Experience: Grinding It Out Surf Fishing Brown Water Full of June Grass

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

Henry David Thoreau

After the amazing trip we had last year during the height of COVID-19, I have been eagerly awaiting our follow-up trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Primed For A Letdown?

Much like a sophomore slump after a breakout freshmen year, its hard to follow-up an amazing trip without at least a small amount of disappointment.

Our letdown came in the form of weather and “weeds”: we are often use to frequent showers and storms in the Gulf, but the week prior to our trip, Hurricane Elsa came through stirring up the water and leaving a murky mess of the normally blue coastal waters.

To add insult to injury, the June Grass that normally disappears by mid-July was still very much present when we arrived.

It was going to be a tough fishing trip.

Tough Gigging Conditions

One of the anticipated highlights of the trip was going to be flounder gigging in the surf. I had recently built a new flounder gig and a new set of flounder lights I was dying to test out.

DIY Making Your Own Flounder Gig
Building a flounder gig Learn How

We were able to get out one evening to prove out the effectiveness of the lights but unfortunately, most nights proved to be too rough or dangerous (due to lightning) to get on any flounder.

Breaking Through

Fortunately, as the week progressed we found the conditions settling with slightly clearer water and reduced grass. By day 3, we were starting to pull the fish in at an increased clip.

Our primary methods of take were as follows:

• Fishing the 2nd cut with a double-dropper rig with float hooks baited with sandcrab FishBites
• Burning 1oz, homemade jigs through the 2nd cut
• Working a popper through a calm morning surf

DIY Making Your Own Jigs:
Building your own jigs Learn How

Highlight Of The Trip

The highlight of the trip came during a lull in the action during the early afternoon. My dad was soaking a dropper rig in the 2nd cut that had been out for 30+ minutes with no action.

We saw that the line had gone a bit slack, drifting in the direction of the wind. It was a rough day so we assumed the tide had pulled the rig sideways.

Dad grabbed the rod just to check when something took off parallel to the shore, stripping line off the reel. As he worked to adjust the drag, we knew something big was on the line.

Dad fought the fish for 15-20min before I caught the familiar sight of a spotted tail in the surf…it was a nice Bull Red. Dad finally got her into the shallow surf where I was able to grab her tail.

It was our first red in the surf and I couldn’t have been happier that Dad landed her.

Best Taste?

On the second to the last night, we planned to have a large fish fry with the fish we decided to keep. Our accumulated numbers from the week were as follows:

• 12 Hardtails
• 4 Blues
• 3 Spanish Mackerel
• 2 Whiting
• 1 Pompano
• 1 Speckled Trout

We purposefully fried each type of fish the exact same way in separate batches as we wanted to compare the taste of each. The final verdict was that the pompano and trout were the cleanest tasting fish, but all tasted great…in fact, it would be hard to tell one from the other if you weren’t tasting them one after another.

Conclusion

In spite of the the various challenges with the weather and water, it was an amazing trip and our fish numbers were just as good, if not better, than last year.