Thread: Night fishing

Hey guys. I frequent OBA a couple times a year and have fished perdido pass and the pier a number of times and have had luck on and off just new to the forum. I'll be down this upcoming week and have noticed a lot of people saying fishing for trout at night under lights is a great option in August. Where is public access to docks with lights in the area? I always stay by the pass and I'm very familiar with the area so any suggestions would help. I've read through some posts and only seen like broad suggestions like little lagoon and places but would like to know if there's any public places to do so at. Also how are you rigging up for the trout? Are you free lining bait or what? Thanks

Unless the house/condo you have has a dock, you need a boat.

I can tell you about what I've had success on. I've done well with light line (8# is light for me. I know some guys use 6# or even 4#). If I can see trout cruising through the lights, I like to cast out a weightless freelined live shrimp, the biggest one I can find. I cast it past the light and bring it into the lighted water to where the biggest fish is.

I've also had a lot of success using smallish pinfish, as lively as possible, again casting past the light and bringing it into where the fish are. Again, freelining.

I catch the pinfish using the tiny sabiki jigs and putting a small piece (really small) of Gulp! shrimp on the hook. Find a spot that has little pinfish and you can usually catch 2 or 3 at a time.

Two other ways that I fish for trout is with artificials. I like lead heads with twister grubs, but smaller trout seem to get to them first and they're bad about biting the tails off. Still, it's productive. The other lure that I use is a paddletail bait with an embedded lead head. The one that I use is made by Storm and it's about 3 inches long or so. It's my go-to method, so again -- I cast past the lighted area and bring my lure back through the light. Lots of times, they want it right in the middle of the light. Other times, they'll gather where the darkness meets the light, so I work the whole area. I try to catch a few per lighted area, but lots of times you catch some and they'll shut off for a little bit. You can move to another light catch a fish or two (many times you can catch a mixed bag of trout, redfish, and flounder) and then go back to a light you had fished before and you can sometimes see them cruising again. That's a really good sign!

I always have artificials with me in case pinfish or some other undesirable species attack my shrimp before it can attract a gamefish.

Which pass are you at? You could try Perdido Pass. It has been re-opened after a long time, and was our favorite night fishing hole. If you do go to Perdido, let us know how it went for ya'.