Gulf State Pier, AL - Saturday June 9

[ChileRelleno]

First weekend back from our trout trip and we just had to hit the pier.
Made for the usual fishing morning routine for Nate and I, up early and to J&M at 5am and on the pier with wet lines by 6am.

Nothing going in the shallows when we went through, Harley said all he was killing was his shrimp.
Enough said right there, kept walking.
Water was fairly clear and calm as a sheltered lake, could clearly see every fish, ray, shark and all that damned green algae.
Big Spades had Nate wanting to stop, but I assured him there'd be plenty more on the Octi, and there were.

Talk from trusted sources on the Octi said there'd been an ever so short lived flurry of activity at the crack of dawn, a few small Kings and Spaniards.
And now it was the random Spanish here and there, and there were several Southern sennet caught too.
Not to mention the trophy class Remoras.

I started throwing LYs hoping for a King to no avail.
With no breeze and no current it wasn't much of mackerel friendly day.
Nate started chasing Spades and catching a few dinner plate sized, he also was hanging into Mangroves that were all 2-3 inches shy of legal.
I joined him in pursuing Spades, it was tough going, they weren't too interested in eating and being picky about it. After awhile all the larger ones all up and disappeared, small ones were being caught on shrimp and silver crickets.

Dang but was it hot and sweaty, humidity is hard on a fat man.
I went back to trying for a King, then Spanish, then finally sought some shade and it was only 930am.
Sat around jack jawing and watching the random Spanish come over the rail at maybe half hour intervals. They had good size, but I just couldn't work myself up to the rail for the workout in that sauna.
They were primarily eating Bubble and Cigs.

Heard some talk about Specks eating in the shallows and headed that way sometime before lunch.
And there was indeed some Specks getting spanked.
Saw several caught, but apparently my shrimp had BO and they were getting sniffed at then noses turned away.



Rick was putting on a Trout Clinic and limited out, he had several of good size including this 27" fat girl.
He was definitely overhearing those words that every fisherman loves to hear when it's them being talked about... "Look! That SOB got another one!"
A few others managed one or two here and there, but shrimp or LYs, his baits were getting eaten.

We ran out of shrimp and Nate could hear our swimming pool calling, packed it up at 2pm and headed for the house about 6-8 hours earlier than normal.
Yeah, it was that miserably hot/humid, and yes, once we took care of the gear and fish the pool did indeed feel like a bit of heaven on earth.

Fish is on the menu for Sunday's lunch and dinner.
I love Spade fish, eats just as well as Flounder in my opinion.

[Shark Hunter]

Congrats to You and Nate John.
You two are living the Dream.
I hear you about the Humid weather.
It was 88 here today and the grass got cut, but I needed a nap after grilling some strips and taters.

[Swami805]

Looks like a fun morning anyway and you got a few meals. Our piers 1 decent fish for the table is a good day but something so relaxing about fishing a pier. Nate's turning into quite the angler, any day spent with your boy is a good one.
Hot,windy and dry here, the fire department has the red flags up,fire season is early this year

[ChileRelleno]

Yeah, a good day fishing with Nate is always memorable.
The great outdoors beats the hell out of being cooped up in the house.

Back in SoCal pier fishing was a more of a way to socialize and kill time rather than actively kill fish. 
Out here we're indeed blessed with some awesome pier fishing.

[Marcq]

Nice fishing!! Really like the second picture 

Back in SoCal pier fishing was a more of a way to socialize and kill time rather than actively kill fish. 
Out here we're indeed blessed with some awesome pier fishing.

Yeah I agree, I fished in Pompano, St-Augustine, Daytona, so many varieties of fish, you never know what will end up at the end of your line compared to here in OC. Even the beach here where your in constant conflict with the Surfers 

I miss Florida

Marc..