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In this week’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta Fishing Report, host Nick Williams checks in with Justin Dunnam of Eight Mile Drifter and Darren Shirah of Reel Time Outdoors with Darren for a late-summer report that stretches from saltwater tournament fishing back into the creeks and backwaters of the Delta.
Justin recaps a strong two-day Saltwater Fanatics tournament where he put together redfish, speckled trout, and flounder from a kayak while fishing marsh islands, creek mouths, industrial canal structure, and shallow flats. Darren reports that bass have been slower for him, but bluegill are still dependable in cooler creek water, with a few shellcracker and crappie mixed in. The conversation also looks ahead to the first real fall patterns for crappie, bass, and hog hunting as mornings begin to cool.
Conditions Recap
The first signs of fall are beginning to show around the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. Both Nick and Justin noticed cooler, more comfortable mornings, especially during the first few hours after daylight. The afternoons are still hot, but shorter days are beginning to take some of the edge off the late-summer heat.
Justin’s tournament weekend showed how much wind can change the available water for kayak anglers. The first day brought relatively mild conditions that allowed him and his partner to make a longer run toward marsh islands in the bay. That gave them access to current-swept points, creek mouths, and shallow structure holding redfish and flounder.
Darren is seeing the same temperature effect farther upriver. His best bream fishing has been in smaller creeks and side branches where the water is cooler than the open Delta. Bass have been slower and smaller for him, but bluegill remain dependable enough to build a good fish fry without having to chase the biggest fish in the system.
The coming weeks should continue shifting the fishery toward fall. Justin expects bass to begin stacking farther back in small creeks as mornings cool, while crappie should become more active in the same backwater systems. Darren is also waiting on flounder and redfish to push farther up into creeks such as Chickasaw Creek as the seasonal transition develops.
Kayak Inshore Tournament Report With Justin Dunnam
Justin Dunnam of Eight Mile Drifter returned to the show after fishing the Saltwater Fanatics tournament, his first major fishing effort since May. Despite the layoff, he and his partner put together a strong mixed bag of redfish, speckled trout, and flounder over the two-day event.
Justin caught a larger redfish around 36 inches that was released, then added a 25.5-inch redfish that fit the tournament better. He also caught seven flounder to take home over the course of the event along with quality speckled trout. At the time he weighed in, his slam was sitting in third place at roughly 10.66 pounds before later weigh-ins pushed the team farther down the standings.
Considering he had not pre-fished and had spent most of the summer away from the water, Justin was pleased with the result. More importantly for anglers listening to the report, the tournament produced several repeatable patterns that should continue working as September progresses.
Marsh Island Redfish and Flounder Pattern
On the first day, Justin and his partner made a longer run to small marsh islands in the bay. Their original expectation was to catch trout around the outside edges, but the better opportunity turned out to be redfish and flounder.
The most important features were current and depth changes. Justin looks closely at the tips of marsh islands where water sweeps past the point, along with creek mouths where moving water intersects a small drop. He says those places almost always deserve a cast because there is often at least one flounder sitting somewhere around the transition.
The fish were not all tournament-size, so the approach was largely a numbers game. Justin kept working similar points and creek mouths, catching smaller flounder until a better fish showed up.
His primary artificial was an Unfair Lures SmackTail, a straight-profile soft minnow with an eel-style tail. He worked it along the bottom with short hops around points, creek mouths, and small depth changes. That simple bottom-contact presentation accounted for much of his first-day success.
Industrial Canal Trout and Early-Morning Structure
Day two produced a different pattern. Justin and his partner began around old concrete docks near the end of an industrial canal, focusing on concrete pilings and the small amount of artificial light around the structure before sunrise.
Bait was concentrated around the lights, and trout were using the same area. Once daylight arrived, Justin noticed that the fish gradually shifted away from the hard structure and moved onto a shallower flat near the mouth of the canal.
That change opened up a topwater and twitch-bait bite. Justin caught a 22-inch speckled trout on a small twitch bait after working around one of the concrete pilings. The fish immediately tried to use the oysters and barnacles around the structure to cut him off, but he was able to pull it clear and get it into the kayak.
For anglers fishing similar industrial canals or dock systems, the takeaway is to pay attention to how the fish reposition after daylight. Bait may start tight to lights and pilings before spreading onto nearby flats once the sun comes up.
Kayak Motors for Tournament Fishing
The tournament also changed Justin’s thinking about powered kayaks. He has traditionally preferred paddling, but his fishing partner was running a kayak-specific electric motor and used it to tow Justin between several fishing areas.
Justin said traveling around five to six miles per hour without having to paddle made a major difference over a two-day event. That is especially important when fighting wind or current, which can dramatically reduce a paddle angler’s speed and leave less energy for fishing once he reaches the destination.
The motor discussed was a Newport kayak trolling motor. Justin liked that the unit could be quickly raised when the kayak moved into shallow mud, grass, or other areas where a motor becomes more of a liability than an advantage.
The primary downside is added weight. For anglers like Justin who routinely drag kayaks across banks, around logjams, and into very shallow backwaters, any motor and battery system has to earn its place on the boat. Modern lithium batteries have made that tradeoff easier than it was with older lead-acid deep-cycle setups.
Fall Bass and Crappie Outlook With Justin Dunnam
After getting his saltwater fix, Justin is ready to return to the river. His next trips will likely focus on crappie and bass in the smaller backwaters and creeks where he spends much of the cooler part of the year.
As mornings continue cooling, he expects bass to begin stacking farther back in small creek systems. Crappie should also become more active, giving kayak anglers the opportunity to work small jigs around the same backwater habitat before switching over to bass.
Justin’s preferred style is simple and mobile: work a small jig through likely crappie water, put together enough fish for a meal, then shift to bass once the pattern or conditions call for it.
Bream, Crappie, and Creek Fishing With Darren Shirah
Darren Shirah of Reel Time Outdoors with Darren says his bass fishing has been relatively slow, so most of his recent effort has shifted toward bream in cooler creek systems.
Darren has been fishing Bay Minette Creek and similar side creeks and branches throughout the Delta. The key is getting far enough into the creek system to find cooler water. He has not found one universal piece of structure holding every fish. Some bream have been on points, some in small pockets, and others in the middle of the creek.
The most consistent factor has been current and depth. Many of the better concentrations have been around deeper pockets with roughly four feet of water, particularly where the current sets up correctly around the available structure.
On one recent trip, Darren caught roughly 30 to 35 bluegill along with a couple of shellcracker. The fish were not giants, but that does not bother him. He would rather take home a reasonable number of medium-sized fish and leave the biggest breeders in the system.
Crappie Starting to Show in the Creeks
Darren has also begun picking up occasional crappie while targeting bream. He has not yet concentrated on them with minnows, but the incidental catches have been enough to convince him that the fish are beginning to show in the creek systems.
His next step is likely to be returning with live minnows and fishing those same areas more intentionally. If the mornings continue to cool, both Darren and Justin expect the crappie bite to become increasingly important through September.
Kayak anglers may have an advantage in some of Darren’s best water. Several of the side creeks become too narrow or shallow for conventional boats, but a kayak can continue farther into those systems and reach fish that receive very little pressure.
Unconventional Bream Baits
Darren’s recent bream fishing also turned into a discussion about how opportunistic sunfish can be. On one trip he used roaches that had gotten into one of his cages and found that the bluegill readily ate them.
That led into a broader discussion of old-school bream baits. Darren has caught sunfish on worms, maggots, insect larvae, small crawfish, tadpoles, small frogs, crickets, and other naturally occurring forage. His basic rule is that bream are opportunistic feeders, and anglers do not always need to buy a specialized bait when the creek bank already provides something the fish recognize as food.
Darren also described an old technique for concentrating bluegill by hanging a perforated bucket containing organic bait above the water. As insect larvae eventually leave the bucket and drop into the creek, fish begin associating the area with an easy food source. It is an unconventional method, but it fits Darren’s broader philosophy of learning what naturally falls or washes into a particular piece of water.
The same principle can apply to catfish. Darren has seen channel cats feeding beneath mulberry trees when ripe fruit drops into the water. For him, the larger lesson is simple: find the food source, and there is a good chance fish will be nearby.
Green Sunfish, Goggle-Eye, and Flathead Bait
The conversation also touched on some of the less-discussed sunfish found around the Delta and nearby tributaries. Nick has caught green sunfish in small creeks along the Eastern Shore, while Darren sees them more frequently in ponds.
Darren considers green sunfish and goggle-eye especially hardy bait for flathead catfish. He occasionally collects them from his ponds when he wants live bait for flathead trips. Their durability is part of the appeal because they tend to remain active longer than more delicate baitfish.
That durability also reinforces why small side creeks can be worth exploring. A creek that looks too small to hold much can contain several species of sunfish along with goggle-eye, crappie, and other fish using isolated holes, shade, current seams, and woody cover.
Early Fall Hog Hunting Around the Delta
The final portion of Darren’s report shifts from fishing to the approaching hunting season. Both Darren and Nick are watching for cooler weather and the first acorn drop, which can concentrate hogs in predictable areas before deer season brings additional hunting pressure.
Darren says there are still plenty of hogs throughout the middle and lower Delta, particularly from around the pipeline south. Those areas become easier to hunt later in the year as grass and other vegetation begin dying back.
For anglers who combine fishing and hog hunting by boat or kayak, the discussion also emphasized planning ahead for field care. In warm weather, the priority should be recovering game efficiently, breaking it down or field dressing it as soon as practical, keeping the meat clean, and getting it chilled promptly rather than continuing to fish for hours after an animal is taken.
What to Expect This Week
Look for the early-morning window to become increasingly comfortable as September moves along. In the creeks, cooler water should continue concentrating bluegill and may begin improving crappie activity. Small side branches, deeper pockets, current seams, and creek mouths are all worth checking, especially in water that is noticeably cooler than the open Delta.
Bass may begin moving farther into backwater creeks as mornings cool. Justin expects this shift to become more obvious over the next few weeks, so kayak anglers should be ready to follow fish into smaller water where conventional boats may have trouble reaching them.
In the lower system and around the bay, redfish, speckled trout, and flounder remain viable targets. For flounder, concentrate on current-swept marsh points, creek mouths, and small depth changes with a bottom-hopping soft plastic such as the Unfair Lures SmackTail. Around industrial canals and docks, fish lights and pilings early, then expand onto adjacent flats as daylight moves bait away from the structure.
