I'm sure this has happened to most everyone, but...

it's a first for me.

Fishing Fairhope pier, usual crappie jig set-up, get bit by a 17" flounder. The current is pulling my net under the pier (can't see it) so I ask a nearby fisherman for help.

"Sure, no problem... that's a gator." (me, it's a nice flounder but it's not a "gator")

he says, no... I'm talking about the alligator.

um... what?
Sure enough, I look over the rail and a little 2ft alligator is trying to take my flounder. :bang

It's apparently been spotted hanging out in the marina, and I guess he got tired of waiting for the restaurant to open. Luckily the net chased him off but I suspect he'll try again.

As if the sharks weren't bad enough, now we got gators after our fish. Good story.

I’m going to Fairhope pier tonight to try your crappie jig method. Hope you don’t mind me stealing your idea. Although I have used it on Spanish at GSSP.

The alligators at Meaher Park relish a chartreuse styrofoam float. Just Sayin...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HobieKen

I’m going to Fairhope pier tonight to try your crappie jig method. Hope you don’t mind me stealing your idea. Although I have used it on Spanish at GSSP.

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yep yep. Do it and lettuce know how it went. I had around 30 small white trout and maybe 10 little (8") Specks last time, the flounder was the only think worth mentioning.

Didn’t catch anything, didn’t see a whole lot of catching. I also had to leave earlier than I planned. Nice evening outdoors however.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HobieKen

Didn’t catch anything, didn’t see a whole lot of catching. I also had to leave earlier than I planned. Nice evening outdoors however.

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without knowing when you went, i can tell you that I'm almost never there before midnight, and prefer the 2am - 4am timeline. I have a buddy who said he fished 'in the area" last night and described it as lethargic, windy with brown water and a timid bite.

Never in salt water, but all the time at a place called Lake Bill Waller in Columbia MS. Gators are a nuisance there. I was laying back jigging crappie near some Lilly pads one fine evening from my little ole 14ft flat bottom with a 6hp evinrude, the dang gator that surfaced next to me was over half the length of my darn boat. I don't fish from a boat there anymore, just the docks, but gators still mess with bobbers.

How fast can you run. I've seen this before on Hilton Head Island golf course ponds.

pic.twitter.com/8r5DbF4HOg