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Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report for September 4 – 10, 2026

September 7, 2026

This week’s Alabama Saltwater Fishing Report is a tournament roundtable with host Butch Thierry and four regular contributors: Capt. Patric Garmeson of Ugly Fishing, Capt. Tanner Deas of Dauphin Island Fishing Charters, Capt. Branden Collier of Capt. Collier’s Charters, and Dr. Dylan Kiene, also known as Dr. Doormat.

The conversation centers on the Saltwater Fanatics Inshore Championship and the very different ways each team found fish over the two-day event. Tanner and Branden break down the redfish, trout, and 22-inch flounder that carried their inshore slam, Patric explains how he found flounder in extremely shallow water after working through a long list of boat problems, and Dylan details a completely different deep-water flounder pattern that produced fish from roughly 15 to 40 feet.

The roundtable also gets into live bait versus artificial lures, jig-head weight, slip-cork fishing, reading bait and fish activity, nighttime tournament strategy, the fall flounder migration, and why recognizing a repeatable pattern can be more important than staying on a familiar spot that no longer feels right.

Conditions Recap

The Alabama coast is moving into September with highly variable conditions from one system to the next. Saturday brought enough south wind to create wind-driven current in several areas, while Sunday featured stronger east wind and passing storms that repeatedly changed the amount of water movement. The tide itself was relatively weak, making wind direction especially important in deciding which side of a bay, river, ledge, or shoreline would fish best.

Water clarity also varied dramatically. Dylan found very clean water in some of the deeper systems he fished, with roughly 10 to 15 feet of visibility and a bright green tint that helped high-visibility artificial colors stand out. Patric, on the other hand, found some of his best flounder in water less than 20 inches deep and, at times, only eight to 10 inches deep. Tanner and Branden worked everything from the northern Mississippi Sound and Mobile Bay to farther south around Dauphin Island while dealing with increasingly rough conditions on Sunday.

Floating grass remains a problem in some areas. Patric encountered enough ribbon grass while using his trolling motor that it made trolling impractical, and changing weather kept sight-fishing opportunities limited in some shallow areas. Even so, flounder were available across an unusually wide depth range, reinforcing the importance of matching a presentation to the water in front of you instead of assuming the fish have to be shallow or deep.

The other major condition was fishing pressure and the tournament clock. During a two-day event, the group emphasized that anglers have to make decisions faster than they would on a normal charter or recreational trip. If an area is producing only scattered bites and does not have the amount of bait, surface activity, or aggressive strikes expected, it may be better to move and find a more active group of fish rather than wait for the spot to improve.

Saltwater Fanatics Inshore Championship Recap

The Saltwater Fanatics Inshore Championship gave the group a chance to compare several very different fishing approaches. Tanner and Branden concentrated on building the best possible inshore slam, while Patric worked through trout, flounder, and redfish patterns after mechanical problems changed his original plan. Dylan and his team entered the weekend expecting to spend more time on trout and tripletail, but an unexpected concentration of flounder quickly changed their strategy.

The event also continued its live-fish conservation component. Dylan said roughly 300 live flounder and about 40 live tripletail from the tournament were taken by the hatchery program. That added another layer to the weekend because teams targeting those categories were not simply trying to catch fish; they also needed to keep them healthy through the weigh-in process.

Tournament fishing added urgency to every decision. The group agreed that confidence, pattern recognition, and willingness to abandon Plan A are critical. Once a team has a competitive bag, the strategy changes again. Instead of racing to fill open categories, anglers can slow down, evaluate the fish they already have, and decide whether the potential gain from another move is worth the risk and time.

Winning the Inshore Slam With Capt. Tanner Deas and Capt. Branden Collier

Capt. Tanner Deas and Capt. Branden Collier entered the tournament with a specific plan: secure a quality redfish first, then find a good speckled trout and finally add the flounder needed to complete the slam. Their first redfish area in the northern Sound looked right and had plenty of bait, but the bite never reached the level Branden expected.

They caught a roughly 24-inch redfish along with smaller fish, but Branden did not like the overall activity. The area had produced much better during previous trips, and even though fish were present, the strikes and feeding behavior did not feel strong enough to justify spending more of the tournament there. Instead of waiting, they moved to another area that had produced during the spring.

That adjustment paid off almost immediately. Within a couple of casts they doubled up on redfish in the 25-inch class, giving them the tournament-quality fish they needed. The lesson was less about one exact spot and more about recognizing when an area is underperforming. Branden looks at bait, water level, visible feeding, how aggressively fish hit, and whether the entire area feels alive. If those indicators are weaker than expected, he is willing to leave even when a few fish are still around.

Pure Flats SLICK-style suspending lures were a major part of the redfish discussion. Branden said the fish were heavily focused on mullet, and the subsurface mullet profile consistently produced better than topwater even when redfish were visibly crashing bait before daylight. Spinnerbaits also generated strikes, with Tanner noting that he had better success after allowing the fish to load the bait rather than immediately setting the hook at the first thump.

After securing the redfish, Tanner and Branden shifted to trout. They caught smaller specks and white trout in one area before eventually finding an unexpected 21-inch speckled trout farther south. The fish was enough to keep them competitive and allowed them to turn most of their attention toward flounder.

The key fish came around 4:30 Sunday morning. Fishing before daylight, they landed a 22-inch flounder that weighed 4.65 pounds. Combined with their trout and redfish, the flounder gave them the quality inshore slam they had been building toward. They continued fishing in an attempt to upgrade individual fish, but worsening conditions made long runs increasingly difficult.

Live bait and artificial lures both contributed during the weekend. The group specifically mentioned finger mullet, croakers, shrimp, soft plastics, spinnerbaits, and suspending mullet imitations. Tanner and Branden also discussed how nighttime and dock-light fishing has repeatedly produced tournament-quality fish for them. When tournament rules allow an early start, they consider the pre-dawn window worth the lost sleep because one quality fish caught before sunrise can change the rest of the day’s strategy.

Products and gear discussed in this section included Pure Flats SLICK-style lures, spinnerbaits, live finger mullet, croakers, shrimp, Carolina rigs, soft plastics, and Z-Man soft plastics.

Shallow-Water Flounder With Capt. Patric Garmeson

Capt. Patric Garmeson began Saturday expecting to target quality trout before switching to tripletail. He found trout in the two- to two-and-a-half-pound class early, but the bite slowed before he found the fish he wanted. From there, a series of electrical and battery problems completely changed the day.

After the outboard stopped communicating correctly with the controls and gauges, Patric traced the problem through the boat’s electrical system and eventually discovered a poor battery connection along with an issue involving a missing fuse screw. When the outboard later shut down again, he used the trolling motor to begin a roughly three-mile trip toward help. Along the way, they even found a tripletail on floating debris, although the fish pulled off.

When the trolling-motor battery finally died near the destination, Patric improvised a temporary screw from a lead bank sinker, got the motor running again, and reached the person bringing the correct replacement hardware. The mechanical problems cost most of Saturday, but he returned to the water late enough to catch a flounder before dark.

Sunday provided the fishing pattern he had been looking for. After finding trout around working birds farther south, Patric and Cooper shifted to flounder and caught fish in remarkably shallow water. Patric estimated that virtually all of the flounder came from 20 inches of water or less. In the clearest sections, they were casting into only eight to 10 inches of water.

The shallow-water bite became almost visual. As the lure crossed a tiny depth change, Patric could sometimes watch it disappear, see a puff of sand rise from the bottom, and then feel the strike. On several fish, the sand trail actually moved toward the lure before the bite. He described it as one of the closest things to sight-fishing flounder.

Patric’s approach was to cover water rather than anchor on every historically productive spot. He keeps the trolling motor moving slowly along a shoreline or zone until somebody gets a bite. Once a flounder is caught, he can stop and fish the immediate area more thoroughly. That strategy reflects how dispersed the fish have been. Instead of assuming every traditional flounder spot is loaded, anglers may need to keep moving until one bite reveals a concentration.

His primary artificial presentation was a Z-Man Scented PaddlerZ, with Cooper also throwing Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ-style paddletails. Patric stayed with a quarter-ounce jig head even in the very shallow water because the fish continued biting and he wanted dependable bottom contact. He also carried live pogies and large shrimp but rarely needed them once the artificial bite developed.

Products and gear discussed in this section included Z-Man Scented PaddlerZ, Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ, quarter-ounce jig heads, live pogies, live shrimp, and a lure retriever for freeing jigs from hard structure.

Deep-Water Flounder With Dr. Dylan Kiene

Dr. Dylan Kiene and his team found almost the opposite flounder pattern. They originally planned to fish for trout, spend a short amount of time on flounder, and then concentrate on tripletail. That plan lasted only a few casts.

While his partners freelined shrimp for trout, Dylan began throwing artificials and caught a flounder on his first cast. Within roughly 30 minutes he had caught several more, convincing the entire crew to switch over. They finished Saturday with around 30 flounder, with 23 of those fish still alive for the tournament’s live-fish component.

The depth was dramatically different from Patric’s shallow-water program. Dylan said most of Saturday’s bites came from approximately 15 to 20 feet. On Sunday, many of the flounder were between roughly 20 and 40 feet. The fish were associated with ledges, and once the team identified where the bites were occurring on those ledges, they began searching for the same structural relationship in new areas.

Saturday’s standout lure was the five-inch Coastal Brew Nuke Juice. Dylan said the water was unusually clean with a bright green appearance, and the bait’s high-visibility color showed up extremely well. On Sunday he had good success with a Down South Lures Super Model in Purple Reign.

Dylan also added Pro-Cure shrimp scent to his artificials. He believes scent can make an important difference when a flounder follows a lure but hesitates to commit. The group had observed that adding scent often turns those following fish into strikes, especially when shrimp are already present in the system.

Most of the weekend was fished with a quarter-ounce screw-lock jig head. Around snag-heavy structure, Dylan switched to weedless presentations, including Texas Eye-style jig heads with Z-Man plastics and other weedless swimbait-hook options. In the deepest water, he occasionally increased jig-head weight to maintain bottom contact.

Sunday’s biggest adjustment came from recognizing how the east wind had changed the productive side of the system. Instead of continuing to fish where Saturday’s bites had been, Dylan moved to the opposite side and immediately found a 3.4-pound trout followed by several quality flounder. He repeated that same structural pattern at multiple new locations, including spots he had never fished before.

That was one of the most useful takeaways of the roundtable: finding fish is only the first step. The bigger advantage comes from identifying why they are there and then locating the same depth, ledge, current direction, or bottom feature somewhere else.

Products and gear discussed in this section included the Coastal Brew Nuke Juice, Down South Lures Super Model Purple Reign, Pro-Cure scent, quarter-ounce screw-lock jig heads, weedless swimbait hooks, Z-Man plastics, and Texas Eye-style jig heads.

Live Bait Versus Artificial Lures for Flounder

The group spent considerable time comparing live bait with artificial lures. Artificials are efficient for covering shallow water because anglers can cast repeatedly, work different angles, and keep the boat moving until a bite identifies a productive zone. In deeper water and on steep ledges, however, live bait can make it easier to maintain precise bottom contact.

Tanner and Branden prefer relatively short Carolina-rig leaders for finger mullet when they want the bait pinned close to the bottom. A heavier sinker can be slowly dragged down a deep ledge without allowing the presentation to swing several feet above the bottom between hops. That can be especially important when flounder are positioned on a narrow shelf or break.

Dylan said he would not want to fish a serious flounder tournament without live bait available. He has seen too many situations where anglers thoroughly work an area with artificials without getting a bite, then immediately catch a quality flounder after dropping a live mullet into the same spot.

At the same time, Patric’s tournament reinforced the opposite lesson. He had live bait available but continued catching fish on plastics, so there was no reason to abandon an efficient presentation that was already working. The practical takeaway is to carry both options and allow the fish to determine how much effort should be invested in each.

Slip Corks, Current, and Matching Weight to the Presentation

Slip corks have become an increasingly important tool for the group, particularly when fishing deeper water, heavy current, bridge structure, gas rigs, and even certain flounder situations. The main advantage is the ability to let a bait move naturally with the water instead of dragging it directly back toward the boat.

Tanner likes the technique in shallow areas with enough current to make traditional casting inefficient. A slip cork set close to the bottom can carry a finger mullet, shrimp, croaker, or bull minnow down a grass line, jetty, or other piece of structure while maintaining a natural direction of travel.

Patric stressed that line management is critical. Casting across the current and allowing a large bow of slack line to develop can pull the cork away from the natural current seam and make hooksets difficult. When possible, he positions the boat so the cork can be fed directly down-current. If the presentation requires casting across the current, he actively mends the line much like an angler would while fly fishing.

Weight is equally important. A rig that is too light can sweep through the productive zone too quickly, while a rig that is too heavy may remain stationary and lose the natural drift that makes the presentation effective. Tanner recommends carrying multiple weights and changing them as current changes. He will even start several rods with different weights and let the bite reveal which speed is correct.

The same logic applies to cork size and fishing depth. The weight needs to be heavy enough to properly load the cork, and the stop depth needs to keep the bait where fish are actually feeding. Small differences in weight or depth can create a large difference in bites when several anglers are fishing from the same boat.

Products and gear discussed in this section included slip corks, Carolina rigs, live finger mullet, shrimp, croakers, bull minnows, interchangeable sinker weights, swivels, beads, and short leaders.

Fall Flounder Outlook

Dylan believes the 2026 fall flounder season has the potential to become one of the better big-fish periods Alabama anglers have seen in several years. His reasoning is based on the growing number of younger fish already present in the estuary combined with the possibility that older offshore spawners will begin returning to bay systems as fall progresses.

The fish caught throughout much of summer have largely been younger year classes that remained in the estuary. The bigger fish anglers are waiting on are older flounder that have already participated in offshore spawning migrations. Some of those larger fish have already returned, but Dylan believes the major push is still ahead.

He expects September to begin producing more of those fish, with the best opportunity for a truly large flounder likely developing from roughly mid-October through mid-November. He also believes a wet fall may encourage more of the older offshore fish to move back into the bays, similar to patterns he observed during previous wet years.

The group also discussed the idea of a “flounder rave,” a short feeding period when a concentrated group becomes extremely aggressive and seemingly every lure that reaches the bottom gets eaten. Dylan has seen those windows line up with specific major feeding periods, particularly when the sun is overhead and the moon is below the fishing area. Those events are uncommon, but they reinforce the value of paying attention to both fish location and timing.

Custom Rods and On-the-Water Rod Repair With Dr. Dylan Kiene

The final part of the roundtable shifts from fishing patterns to equipment, with Dr. Dylan Kiene discussing the expansion of his Dr. Doormat custom-rod builds. Dylan is now building everything from specialized flounder and trout rods to versatile inshore rods, offshore builds, baitcasting rods, and spinning rods.

His process starts with how the angler actually fishes. Rather than beginning with a predetermined blank or component list, Dylan asks about lure weight, species, casting style, durability needs, and whether the customer wants one highly specialized rod or a more versatile build. From there, he recommends blanks, guides, grips, and layouts that fit the application.

One recent build used a RainShadow Judge Series blank with a custom guide train, custom cork grips, and an acid-wrap layout on a baitcasting rod. Dylan also discussed premium Fuji Gold MC guides, emphasizing their corrosion resistance, durability, and flexibility for custom spinning or casting layouts.

One of the most practical gear stories from the tournament involved an on-the-water rod failure. Dylan damaged a tip-top insert on one of his own rods and began breaking braided line. Kyle Porter happened to have an Anglers Resource/Fuji Tip Top Repair Kit on the boat, allowing Dylan to install a temporary replacement and continue fishing the tournament.

Dylan and Tanner also emphasized that a custom rod is not required to catch fish. The advantage comes from combining the right blank, guide placement, weight, sensitivity, casting distance, and durability for a specific angler. Small improvements in each area may not create a dramatic difference on one cast, but they can become noticeable over an entire day of finesse fishing.

Products and gear discussed in this section included RainShadow Judge Series blanks, Fuji Gold MC guides, custom cork grips, acid-wrapped baitcasting rods, and the Anglers Resource/Fuji Tip Top Repair Kit.