This week’s Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report featured Captain Brandon Collier of Captain Collier’s Charters, Captain Bobby Abruscato of A-Team Fishing, and Angelo DePaola with The Coastal Connection talking about the Gulf Coast Outboard Challenge. The big theme this week was that spring fishing is heating up across the Alabama coast, but anglers still need to stay flexible around wind, low water, and fish that are still moving between winter and summer patterns. Even with those challenges, the overall report was strong, with trout, redfish, flounder, whiting, and sheepshead all in the mix, plus a new offshore tournament that gives small-boat anglers a real shot at competing.
Conditions Recap
Wind is still the biggest factor shaping the bite right now. Captain Brandon Collier said anglers have been dealing with persistent east and southeast winds that can make it tough to fish open areas comfortably, especially once the breeze builds late in the morning. Captain Bobby Abruscato echoed that, saying even when he finally got outside into the Mississippi Sound, he was still working around blown-up water and trying to force a bite in conditions that were less than ideal.
At the same time, both captains pointed to one unusual spring factor helping the fishing in several places: the lack of rain. Because the rivers have not been flushed hard, salinity has stayed high enough that trout have remained in places where many anglers would normally expect them to have already moved out. That has kept fish spread across more water than usual, from the rivers to the outside areas, but it has also made them harder to pin down day to day.
The other key part of the equation is bait. Brandon said mullet and pogies are still the best indicators of where trout want to be, while Bobby said shrimp are already a major player, especially in the rivers where he saw trout actively blowing up on them. Overall, the message this week was that there are fish in a lot of places right now, but the best approach is to fish where wind, bait, and tolerable water clarity overlap instead of trying to force a favorite spot.
Wade Fishing and Inshore Report
Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound wade-fishing report with Captain Brandon Collier
Captain Brandon Collier said he has spent the past couple of weeks doing a lot of wade fishing and trying to make the best of windy conditions. He explained that getting in the water teaches you things you can never really learn from the boat alone, especially when it comes to feeling bottom composition, subtle troughs, potholes, shell, mud, and little edges that can hold fish. That has been a big part of how he is trying to stay on trout, redfish, and flounder right now.
One of Brandon’s clearest points was that finding bait still matters more than anything else. He said that if he pulls into an area and does not see mullet or pogies, especially mullet, he usually does not have much confidence that trout will be there. He has also noticed that tiny fry being worked by birds have not necessarily translated into good fishing, while just seeing a couple mullet jumps in a short window can be all the sign he needs to get out and fish.
He also said the fish are not staying put for long. A place that holds bait and fish one morning may be disappointing the next day, and he believes that changing water level, wind direction, and shifting bait are all part of that. That is one reason he puts so much emphasis on slowing down, reading the water, and trusting your gut when an area either feels right or does not.
Brandon shared a lot of useful detail on lure selection for anglers who are wading and trying to keep things simple without getting too locked into one bait. He said he wants a few core profiles available at all times, including a bigger finfish-style bait like a Slick Lure, a straight tail like a Coastal Brew Bait, and a paddle tail such as the Down South Super Model or the Coastal Brew Deceiver. He also likes to keep twitch baits ready for times when fish seem picky and he wants a more reaction-based presentation.
As far as color goes, Brandon organizes things into bright, dark, and natural categories. He said bright colors like pink or chartreuse stand out when you need visibility, darker shades like watermelon and tux are useful in rougher or more overcast conditions, and natural tones work well when the water is decent and the sun is up. Lately he has leaned more toward natural and darker profiles because the water has generally had enough clarity for those baits to make sense.
For flounder, Brandon said he has not yet made many dedicated trips, but they are clearly showing up in the same areas where he has been fishing for trout and reds. Most of the fish he has been catching have been in that solid 17- to 18-inch class, but he has also seen reports of much bigger fish around the bay. He expects to start giving flounder more dedicated attention very soon. One of the baits he specifically mentioned for that is the Z-Man Big Baller, especially when paired with Pro-Cure scent.
He also stressed that anglers should not waste too much time in places that simply do not show the right signs. If the water is dead, the bait is wrong, or the area just does not feel right, Brandon believes it is usually smarter to move and keep looking than to overcommit to a place that is not setting up correctly.
Inshore Trout and River Report
Mobile Bay, Mississippi Sound, and river trout report with Captain Bobby Abruscato
Captain Bobby Abruscato said spring fishing has been exceptionally good across a broad stretch of water, from the rivers to the outside areas closer to the island. One of the biggest surprises for him has been just how long trout are holding in some of the rivers this year. He described seeing trout actively blowing up on shrimp in Fowl River in April, which is not the kind of thing most local anglers would normally expect to see this late into the spring.
Bobby said the lack of rain has everything to do with that. Since the rivers have not been flushed, fish still have the salinity, bait, and structure they need, so there is not much reason for them to leave. That has created a broader and more forgiving spring pattern than usual, with fish both where they “should” be outside and in places where they have often already left by now.
When he did get outside into Mississippi Sound and the area around the shoals, Bobby said the fishing was still strong even though the water had been stirred up early. He described making a color adjustment from dirtier-water options like B-Cat to clearer-water choices like Mad Mullet and Croaker once he found prettier water farther south. He also joked that the flounder bite must be heating up because even his boat managed to catch two.
Bobby also gave a useful caution about navigating the shoals west of Dauphin Island. He said those bars have shifted a lot, and anglers unfamiliar with the area need to move slowly and learn it carefully because the bottom goes from deep to very shallow in a hurry and hitting there is not forgiving.
As for how he is fishing the rivers right now, Bobby said he is mostly working the edges of the channels and the adjacent flats rather than staying down in the deepest water. He is watching for slicks, mullet activity, and especially mullet that suddenly shower in a way that suggests predators are on them. One of the most interesting details he shared was that mullet almost always jump facing into the current, so when several of them jump in the wrong direction all at once, that usually means something is chasing them.
That ties directly into how he likes to fish. Bobby said that in search mode, he often wants to cast roughly 90 degrees to the direction of the current so the bait moves across the face of the fish in a more natural and easier-to-eat way. Once fish are located, he can cast from different angles, but that cross-current presentation is one of the things he pays attention to when he is first trying to dial them in.
He also made a strong case for always having a popping cork rigged this time of year. Bobby said that if someone simply wants to locate fish and catch numbers, it is hard to beat a popping cork paired with a small shrimp imitation like a Vudu Shrimp or a three-inch Gulp shrimp. He believes that rig works so well because there are already a lot of small shrimp in the water, and even bigger trout are more than happy to eat them.
That same setup can also produce surprise bull reds. Bobby said those fish will often strike at the cork first, and if the angler can resist jerking and instead begin reeling slowly, the shrimp imitation may stay in the strike zone long enough for the redfish to come back and crush it. He said the same slow-reel trick often works with trout that miss the shrimp or just bump it the first time.
Offshore Tournament Spotlight
The Gulf Coast Outboard Challenge with Angelo DePaola
This week’s episode also included a conversation with Angelo DePaola about the new Gulf Coast Outboard Challenge, an offshore tournament built specifically for outboard-powered boats. Angelo said one of the driving ideas behind the event was to give smaller-boat anglers and more casual offshore fishermen a real chance to compete without having to match up against the full-time tournament crowd in a short weather window.
The event runs from April 25 through October 4, with registration required by April 24. Instead of forcing everyone into one specific tournament weekend, anglers can pick the days that make the most sense for their boat, weather window, and target species. That format should make the event especially attractive for Gulf Coast anglers who fish offshore regularly but do not necessarily want the pressure and expense of a more traditional big-money tournament schedule.
The tournament includes categories for blue marlin, catch-and-release billfish, tuna, dolphin, wahoo, and swordfish. Angelo said the $1,000 entry fee is split across those divisions, with 100 percent of entry fees paid back out rather than kept by the tournament. He also highlighted optional cash-awards divisions for anglers who want to raise the stakes in specific categories.
Another big selling point is flexibility. Angelo explained that anglers can fish their own schedule, weigh fish at Orange Beach Marina when needed, and submit release videos for billfish and swordfish divisions through the tournament’s system. That setup makes it easier for anglers from a broader stretch of the Gulf Coast to participate without constantly running back to a weigh station.
He also pointed out that the tournament creates a more level playing field than many traditional events. Instead of trying to compete head-to-head with large professional crews during one fixed weekend, anglers are fishing against others in a similar class of boats over a long season. For weekend offshore fishermen, that is a much more realistic way to be competitive while still having fun.
What to Watch This Week
For inshore anglers, the biggest thing to watch is whether more fish continue their move toward classic spring and summer positions or whether the unusual lack of rain keeps them scattered longer than normal. Brandon believes trout are still roaming enough that reading the water and paying attention to bait remains critical, while Bobby thinks there is enough good fishing across enough different water types that anglers should stay flexible and fish the conditions rather than worry too much about where fish “ought” to be.
Flounder also deserve more attention right now. Both reports suggest they are becoming a more dependable part of the catch, and as those numbers keep improving, they are likely to become a bigger target over the next several weeks.
