Salt Water Fishing Noobie Seeking Advice!

Hey all, my family and I are vacationing in Fort Morgan next week. I had a few questions about fishing down there. Just to give you my background, I have grown up going to a lake all my life, but am not a great fisherman. I fish here and there and know a little more than the basics to fishing but thats about it. When I come down there, I plan on fishing the pier, but mainly I plan on surf fishing or finding a local place thats good to fish without a boat. My questions vary quite a bit so I will just number them below and hopefully someone can help!

1. I have done tons of research about "dixie bar" and that is where I want to fish for some big REDS! I am coming with a medium-heavy zebco sea dawg 20lb pre spooled line, is this pole suffieicent enough? (I do plan on getting 30lb leader and tackle down there when I arrive). Also, can I reach dixie bar off the shore/point or do I need a boat? We might rent a pontoon boat for the day and take it to dixie bar, would that be safe? (we are experienced with boats, allbeit in freshwater, but I have read that dixie bar can get rough and dangerous at times.)

2. We plan on getting live bait when we get there, but also will use some artificial tackle. What kind of jigs, hooks, lures, floats, sinkers, etc. do we need?

3. I have been reading that the best time to fish dixie bar is when the tide is going out, what specific time does that usually occur?

4. Are there any good fishing spots from shore and close to Ft. Morgan?

5. Can you take your own gear onto the pier and what are there rental poles like? (GF might want to fish a little but doesnt have a pole)

Sorry for all of the noobie questions! Any help/advice is greatly appreciated and I cant wait to get down there! and GO CARDS! :)

Is your seadog the spinning reel or a spincast? You really probably want something a little better if your serious about catching fish. The main thing is just some capacity and a decent drag. I would stick to around 15# mono, and it you want to surf fish, put a 10-15yd wind on leader of like 30# mono, this is to handle throwing larger weights. (Tie your leader to your main line with a uni-uni) You'll need a good 3-5oz sinker to keep your bait from really dragging the beach down here. There's a lot of current in the ft. morgan area so be careful wading out and careful around other people casting. For redfish try some live bait like big live shrimp, live pinfish, live mullet, or bull minnows. Live will get you more bites than dead but sometimes both work. For the surf try a carolina rig or a fishfinder rig, for the pier come on out and see how its done. You won't need a long leader for the pier, just a short leader tied on with a swivel either mono or med-light wire (15-30#), some treble hooks, and live bait or cigar minnows work well.

To fish anywhere near dixie bar you'll have to park at the fort and walk around to the gulf side so be prepared to walk a ways. A boat will get you out right at the bar better. You can absolutely fish the surf right where your staying too. Alabama point, state park beach accesses, west beach public accesses, and little lagoon pass are a few other public spots you can fish the surf and in a little.

Any of the local tackle shops can help you out gear and tackle wise and offer some advise.

Like Tofer said, Dixey Bar is best fished by boat.
Most of the articles you read about this are fishing an area about a half mile offshore off Ft Morgan.
http://mapserver.mytopo.com/homepage...tlontype=DM.MM

The good news is you can access some relatively good fishing by hiking out to the point from the fort, fishing from the public access beach just at the entrance to the fort, or at the GSPPier.
You can bring your own or rent tackle there that is probably comparable to what you are bringing.

You might want to invest in a 'bubble rig' or two and some 3/4 to 1 ounce spoons for casting from the beach or the pier.
I don't recommend the "Gotcha" plug because it has two treble hooks and that increases the liklihood of hooking yourself (or others) and getting fish off of it is often a PITA ::)

You can check the tide tables for the days you will be there on page 15 @ http://www.outdooralabama.com/images...20Calendar.pdf

Hope this helps!
:headbang:

[size=12pt]What they said, and I do not recommend taking a pontoon boat into the Gulf, even if it is close to shore. Those things are for rivers and lakes.
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There is good surf fishing there off the beach find a wash out and catch em up...Yeah don't take a pontoon boat out in that pass it gets nasty out there we got a 21ft pursuit and its a Lil nasty for us sometimes but its a killer spot for Bull Reds there acres of them :headbang: i like mobile street to fish at with a Carlina rig with fresh dead shrimp and you catch reds,whiting,pomps,flounder GOOD LUCK :evil: