frozen squid, for the same reason.

I got some shrimp that a "fresh" shrimp place called "fresh dead". They were dead, but not fresh. Ewwww!!! No better than frozen, IMO!
REAL Fresh dead shrimp are shrimp that the bait shop will cull from the tank because the shrimp appears to be lifeless. They'll sell them for a cheaper price than live shrimp because of the elemental difference between the two states of being. Fresh-dead should be only hours old at most. Otherwise, go live. I think that J & M has them live for under 4 bucks a dozen. The price likely increases with warm weather because it's more difficult to keep them alive.

I peel my fresh dead shrimp when fishing for pompano and whiting. The fish seem to find the bait faster. I also use relatively small hooks. Whiting are notorious nibblers and they'll leverage the bait against a too-big hook and steal your bait every time!

Originally Posted by mav72

Heading down next week and was wondering what should be running. I will be staying gulf side, near the Rookery.

Keep us posted on your success and post up some pics of your catch! I will be down a week from Friday staying just east of you and will do the same. There is some great info on this site if you read through the old posts. The regulars on here are some of the most helpful guys I've ran into on a forum of this type. Good luck!