Mobile Bay Fishing Charters & Guides

Mobile Bay Fishing Charters

To paraphrase the fictional movie character Forrest Gump, the Mobile Bay is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you are going to get! The huge shallow inlet off the Gulf of Mexico at the southern tip of the city it was named after is chocked full of fish. And that brings loads of fishermen looking for a catch of everything from redfish and speckled trout to King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Cobia, and Jack Crevalle from the waters. It’s a great place to take a fishing charter with family and friends. It’s a rich estuary area that rises and falls with the tide and several times a year the shallow water of the bay’s coastline is literally swarmed with fish and seafood that become easily caught. Mobile Bay is also one of the only places on earth where the fish are so happy they even have a “jubilee”. Actually the term jubilee describes a natural phenomenon where almost annually crab and shrimp, as well as flounder, eels, and other fish leave deeper waters and literally swarm in large numbers along a shallow area of the bay. Fishermen can easily fill their ice chests or boat with shrimp and crabs and gig flounders and other fish. The jubilees are hard to predict and depend on weather and water conditions in the summer. The mouth of Mobile Bay is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island to the west. Its rich waters are also fed by the Mobile River and Tensaw River from the north. Smaller rivers like Deer River, Fowl River and Dog River also enter the bay from the west and Fish River from the east.

Mobile Bay Inshore Fishing

The Mobile Bay itself is a fertile waterbody with lots of nutrients for fish and seafood, but a recently developed project called Roads to Reefs has added numerous reefs inside the bay area that are constructed with repurposed concrete culverts, bridge spans and junction boxes and loose aggregate material such as crushed limestone and oyster half-shells. They supply a diverse habitat for fish and “natural bioengineers” such as oysters, hook mussels, and barnacles. These additions further increase the complexity of the hard bottom substrate and, over time, transform it into a true reef. That’s a key place to catching fish in the bay. Maps with locations and names of the reefs are listed online, but if you have a charter captain he will know which ones are holding fish or not, and can save you days of looking. The most popular species of inshore fishing in the 413 square mile bay area are speckled trout and redfish. Flounder, Vermillion snapper, sheepshead, and tripletail are also heavily populated. Some species move in and out at different seasons but fishing is good pretty much all year long. The fishing “season” begins in the early months with plenty of redfish and speckled trout. Then in early spring, the flounder and sheepshead join in the shallow water feeding. By April or May the mackerel start appearing near the mouth of the bay and by summer, snapper and grouper start moving in on the inshore reefs. It remains a “box of chocolate” approach through the fall with the fish swimming in and out of the shallow marshy areas in search of food. As cooler temps return, the cycle begins all over.

Offshore Fishing Near Mobile Bay

The offshore fishing charter business for Mobile Bay area centers mostly out of the Fairhope area or from businesses at the mouth of the bay near Fort Morgan. Offshore trips are great for families or groups of friends. And the variety of fish is amazing. The list includes red snapper, Vermillion snapper, white snapper, mangrove snapper, triggerfish, amberjack, grouper, barracuda, tuna, bonita, marlin, mahi-mahi, Jack Crevalle and cobia. Marlin, tuna and sailfish require much longer trips but often anglers book overnight trips to get to the waters where these trophy fish hang out.

Book A Mobile Bay Fishing Charter

Don’t just sit on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away. Get out there and enjoy nature’s bounty catching one of the many types of fish in the Bay, or just offshore. Bring your ice chest because you are sure to go home with a good mess of fish. And you might want to bring a spare one to take home a load of fresh Bay seafood as well. You’ll be remembering your Sweet Home Alabama fishing trip for years to come. There’s plenty to do on and off the water, but make sure you take time to seek out a Mobile Bay charter for you and your family. It’ll be the icing on the cake of a great trip. A charter with FishAnywhere and one of our fabulous fishing captains will make you glad you took time to go fishing. It’s fun for family and friends.