Trip to the Shores mid to late July

Just trying to get an idea if I have enough and the right tackle coming in from Ohio. I'll be staying near Sea n Suds and plan on surf fishing and pier fishing. So far I have a few sizes of sabikis, a few each of DOA shrimp in glow, gold and root beer, handful of silver spoons from size 2 to size 5, a small assortment of cranks, a crapload of pompano rigs, sinkers in 3 to 6 oz sizes, hooks from size 8 up to 7/0 mixed baitholders and octopus circles. Oh, and a cast net. Aside from natural bait I'll purchase from down there, anything else I'll need? My targets are anything that lives in the ocean.....

Patience, bring PLENTY of it to fish near Sea-n-Suds this time of year.
It is like 'ground zero' for beach activity (swimmers, jet skis, etc).
view @ Sea-n-Suds Gulf Shores Webcam

As far as gear: sand spikes (or at least 3' PVC pipes) will be an asset to keep your reels out of the sand.
Not sure how well the DOA will work. I prefer 2" and 3" Gulp Shrimp on a jig head.
Topwater should be good for bluefish, ladyfish and seatrout as long as the water is calm.
Bubble Rig is always a good lure for the surf too.

You will want some heavy clear mono or flourocarbon for leaders to protect your lures,
needle nosed pliers for dehooking, polarized sunglasses, and a good hat for shade once the sun gets up (before the swimmers swarm upon you ;-)

Hope this helps!

I'll be bringing the spike and standard gear as well ;) I do regularly fish freshwater up here. I made a spike when I went to Punta Cana in January. Surprisingly, the airlines had no qualms about it. Cheers and thanks for the Bubble Rig idea Pounder!

If you don't bring anything else bring sunscreen and don't forget to use it often. Bring a small cooler to keep a bottle of drinking water and FRESH DEAD shrimp for bait. Be sure to rinse your reels after every use or they will be ruined. Light line=more bites. Fish early and late. Go to J&M and pick up some pink or orange-white fish bites for bait and use #4 or #2 hooks. Good luck!

Thanks Chillin, can't wait to get down there and hit the salt!

What is usually "in-season" in late July? Maybe this time I will actually target something instead of hoping anything will bite my line like when I go to PCB.

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Originally Posted by alpha010

What is usually "in-season" in late July? Maybe this time I will actually target something instead of hoping anything will bite my line like when I go to PCB.

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Usually, there's a decent whiting bite, which means small hooks and fresh-dead shrimp PIECES, peeled. Also, small black drum cruise the surf, as do slot reds and flounder. If the water clarity is good, from the pier you can see/identify (if you know what you're looking at) and target certain species. During later July, I'm taking a LARGER bucket of shrimp (not more shrimp, but a larger insulated bucket) with an aerator onto the pier. If you fish one of the LARGER shrimp in the shallows, freeline (no weights, no cork) in the EARLY a.m. hours you can get bit by a speckled trout - a really big one.

Walk the pier and look for a clump of people - They're likely fishing for spadefish. The Gulf Shores Pier has some nice-sized schools of them that cruise around, just waiting to be caught. The dinner-plate sized ones pull like crazy and they're good eating, too. They like "FISHBITES" in shrimp flavor. You can order them online or (I imagine, as long as they're not out of them) get them from J & M Tackle where you're going to be getting your live shrimp, anyway. I use a SMALL STRONG treble and cover each hook with a fishbites piece. I also use a cigar-shaped weighted float a foot and a half or so up the line, so that I can cast past the school and not spook them.

Regarding DOA shrimp - That's not something that you can just cast out and expect something to bite it. GULP Shrimp, on the other hand, is a wonder product! One is very likely to get bit using the GULP product. I'm with Pier#r on the Sea-N-Suds surf fishing challenge. There will just be too many people in the surf once the sun comes up.

You'll want to do a retrospective SEARCH by date for Reports in previous years for late July! Then keep a watch on the REPORTS page for what is biting the week before you come. Any gear that you don't bring and need, J & M Tackle will get you set up.