Speckled Trout Guide — Mobile Bay, AL

Mobile Bay trout fishing is about reading the water more than knowing every inch of bottom. The bay is big, but the fish aren't spread evenly. They stack on grass flats, bayou mouths, and channel edges, and they tell you where they are if you pay attention. Look for diving birds and nervous baitfish on the surface before you commit to a spot. Where you see that activity, there are trout below pushing the bait up.

The eastern shore around Daphne and Fairhope holds some of the most consistent grass flat fishing in the bay. Wade or drift the edges where the grass meets deeper water. That transition is where trout sit and ambush. The same logic applies around the bayou mouths feeding into the bay from the delta side. Current moving in or out of those cuts sets up a feeding lane, and trout will be at the mouth waiting on it.

Fall is prime, running September through November. Water temps drop into the 60s and trout feed aggressively ahead of winter. Spring is the second window, March through May before the water gets too warm. Midday summer fishing is tough, but early morning on the flats in June and July can still produce before the heat shuts things down.

For rigging, a popping cork over live shrimp is the most reliable setup in Mobile Bay. Drop your shrimp about 18 inches below the cork and work it with short pops, letting it sit between. If you're throwing artificials, a soft plastic paddle tail on a 1/4-ounce jig head in white or chartreuse covers water fast and matches the pogies and shad the trout are already on. Use a fluorocarbon leader, 20-pound, about 18 inches, between your main line and your hook. Clear water on the eastern shore flats, especially in fall, will show fish your braid.

Moving tide is your friend. Slack water slows the bite and current activates it. When you find birds working over a school of bait, get ahead of them and let the school move to you rather than chasing it. Trout under feeding birds are aggressive. Get your bait in the water and you'll get a bite. For a Louisiana version of this same open-water approach, the Chandeleur Islands offer wade fishing on exposed sandbars with the same bird-and-bait pattern.