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Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report for September 18 – 24, 2026

September 18, 2026

This week’s Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report covers improving surf fishing, a wide-ranging inshore and offshore bite, and an exceptional yellowfin tuna stretch out of Dauphin Island. Host Butch Thierry starts with Tony Emmons of South Alabama Surf Fishing, who says the water along Gulf Shores and Orange Beach is finally cleaning up after a difficult summer stretch and more species are beginning to show along the beach.

Butch then checks in with Chris Vecsey of J&M Tackle for a report that ranges from sailfish, blackfin tuna, mahi, and gag grouper offshore to redfish, trout, mangrove snapper, and an unusually strong showing of snook inshore. The episode finishes with Capt. King Marchand of Capt. Mike’s Deep Sea Fishing, who breaks down the live-bait and live-chumming program that has produced yellowfin tuna up to 209 pounds.

Conditions Recap

The Alabama coast is beginning to show the first signs of a fall transition, even though water and air temperatures are still warm. Tony Emmons says morning conditions on the beach are becoming more manageable, summer grass has eased considerably, and surf water is cleaning up. That improvement in water quality has brought a broader mix of fish back into the troughs, sandbar edges, and nearshore cuts, including flounder, pompano, redfish, black drum, whiting, bluefish, and trout.

Offshore, Chris Vecsey reports blue-green water around 84 to 85 degrees, with blackfin tuna, small mahi, sailfish, and scattered wahoo opportunities around the edge and farther offshore. He would prefer to see the water cool a few more degrees, with his favorite offshore window around 78 to 82 degrees, and he expects that drop to improve the fall pelagic bite.

Inshore, current and bait remain the two biggest keys. Chris is finding trout in areas with strong water movement, while redfish have been more consistent in protected areas with less flow. Small LYs and other baitfish are widespread enough that he is using visible bait activity as a major decision-making tool: if an area looks empty, he does not spend much time there.

Farther offshore, Capt. King Marchand says the yellowfin tuna are present but highly dependent on feeding windows. His crew has been finding fish around rigs and drill ships, often marking them well before they become catchable. The best results are coming when tuna rise higher in the water column and respond aggressively to live chum.

Surf Fishing Report – Tony Emmons With South Alabama Surf Fishing

Tony Emmons of South Alabama Surf Fishing says the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach surf is finally turning the corner after a rough summer. Heavy grass had made beach fishing difficult enough that Tony occasionally discouraged repeat clients from booking trips during the worst conditions, but the water has since cleaned up and the variety of fish along the beach is improving quickly.

Flounder are one of the most encouraging signs. Tony has been catching keeper fish on artificials and is experimenting with a tandem rig that lets him cover more of the water column while maintaining bottom contact. He uses a quarter-ounce jig head and a shorter upper dropper with roughly a No. 2 Gamakatsu-style bass hook. The overall rig is approximately two-and-a-half to three feet long, with the upper bait about a foot to a foot-and-a-half above the lower presentation.

One of the most interesting parts of the pattern is that several flounder have been eating the upper bait rather than the lure directly on the bottom. Tony is still experimenting with the setup, but he likes it specifically on clean sand where the extra hook is less likely to snag. He would not use the same rig around docks, rocks, or other heavy structure where the additional hook would create more problems than advantages.

For color, Tony says New Penny soft plastics have been his most consistent choice, especially in lighter beach conditions. He is making long casts toward the second sandbar, points, and drop-offs, then bumping the rig across the bottom. The farther casts have also helped him reach some of the better flounder holding closer to the outer sandbar.

Pompano Are Beginning To Show Again

Tony has also started putting pompano rigs back into his beach program. The main fall run has not arrived yet, but fish are appearing consistently enough to make them worth targeting. On a recent guide trip, his group caught three pompano, including one keeper-size fish, and Tony has heard of other anglers catching fish in the 17- to 18-inch range.

For the stronger fall bite, Tony likes clear water with a slight green tint and water temperatures roughly in the 68- to 75-degree range. The current fish have been surprisingly close to the beach rather than consistently holding behind the outer bar.

His preferred close-range pompano setup is a No. 2 pyramid sinker on a set rig. Tony intentionally avoids using more lead than he needs because he likes the bait to move slightly in the wash instead of being completely pinned to the bottom. When fishing beyond the bar in stronger current, he will increase to a 3- or 4-ounce pyramid sinker.

Fresh shrimp has been the most dependable bait, although Tony also caught a pompano on pink-and-green Electric Chicken Fishbites. Fresh shrimp has been producing much more than pompano, with black drum, small redfish, whiting, and other species all taking the same bait.

Tony also uses a Carolina rig close to the beach with roughly a half-ounce to one-ounce egg sinker when he wants to target whiting, redfish, black drum, and other fish in the first trough. On one recent trip, the rods stayed active almost continuously, and the catch changed from cast to cast.

How To Read The Troughs And Sandbars

Finding the right part of the beach has been more important than simply making long casts. Tony says pompano often show along the edge of a sandbar or on a drop-off, especially when they are feeding on sand fleas. When he believes the fish are feeding more heavily on shrimp or ghost shrimp, he spends more time in the middle of the trough or just in front of and behind the bar.

On one particularly productive trip, many of the redfish, black drum, flounder, and other species were holding directly in the deepest part of the trough rather than on either edge. That is useful for less experienced surf anglers because the middle of a well-defined trough can be one of the easiest pieces of beach structure to identify.

Wave height also changes how Tony fishes. For artificials and topwater, he prefers roughly a foot to a foot-and-a-half of surf. For flounder, he prefers about a foot. When fishing pompano with set rigs, he is comfortable with more water movement and may fish in roughly two-and-a-half feet of surf because the additional movement can improve the bite.

Redfish have also been responding to walk-the-dog topwater presentations. Tony says watching a redfish push a wake behind a surface lure before striking is one of the most exciting parts of the current beach bite.

Inshore And Offshore Report – Chris Vecsey With J&M Tackle

Chris Vecsey of J&M Tackle says the two biggest offshore topics coming through the shop right now are light-tackle billfishing and gag grouper. He has been doing a little of everything himself, including trolling offshore, bottom fishing, fishing dock lights, working inshore grass lines, and continuing his effort to locate and tag Alabama snook.

On a recent day offshore, Chris fished around the 131 area toward the Elbow and found plenty of life even though the trolling bite itself was relatively slow. He saw free-jumping sailfish, raised one into the spread, pitched a bait to it, and briefly came tight before the hook pulled. The same trip produced a blackfin tuna in the low-20-pound range along with small mahi.

Chris was pulling a light-tackle billfish spread built around teasers, squid chains, and dredges, with only a limited number of hooked baits in the water. His preference is to tease the fish into the spread and then pitch a bait rather than simply trolling a large number of hooked lures. He believes that approach improves the hook-to-land ratio when a sailfish or other billfish commits.

Frigate birds have also been an important visual clue. Chris saw an unusually large group working over tuna offshore, something he says is more common in places such as South Florida, Mexico, or the Caribbean than along the Alabama coast. He recommends watching birds closely because they can reveal tuna, mahi, sailfish, and other pelagic activity.

Blackfin, Mahi, Wahoo, And The Fall Offshore Transition

Blackfin tuna remain farther offshore for now, but Chris expects them to move closer as the water cools. Around Alabama, he generally begins watching for that nearshore blackfin opportunity in October, with November often producing some of the most consistent fishing and December still capable of being very good if bait remains nearby.

Small mahi are also scattered offshore. Chris saw multiple fish in the roughly six- to eight-pound range and believes he could have caught more if he had changed the trolling spread, but his primary goal that day was billfish rather than filling the box with mahi.

The wahoo bite has been more disappointing. Chris briefly high-speed trolled around 13 to 14 knots without a strike and says wahoo numbers have been lower than he would expect for this point in the season. He is hoping that another drop in water temperature will bring more fish into the area.

For anglers heading offshore, Chris likes what he is seeing in the water itself. The blue-green color is improving, bait is present, and temperatures are trending toward the range he prefers. That combination should continue to create more options as the fall pattern develops.

Redfish, Trout, Snook, And Mangrove Snapper Inshore

Inshore, Chris says redfish have been excellent, the trout bite has been strong, mangrove snapper remain available, and snook continue to be one of the most interesting developing fisheries along the Alabama coast.

Chris has been catching trout and redfish on topwater plugs, flukes, and wake baits. Wake baits have become one of his favorite tools for locating redfish because they push enough water to draw attention, and larger trout will attack the same presentation. Butch specifically mentions having success with a Southern Salt-style wake bait before breaking one against his outboard cowling.

Chris is willing to fish topwater well after sunrise and sometimes continues throwing it through the middle of the day. His bigger concern is not light level but whether the area contains bait and enough water movement to keep fish active.

For trout, high-current areas have been the most dependable. When he moves into quieter coves and areas with less flow, the trout numbers tend to drop, but redfish become more common. Dock lights have also produced, although weekend boat traffic has made those areas less consistent. Chris prefers fishing the lights during the week and moving quickly if a light does not produce within the first few casts.

Alabama Snook Continue To Get Attention

Chris and Tony both discussed the growing number of snook they are seeing in local river and estuary systems. Tony has now encountered snook in multiple systems and recently hooked a large fish that jumped close to him before cutting the leader. That experience convinced him to step up from 15-pound leader to roughly 20- to 30-pound leader when fishing areas where trout, flounder, and snook may overlap.

Chris is continuing to tag snook and keep track of the local population. On one recent trip, he and a friend saw more than 50 fish in a day, including some approaching roughly 30 inches. The fish were holding around grass lines, sawgrass banks, piers, and other structure but were extremely difficult to trigger, even when live shrimp were placed close to them.

On a later trip specifically focused on tagging, Chris hooked three snook and landed one. He says the total number of fish he is seeing is unlike anything he has personally observed in Alabama before, making this one of the most interesting inshore developments of the season.

Yellowfin Tuna Report – Capt. King Marchand With Capt. Mike’s Deep Sea Fishing

Capt. King Marchand of Capt. Mike’s Deep Sea Fishing says tuna fishing has become the main focus of his offshore program. His crew recently landed a 209-pound yellowfin, followed by a 169-pound fish, along with numerous tuna in the 70- to 80-pound range and smaller legal fish.

The biggest tuna have been coming on live bait rather than conventional trolling. King says his crew has caught more fish over roughly 140 to 150 pounds during the last several years than he remembers from earlier in his career, and one of the biggest changes has been refining the live-bait system.

A major part of that system is a very small Owner MUTU-style circle hook, around 2/0 for many of the baits they are using. King says the circle hook greatly reduced deep-hooked fish and improved landing percentage because most tuna end up hooked cleanly in the corner of the mouth. Even the 209-pound fish was landed on one of those small hooks.

Live Chumming For Big Yellowfin

King has been using live “crazyfish,” also known locally as hornbellies, to fire up yellowfin behind the boat. One large tuna they cleaned had 19 of the same baitfish in its stomach, convincing King that the fish had eaten a large portion of the live chum his crew had just deployed.

For smaller yellowfin, four or five live chum baits may be enough to trigger an immediate feeding response. King says the largest tuna are more cautious and often require a much bigger burst of activity. He may throw approximately 20 to 25 live baits behind the boat to create enough competition and confusion for a big fish to commit to the hooked bait.

The tradeoff is that it is possible to feed the school too much. On one trip, King’s crew had a wide-open bite, caught multiple tuna, and watched a large fish feeding aggressively behind the boat. After landing the biggest fish, they returned to the same rig and could still mark tuna on the electronics, but the fish had stopped rising to the chum. King believes the school had simply eaten enough that the feeding window was over.

Use Electronics To Find Catchable Tuna

King says seeing tuna on sonar does not automatically mean they are catchable. He generally watches from the surface to about 400 feet but zooms his display into roughly the 80- to 250-foot range when evaluating a rig.

In his experience, yellowfin marked around 180 feet or shallower are much more likely to respond to live chum and rise into the spread. Fish holding at 250 to 300 feet may remain almost impossible to trigger even when there are dozens of marks below the boat.

On one recent trip, King marked a large concentration of yellowfin deeper than 250 feet and tried live bait, weighted live bait, and chunking without getting the fish to rise. He left the area, returned about an hour before dark, found the tuna closer to 180 feet, and quickly caught several.

If he knows a rig is holding tuna but the fish remain deep, King would rather return later in the day and give the area another chance near the evening feeding period than spend the entire day trying to force inactive fish to bite.

King Marchand’s Live-Bait Tuna Setup

For this style of fishing, King likes the Shimano Talica 25 because of its smooth free-spool and the harness attachment points on the reel. Smooth free-spool is especially important because the hooked bait needs to stay natural while the boat is moving and live chum is scattering behind it.

He normally fills the reel with 65-pound braid, sometimes stepping up to 80-pound braid, and fishes approximately 40 to 50 feet of 80-pound fluorocarbon. When tuna become especially leader-shy, he will scale down as light as 40-pound fluorocarbon.

King recommends stretching fresh fluorocarbon before fishing it. Pulling pressure against a long section of leader helps remove the coil and memory from the spool so the line lies straighter and the live bait behaves more naturally.

For the braid-to-fluorocarbon connection, he prefers an FG knot. He previously used small wind-on swivels but believes even small terminal connections can create enough drag in the water to make a live bait look less natural.

Drag Management Can Save A Big Tuna

King may set the reel for approximately 15 to 16 pounds of drag, but he does not immediately fight a fish at full strike pressure when using light leader. On 40- or 50-pound fluorocarbon, he prefers roughly seven to eight pounds of drag during the first part of the fight while the tuna makes its longest and fastest runs.

Once the fish settles under the boat and begins making the classic vertical tuna circles, King gradually increases the drag. If the fish reaches the boat and makes another sudden run, he immediately backs the pressure off again rather than risking a break-off.

His broader point is that drag cannot be treated as a set-it-and-forget-it number. The angler needs to adjust pressure throughout the fight based on leader size, fish behavior, line angle, and how much line remains between the tuna and the boat.

Amberjack And Other Offshore Options

King says amberjack fishing has also been good, but the quality of the bite depends heavily on live bait. Large hardtails remain his preferred amberjack bait. When only small hardtails or smaller baitfish are available, anglers may catch large numbers of undersized jacks before finding a legal fish.

Slow-pitch jigs and bucktail jigs will catch amberjack, but King says jigs on closer artificial reefs tend to produce more smaller fish. Farther offshore around shelf rigs, artificial jigs have a better chance of producing legal-size amberjack.

Whale sharks had also been creating unusual open-water tuna opportunities in previous weeks. Those encounters have slowed, but King still recommends watching frigate birds and surface activity closely because blackfin, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna may be feeding around a whale shark even when the shark itself is difficult to spot.

What To Expect This Week

The surf is becoming more fishable as water clears and summer grass eases. Tony’s report suggests anglers should be ready for a mixed bag rather than focusing on one species. Fresh shrimp, pompano rigs, Carolina rigs, and flounder plastics can all be useful on the same trip, with the first trough and sandbar edges currently worth as much attention as the water beyond the outer bar.

Inshore, Chris recommends letting current and visible bait determine where to fish. Trout are holding better in moving water, while redfish can be more dependable in quieter areas. Topwater plugs, wake baits, flukes, and live shrimp are all producing, and the number of snook being seen around grass and structure continues to add another possibility to the Alabama inshore fishery.

Offshore, bluewater opportunities are broadening as water temperatures slowly fall. Blackfin tuna, sailfish, mahi, and other pelagics are already available, with wahoo expected to improve if cooler water arrives. For anglers making a longer run, Capt. King’s yellowfin report shows how important live bait, electronics, leader selection, and patience can be when the fish are present but feeding only during short windows.