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Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report for June 5 – 11, 2026

June 5, 2026

On this week’s Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report, host Butch Thierry covers an early-June Gulf Coast fishing scene shaped by heavy grass, warm water, changing water clarity, red snapper season, and an inshore bite that has been strong but highly condition-dependent. This episode features Tony Emmons with South Alabama Surf Fishing, Capt. Kendall Annan of Gulf Rebel Charters, Capt. Jay O’Brien of Irish Wake Fishing, and Anthony Ricciardone with Admiral Shellfish Company.

The main theme this week is that Alabama anglers still have good opportunities from the surf to offshore and back inside Mobile Bay, but the best fishing is coming to those who adjust around grass, wind, fresh water, bait changes, and short windows of clean water. Tony Emmons explains how he is working around sargassum and grass in the surf to catch speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, jacks, redfish, and a few pompano. Capt. Kendall Annan breaks down a strong red snapper bite out of Orange Beach and shares offshore trolling tips for wahoo, mahi, and king mackerel. Capt. Jay O’Brien gives an inshore report focused on trout, redfish, changing bait profiles, dirty water, and what to look for once conditions settle. Anthony Riccione closes the episode with a preview of the inaugural Hooked on Fairhope kids fishing tournament.

Conditions Recap

The Alabama Gulf Coast is in a true early-summer pattern, with heat building, red snapper season underway, grass and sargassum becoming a major factor, and wind making offshore windows short. On the beach, Tony Emmons says the grass has been thick enough to make set rigs difficult, so he has been walking the surf, looking for openings, and throwing artificials to find trout, Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, redfish, flounder, and a few pompano.

Offshore, Capt. Kendall Annan says the red snapper bite has been strong when boats can get out, but thunderstorms, current, chop, and grass have made the start of the season a little more work. The water has been warm and mostly clear, and the clean water close to shore has brought bonus opportunities for wahoo, mahi, king mackerel, and other trolling fish.

Inshore, Capt. Jay O’Brien says May produced one of the best trout bites he can remember, but recent rain, wind direction changes, and dirty water moving through the bay and Mississippi Sound have scattered the pattern. Before the water degraded, fish were being caught both shallow and deep, around hard bottom, grass flats, deep structure, points, channels, mullet, glass minnows, shrimp, and small bait. Coming out of the weather, he says the first things to look for will be isolated pockets of cleaner water, food, and fish that have concentrated around better conditions.

Surf Fishing Report – Tony Emmons With South Alabama Surf Fishing

Tony Emmons with South Alabama Surf Fishing gives the beach report from the Orange Beach and Gulf Shores area, where grass has been the biggest challenge. Instead of relying on set rigs, Tony has been fishing artificials and moving down the beach until he finds openings in the grass, small drops, bait activity, or trout feeding. He says the grass can be frustrating, but it also holds life, and there are fish around it if anglers are willing to cover ground and fish through the mess.

The best action has been speckled trout in the surf, with schools moving along the beach instead of staying locked into one spot. Tony says anglers may catch a few, lose the bite, then walk 50 to 100 yards and find the same school or another group of feeding fish. He has also seen smaller Spanish mackerel, some larger Spanish mixed in, redfish, jack crevalle, flounder, and a few pompano when the grass allows anglers to fish set rigs or dig sand fleas.

For trout, Tony has been throwing small swim baits, flukes, spoons, and hard plastics. Product mentions from this section include Tsunami swim baits, fluke-style soft plastics, Z-Man scented paddlerZ, jig heads, MirrOlure MirrOdines, Zara Spooks, Top Dog topwaters, Sidewinder spoons, silver spoons, gold spoons, and three-ounce spoons. Butch also mentions Coastal Brew Bait Company’s six-inch Dart, six-inch Deceiver, eight-inch Dart, and weedless Beast Hook rigging as a way to deal with grass in other areas.

Tony says trout have been willing to hit topwater when they get fired up, but he has often found them first with a swim bait or twitch bait before switching to topwater. On MirrOdines, he has been working a twitch-twitch-pause cadence, with a slightly faster, more erratic retrieve than he would use in winter. The bite often comes when the lure pauses or falls like injured bait.

For anglers trying to be ready for multiple species, Tony keeps a heavier rod ready for jacks or bigger Spanish and a lighter seven-foot fast-action rod for trout and smaller lures. A three-ounce spoon is his go-to for jack crevalle because ripping it fast through the water can trigger a reaction strike. For trout and Spanish, smaller spoons, swim baits, flukes, and scented paddletails have all been useful.

Live bait is still part of his backup plan, especially for clients later in the day when the artificial bite slows. Tony has been bringing small pinfish and croakers and fishing them either freelined or on a Carolina rig with a small weight. His general approach is to start with artificials, then switch to live bait if the sun gets higher, visible feeding slows, or he needs to help customers stay on fish.

Orange Beach Offshore Report – Capt. Kendall Annan With Gulf Rebel Charters

Capt. Kendall Annan with Gulf Rebel Charters joins the show from Orange Beach, where the red snapper season has started with a good bite when weather allows. Kendall says the water has been warm and mostly clear, though west wind has pushed in some dirtier water at times. Current and chop have also forced his crew to bump up weight, sometimes using 12-ounce leads to keep baits where they need to be when fishing a lot of anglers.

The snapper bite has been strong on both live and dead bait. Kendall’s crew has been using live bait, cigar minnows, and bonito chunks. Bonito has been especially useful for kids because it stays on the hook well and gives young anglers a better chance at a second bite if the first fish misses it.

Kendall says trip length matters during snapper season. Shorter trips keep boats closer to shore, where anglers may deal with more juvenile snapper, dolphins, sharks, and pressure. Eight-hour trips give the boat more range, a better chance at larger snapper, and the added possibility of trolling through productive offshore water. On one recent trip, the crew landed a 74-pound wahoo while running offshore.

For bigger snapper and bonus fish, Kendall emphasizes the value of a drift line. His basic drift-line setup uses 50- to 60-pound leader, as little weight as conditions allow, and cigar minnows or other baits. He likes to keep both a mono drift line and a cable drift line ready. The mono rig is useful when cobia or mahi show up, while the cable rig is better when king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, or toothy fish are around. He has also caught amberjack, almaco jacks, cobia, wahoo, mahi, and larger snapper on drift lines.

Offshore trolling has been productive when anglers can work through the grass. Kendall has been pulling a four-lure spread with larger wahoo lures and smaller four- to five-inch dusters on the outside to pick up mahi. Product and rigging mentions from this section include wahoo lures, dusters, bonito strips, cigar minnows, seven-strand cable, 135-pound cable leader, 80- to 100-pound shock leader, ball-bearing swivels, heat shrink, Marlin Magic-style heads, trolling leads, stinger hooks, spinning reels, and cable kingfish rigs.

For trolling speed, Kendall has been pulling dusters around 10 to 12 knots, slowing closer to eight knots when he finds a big grass patch or island of sargassum. He says mahi and wahoo will still hit fast-moving baits, but the lures need to be clean. In grass-heavy conditions, he recommends trimming tag ends short, using heat shrink where needed, paying attention to swivels, and checking every bait when the boat reaches an open lane of clean water.

Kendall also gives a detailed reminder about gaffing big fish. His main points are to keep the line tight, let the captain control boat speed, communicate between the wheel and the deck, walk the fish to the side of the boat for a broadside shot, avoid grabbing and dropping the leader, regrip the gaff after the shot, and bring the fish up and over the rail in one motion. For big tuna, large wahoo, and big mahi, he stresses patience, control, and getting a second gaff when needed.

Mobile Bay And Mississippi Sound Inshore Report – Capt. Jay O’Brien With Irish Wake Fishing

Capt. Jay O’Brien with Irish Wake Fishing says the inshore bite has been very good, but the pattern has been changing fast. Before the recent dirty water pushed through, trout were being caught in both deep and shallow water. Deep structure produced on slip corks with shrimp and on grubs bounced near the bottom, while shallow flats, hard bottom, grass, points, channels, and wade-fishing areas all produced when wind and water quality lined up.

Jay has been fishing mostly artificials himself after committing to artificial-only fishing during a yearlong tournament last year. That forced him to learn how to make trout eat lures through the full seasonal cycle, and those lessons are still paying off. On recent trips, he was catching trout on artificials right beside anglers throwing live croakers, and at times the lures were outproducing the live bait.

The bait pattern has been the most interesting part of Jay’s report. Many trout have been relating to mullet, but they have not always wanted a full-size mullet imitation. Some days they would eat the OG Slick, but more often they wanted the smaller Slick Junior. Productive Pure Flats Slick Lures colors included Croaker, Cool Beans, Pea Mint, and Mad Mullet. Jay says Swamp Thing and the B Cat are usually staples for him, but they were not as strong this past month.

When the trout stopped eating the smaller mullet profile, Jay noticed krill, glass minnows, and tiny shrimp mixed in with the mullet. After switching to smaller-profile baits, the bite restarted. Product mentions in this section include Pure Flats Slick Lures, Slick Juniors, OG Slicks, Little Slicks, Little Johns, MirrOlure MirrOdines, K Wigglers Wiggle-O, eighth-ounce jig heads, 1/16-ounce jig heads, quarter-ounce jig heads, slip corks, popping corks, live shrimp, live croakers, pogies, and small paddle tails.

Jay says the cadence has mattered just as much as the lure. At times, trout wanted a lure burned through the water. An hour later, in the same general area, they wanted a slower fall and a slower presentation. The K Wigglers Wiggle-O stood out because it descends slower than many other soft plastics, allowing trout to study it before eating. His main advice is to keep experimenting if signs show fish are nearby. If electronics, bait, slicks, or surface activity are absent, he moves instead of grinding dead water too long.

Water quality is now the big concern. Jay says the bay and sound both turned tannic quickly after rain and west wind, even though Gulf water outside the bay remained clean and pretty. He believes big tide cycles could help push clean Gulf water back in and dilute the dirty water. Coming out of the blow, he will be looking for isolated pockets of cleaner water, bait, mullet, shrimp, glass minnows, and fish concentrated where conditions are better.

Jay also reports more grass in areas where he has historically fished grass, which he sees as a positive sign for the ecosystem. Redfish have been plentiful, including nice slot fish in the 25- to 26-inch range. He has caught them while targeting trout and has also found them in marshes, tributaries, drainages, and other redfish-specific areas. Popping corks with shrimp, grubs, and other artificials are all catching fish.

Ladyfish, bluefish, and other bait-stealers have also shown up in force, so bait anglers should bring extra shrimp. Croakers are beginning to play a bigger role on the south end of the bay and around cleaner saltier water, though Jay believes the strong summer croaker bite may be tied to spawning behavior and trout reacting defensively around their eggs.

Flounder are being caught incidentally while trout and redfish fishing, though Jay has not been targeting them heavily. Triple tail remain a question mark after the dirty water, but the large early sargassum push could help if fish stage outside in clean Gulf water and ride the grass back toward the bays when conditions improve. Jay believes triple tail are drawn to river mouths and brackish mixing zones because of food and spawning conditions, which is one reason Mobile Bay can be such an important area for them.

Hooked On Fairhope Kids Fishing Tournament – Anthony Riccione With Admiral Shellfish

Anthony Riccione with Admiral Shellfish Company joins the show to talk about the inaugural Hooked on Fairhope kids fishing tournament, scheduled for June 13 at the Fairhope Pier. The tournament is designed to get kids 17 and under outside, fishing, learning, and enjoying an easy-access coastal resource without needing a boat.

The event includes a pier category and a boat category. Fishing begins around daylight and ends at 2 p.m. The tournament will include weigh-in help, volunteers, first aid, food, signage, and educational support. The goal is to make the event beginner-friendly while still letting kids experience the excitement of a real weigh-in and prizes.

Eligible species include common inshore and pier fish such as redfish, flounder, speckled trout, white trout, croaker, catfish, and Spanish mackerel. Anthony says the idea is to make sure kids can be rewarded for catching fish that are actually available from the pier, including the so-called trash fish that often create the most fun for young anglers.

Tickets are $12.50 for anglers 17 and under. Entry includes items such as Chick-fil-A, a T-shirt, and a sticker, with prizes including family passes to Waterville USA, McCoy Outdoor Company gift cards, buckets, and other sponsor-supported items. The tournament benefits the Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters, while also introducing more families to fishing from the Fairhope Pier and other land-based access points around the bay.

Products, organizations, and locations mentioned in this section include Hooked on Fairhope, Fishing Chaos, Fairhope Pier, The Blind Tiger, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation, City of Fairhope, Chick-fil-A, Waterville USA, McCoy Outdoor Company, Medstar, KillerDock benches, and land-based fishing access around Mobile Bay.