Thread: Fort Morgan surf fishing

Looking out off my balcony yesterday I could see a few fishermen standing waist deep casting line. I could see schools of bait fish going crazy around them, this was like 3 pm or a lil sooner. I grab my fishing gear and headed down. When I arrived one of the guys was fighting something huge. I thought he was doing very well considering he was using what looked like a zebco 202 reel. Ten minutes later he had the fish on the sandbar and could identified it being a large Redfish.While attempting to bring the fish closer into shore the Red broke free. After casting a few times with a spoon I put a Gulf Rig on baited with sand fleas and landed a 30" Red very nice fight and the seaweed didn't help. Luckily I had help getting the fish in. This morning we landed 5 Black drum 22-23"off the beach. Right now looks like the water is laying down like it did yesterday so I might just get back out soon.

NICE fish Tg!

Those Gulf Rigs amaze me the fish they can catch at times.
Good bait sure makes a positive difference ;-)

Thanks Pier, yeah those rigs are amazing. I do change them out frequently. I regretfully found out they do weaken with heavy fishing in the saltwater, but for just about a $1 a rig it's fine with me.I gonna post a pic of my biggest red caught using the rig teamed up with strong circle hooks and 50lb Power Pro and an 8ft. Power Stick rod. It's nearly 6 am I gonna go fish now.DSC01433.jpg

TexasGuy. Those are great pics!! I can't wait to be down there. I'll be leaving in 3weeks

Texasguy: Very nice pic. Can you please share more details about where, and how you caught that great memory? Specifically, heres some questions:
What area were you fishing? Shore/boat? Channel, or surf? Bay side or gulf side? Address?
What bait? If sandfleas, where did you get them? If you found them yourself, how did you get them out of the sand? I've tried but no success!
What "rig" are you referring to?

Thanks big time for the info.
Don in Colleyville, TX

Texasguy - are you referring to this "rig"? Also, what type/size hook, and weight?

Yes DFW that's pretty much the same rig I'm using and rig with #4 or #5 circle hooks with a 1 oz pyramid weight fishing with sand fleas most of the time. If currents are strong or if I use live croakers I use heavier weight. Sand fleas have been my choice for bait lately. I used croaker this morning and caught 2 small Black Tip sharks. I catch my sand fleas by just digging with my fingertips in the sand where the wave breaks on the beach, pretty much where the water recedes back to. I fish mainly just in the 1st cut before the 1st sandbar not far, maybe 10-12 yards out unless it's a lower tide then go out into deeper water. I fish near the end at Ft. Morgan between the condos where their's not a lot of people or swimmers.

That rig is very similar to one that I tie which is called "The Morticians Rig" The secret to it's fish catching success is that it allows the droppers to slide up and down the rigs main leader about 4" while allowing them to rotate 360 degrees around it. I tie mine with Flourocarbon and the only hardware is a swivel for tying to my main line, I use a loop for the weight. Easy to tie and effective for almost anything.

I agree with you about the fluorocarbon. I only just learned about floro 2 yrs. ago on this here forum. Using fluorocarbon for leaders really increased my catch rate. I am not using a swivel for main line/leader, just a double uni, or for whiting, the surgeon knot. There are better knots, but they require better skills than I seem to have in me. I tie the weight on with a palomar knot, which is probably better than my hook knots. So it goes.

My wife and I landed 5 Reds this morning using sand fleas in the 1st cut in 3 1/2 ft. water off the beach.