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I'm looking for tackle and advice and bait selection advice. I'm planning on trying cedar point pier out. This is only my second year saltwater fishing. So far I've only fished the gulf shores pier. Had luck one time caught a few Spanish. I'm hoping to hook up on a red fish
My advice is your chances are much better @ the GSPPier ;-)
my advice is drive on.... to gssp or fort morgan. you will waste your time
My bro-n-law has fished there and said it is not kid friendly due to language, alcohol and sparkplug sinkers.
Brought my 10 month old fishing with me Saturday. Got a call that the fishing was decent so we loaded up and left.
Cedar point is an odd beast.
It can be amazing fishing (catch wise), or it can be amazingly dead.
The staff are very friendly. There are a mix of folks on the pier depending if you fish day or night.
There are lots of flounder, spadefish, sheepshead and specks (average sized) at cedar point for daytime fishing.
At night you will catch redfish, black drum, sharks, catfish, white trout, cutlass fish, croaker and perch.
Intermittently, you will hook into Crevalle Jacks, stingrays and tarpon.
Depending what you want will depending how and when you fish, how you set up and what tide to prepare for.
If you can ignore the fact that 85% of the fishermen there are old fashioned and much less experienced than the average, as well as uncouth behavior, then you can make it quite productive.
They have throw away shopping carts that most use for pier carts as well. Go out there with a $300 pier cart and you'll look like a new Ferrari in a used parking lot. If you were a thief, which car would you go after?
Maybe best you don't bring your best gear. Just sayin'.
By the way, they sell whole mullet, live blue crabs, shrimp and other bait in the pier house. Most of the baits they sell do well for the fish you'd otherwise be after.
Another BIG bonus for tourists and visitors is that you do NOT need a fishing license on cedar point because it is private property.
are you sure about that? i was informed i would need a license for the four seasons pier and it's private.Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking Guy
It isn't the fact that it is private that you don't need a license. It is because Cedar Point Pier has purchased a blanket license similar to what the Florida piers have. Unlike Florida, I believe the pier's license only covers unlicensed residents.Quote:
Originally Posted by stik
Went I Cedar point last year, I will probably not go there again. In the time I was there I probably saw a handful of whiting and one giant gar. It is very muddy water, fast current, and not very inviting crowd. I can agree with the above comment that the crowd is extremely rough in the evening...one belligerently drunk guy took a particular liking to us, letting us know many times that he was a big indiana pacers fan having grown up so close to them in New Jersey...
If you will be near dauphin island, the surf fishing was much more productive for me last year, and I was able to spend the entire time with my family and not having to deal with the crowds.
That sounds more logical. When you ask them they'll say because it's private--although I've always assumed it to be due to buying a special license. But since I have a license, I've never really paid it much mind beyond that. It is one of their "selling points."Quote:
Originally Posted by DRH
Either way, since there are many other great places to fish, it'd be best to get the license anyhow.
I've fished Cedar Point pretty regularly and have had great success. Viking Guy pretty much said it all, although I have never heard nor seen anyone hook up to a Tarpon.
I usually fish for flounder and trout at that pier. I've had great success fishing for flounder. some of the biggest I've ever caught, much bigger than the flounder caught at GSPP. I've caught them on Gulps, bull minnows, and the #1 flounder bait finger mullet, although you will need a cast net to catch them. White trout are plentiful, any kind of cut bait works best and along with white finesse grubs under the lights. The specks usually run around that pier in the late summer/fall. I fish them the same as I would fish any light at night, and that's with a live shrimp under a slip cork.
If you're fishing for Reds, cut mullet is your best bait of choice. You'll almost certainly catch Black Drum if you're fishing for Reds.
The best way to fish that pier is to be mindful of tide movement. I do not suggest fishing that pier on a neap tide or you will simply catch nothing other than hard heads. Any kind of tidal movement will bolster your success.
The pier house sometimes sells live bull minnows, but you'd have better luck finding them at Southern Bama bait & tackle on DIP. You can check Jemison's but they usually tend to carry only live shrimp, which are great if you are targeting trout.
Yea the crowd there can be a little rough to say the least, but I have never had a problem. Although, I will stand on my soap box and say one thing....do not be surprised if you see multiple rods on the rail with lines out. One local in particular comes to mind, this person will set out 6 to 10 rods along the rail hoping to catch a flounder.
They do sell alcohol on the pier which undoubtedly, on Fri and Sat nights, leads to some fishermen over indulging. I have never ran into anyone completely belligerent there.
With DI just over the bridge and it's numerous fine fishing spots, I've never had the urge to fish Cedar Point.
And even more so than fishing DI, I take the ferry form DI to Ft. Morgan and fish there, it is my favorite Fall/Winter fishing grounds for big Blacks & Reds.
Fishing there has been horrible so far this year, and wasn't really as good as usual last year. Flounder would probably be your best bet in the daytime, but dont get your hopes up too high. Most productive fishing is at night there in my opinion for whatever you are after except maybe flounder, but I have had success with them at night too. Water issues have killed the fishing there lately as everywhere else. Alabama residents do not have to have a license to fish there. Crowd can be "diverse" and trying, so if you have little patience with people, I suggest you go during the week or not at all. I am use to it but I still get ticked off regularly there for various reasons listed above. Also, if you catch a decent fish, be prepared to for 5-10 bottom rigs to be cast immediately where you just reeled your fish in from...Good luck!!!!!
I checked with a few locals and they told me that the fishing is absolutely dead this year at cedar point.
So probably not the best place to go right now.
Tommy touched on some really good pointers on how to target the species there. Mullet heads on bottom with a large circle hook is simply the best route for redfish there, however I've caught most of mine using live croaker about 6 to 8 inches long. Using live croaker weeds out the black drum from taking your bait.
The specks in the shallows will nail small bait fish as well as artificial such as yozuri shrimp/minnow and mirrolures. Most people use live shrimp though. If you want the fat specks, though, go to larger artificials.
As for tarpon, the ones I've seen hooked are during times of a strong eastbound current/wind and were hooked on floating live bait near the bridge from the corner of the pier during the day time. I've not seen one landed, however, other than a small juvenile back in summer of '07.
I have caught bull reds from within inches of the wall near the restrooms in about a foot of water, to the standalone light pole southeast of the pier.
Sheepshead seem plentiful at the far end T pylons, and will readily take pieces of cut blue crab.
I may go check it out this year and see what all has changed since my last visit.
Rumor has it that Ralph is still there and is working midnight now. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
A guy I used to work with fished it quite a bit, his whole family, mom, dad, grandma, the whole gang, would go down on Friday nights when the white trout were running. They would easily fill 2 or 3 48 quart coolers with white trout, bull croakers and redfish when the bite was on.
you'd be correct about Ralph
I appreciate all the advice guys. Ill give it a shot some time this month
I agree with some of the other guys that say move on down the road. Everything that you can catch at Cedar Point you can catch at Dauphin Island of the Jetties or behind the golf course. You can also fish under the bridge by Jemisons. Saw a fair number of big uglies pulled up there the other day.
Wait till late summer into the fall and carry you some 4" finger mullet on that pier.. fish bottom against the pilings, and you will catch some of the biggest flounder you will catch anywhere. . Don't listen to everyone telling you to move on.. I have caught stud flounder on that pier every fall for 15yrs. Not to mention hundreds of bull Redfish come over the rail.. Waiting till fall is the key.