re: Mobile Bay fishing

Patric is the best fisherman on the bay, period, but he is very popular so book now if you can. Tell him Mikes lawyer buddy said he was the best .

Mike Dorgan grew up on Mobile Bay in that area and is super nice and will tell you whatever you want to know. Dorgans go 100s year back ther.

Richard Rutledge is over in Dauphin Island and great guy, if you want to fish that area and he will teach you too. Tell him I said Hello.

Bobby Abescutto is very good too but he is a little bit touchy about spots etc and really fishes Mississippi/alabama border area hard which is long run for you.

I will give you Baits colors as it gets closer but for now get these:

mirror lure MR-51 TC. Texas chicken
Glass minnow MIrror lure TC Blue/silver
Little fat pogy like mirrordines lure TC, blue silver

Some good top water plugs. patric likes those heddon one knockers, blue silver or blue gold I think. Bobby likes skitter pops I think, similar colors, I forgot what Richard likes maybe Bomber Lures Badonk-A-Donk Topwater Fishing Lures, or mirrorlures. The colors are basically same gold or silver with dark top from black to blue unless texas chicken.

Get some very good Balsa wood slip corks a bunch of them as well as 1/2 to 1/4 inch good torpedo weights to put under them, that gold flouracarbon is the best here too. Those new rattle corks are great too. I have killed with the LSU colored one but it’s not adjustable.

Plastics. I have 100s of colors and it changes all the time whatever they are running out of at academy, dicks or bass pro just buy. But that said there the ones that seem to repeat. In no specific order.

Shrimp/penny color with red or char tail
Purple with char tail
White solid and with char tail
White and chartreuse gulp solid powerbaits
Opening right plain and with chart tail
Chart with red tail
Chicken on a chain
Avocado with red specks plain and with chart tail
New penny plain and with chart tail
(I am sure I forgot some)
They will tell you what’s hot on the podcast

I buy mostly H&H cockahoes and I will add my own scent with the gel. Garlic, licorice, shrimp, pogy, gulp juice, inshore etc. I just play around until I get what works.

DOA etc are deadly of course.

The scented stuff works too, Curly tails too but yes they bite them off.

Mobile bay will typically give you a few good fish on top water right at Dawn for about 30 minutes then look for birds, top water action until 9 or so depending on tides etc.

The public reefs are ok, I would try the eastern shore docks first, particularly at night. Less crowded you will end up with same amount of keepers lose less bait.

Use actual tide data not the charts but when water stops moving or his slack use that dead time to move. I have tried all the forecast compared to actual results. Wells worked best to me when adjusted for weather but he quit last year, I use 4 or 5 forecasting tools and when they are all great then you are typically good. But you want clean moving water typically. Learn the birds, they had an episode on the podcast this year and they talked about the different birds and what they really liked for 30 minutes. (Hint it’s the big gulls)

Of course, if any of the guides particularly Patric says to do something else, etc go with that, they do this shite every day.