July 20-27th

Been reading this forum for a while and really wanted to make it down to the pier a few days on my vacation in July. Unfortunately, my family booked a place in Dauphin Island and I doubt I'll be able to make the trip to the pier. If I am lucky I may get to drive over for a short period of time, but I'll need to figure out the ferry times and whatnot.

I'm curious, do many of you fish the jetties on the east end of DI? Alot of friends have told me the jetties are hard to beat for fishing...but where I am used to fishing in North Carolina they dont have accessible jetties to fish from. Looking for general advice so I dont waste time or hurt myself.

Great forum you guys have here, very informative. This year I bought alot of gear ahead of time based on all the great posts I've read, hopefully I wont just be soaking dead shrimp.

Welcome to the forum, thanks for joining!
Here is a link to the ferry schedule, come on over and fish the pier at least once.
Mobile Bay Ferry Schedule

Jetties on the east end can be great for flounder, reds, sheepshead, specs, white trout, croakers, ground mullet and even Spanish (if the water is clear).
Use live shrimp or fresh dead, don't mess with frozen crap. Live finger mullet or small croakers for reds, specs & flounder too.
Throwing spoons or jigs may produce.

Don't forget the beach on DI, especially the west end beach on the sound side.

How long is the trip from the center of DI to the pier? Generally the best time for me to fish is early morning, so getting to the pier and getting some quality fishing time will be tough if its more than 30mins or so.

Thanks Carl. I bought a few Gotcha's and spoons this year because of all the suggestions I've seen on the forums. I've never had luck with artificials in the ocean...but again I've never fished anywhere but in front of my beach chair in the surf.

From DI to the GSP Pier will take you at least an 1.5 hours, between taking the ferry from Di to Fort Morgan and then driving the 25 miles from there to the pier.
Not a very good option. The drive around the bay will take longer.

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Originally Posted by CarlF

From DI to the GSP Pier will take you at least an 1.5 hours, between taking the ferry from Di to Fort Morgan and then driving the 25 miles from there to the pier.
Not a very good option. The drive around the bay will take longer.

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That is really unfortunate. Doubt I can justify spending 3+ hours making a trip to the pier then :( especially if I cant get there in the early hours. I was really pushing for a rental in Fort Morgan, but with the kids and all my parents liked DI because its so quiet and less crowded than the Gulf Shores area.

Hopefully I can make the best of the jetties and surf fishing at DI. We are going to be really close to what looks like the old golf course on the gulf side. Best options I can see on Google for someone on foot seems to be Pelican bay (the long N-S sandbar island??), jetties, and rocks on west end. I hear wading is good, but with as little experience with the area as I have...I'd most likely come up with no fish and/or get stung or bit by a ray/shark/jelly. Will there be somewhere to buy live bait early in the mornings? If not, any suggestions for locations I can use my cast net to get shrimp this time of year?

Jemisons has all the bait you will need. They are located north of DI. The Golf course has some really good wade fishing for Specks and Flounder.

Welcome to the Forum, Mattb. As for Ft. Morgan, start your campaign for your next trip. There are areas of Ft. Morgan that are not crowded, very peaceful. Dauphin Island is great, tho, just take CarlF's advise and you should do well. Hope you all have good luck and smooth drags.

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Originally Posted by bodebum

Welcome to the Forum, Mattb. As for Ft. Morgan, start your campaign for your next trip. There are areas of Ft. Morgan that are not crowded, very peaceful. Dauphin Island is great, tho, just take CarlF's advise and you should do well. Hope you all have good luck and smooth drags.

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I caught the red in this picture on Dauphin Island beach just straight out from the pier. It was Good Friday this year. When I looked at the beach with google earth I thought there must me something wrong with this picture but when we got there sure enough the pier does not go all the way to the water.
An older gentleman was fishing down from us and he said yup. You used to be able to fish off the end and it was deep.
The point goes out a long way there and I don't know what kind of structure there is but there has to be a point somewhere. You might have to hike 1/2 mile or more but it could be worth it.
If I could pick where I'm going surf fishing it would be OBX but Dauphin Island is nice.
What about the pier on the end of the Dauphin Island bridge?