Bass fishing is tough across the central Gulf Coast right now due to fluctuating water conditions and the fact the fish are in post-spawn mode, which tends to make them bite less anyway. Even the normally reliable bass bite in shallow bays along the Mobile Bay Causeway will slow if stout northerly winds forecast to begin blowing over the weekend push out too much water. (Jeff Dute/jdute@al.com) MOBILE, Alabama -- Fishermen on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and the Pascagoula River basin are still dealing with the impacts of high, muddy rivers while the inshore fishing for speckled trout in Mobile Bay, Mississippi Sound and along the barrier islands is very good.
The Tombigbee, Alabama, Mobile and Pascagoula rivers are all near flood stage. While each is forecast to begin or continue falling, those predictions do not include the heavy rain totals associated with a weak cold front expected to pass across the central Gulf Coast beginning Friday afternoon and extending through Sunday morning.
In some locations in southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama, rainfall could be as high as 2 inches per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
As happened last weekend, stout northerly winds between 15 and 20 mph are expected in the front's wake. The wind is not expected to calm until Wednesday.
BASS IN THE WOODS
Tournament bass fisherman Keith Dees said, with water already flowing through the woods north of McReynolds Lake on the Delta, getting to the fish is difficult.
Complicating matters, Dees said is his belief that bass are in post-spawn mode, a phase when they're always harder to catch.
Where the flood water begins spreading out amid marsh terrain, he said bass fishermen should still be able to catch fish. Fishing the grass in the shallow bays along the Mobile Bay Causeway could provide a bass-fishing oasis, but only if the north wind doesn't blow out the water, which is exactly what happened last weekend, Dees said.
Fishermen need several inches of water above the grass to be successful in those bays. If you can see the grass tops floating on the surface, it's almost unfishable.
"If the water will ever stabilize, it'll be good," he said.
SPECK FISHERMEN CATCH A BREAK
Luckily for inshore fishermen, local guide Bobby Abruscato said speckled trout have swarmed structure in deep and shallow water across lower Mobile Bay and throughout Mississippi Sound.
During a day-long scouting trip during which he fished nearly two-dozen spots, local inshore guide Bobby Abruscato found speckled trout on structure in water deep and shallow. (Jeff Dute/jdute@al.com) Abruscato made a run-and-gun scouting trip Wednesday in which he fished nearly two-dozen spots from platforms east of the Mobile Ship Channel in the bay to the Mississippi state line and caught specks at each stop.
Most of the spots are what he called "community spots," but he also fished several locations where he "goes to hide."
He would fish each spot just enough long enough to discover if specks were there before moving on.
He caught 20 fish on 30 casts with topwater baits on the Shoals near the Dauphin Island Bridge. Abruscato said the fish would have also likely eaten mullet-imitation hard plugs or live shrimp under a popping cork.
"It's no secret that there are going to be fish on the Shoals in May," he said. "It's like saying that there are going to be trout in the Delta in November and December or there's going to be bull reds on Dixey Bar in spring and fall."
Specks ate live shrimp under slip corks on the deep-water platforms in the bay and sunk shrimp boats in the Sound. Tight-lined live shrimp or plastic grubs rigged on jigheads would also probably been effective.
The water across the southern zone was green, but had a "sandy" look to it that Abruscato associated more with water stirring caused by wind and wave action more than freshwater influx from the Delta.
He didn't catch any trophy specks, but Abruscato said the health of the stock was apparent in the sheer number of 6- to 18-month-old fish he caught.
"That tells me more about the health of the whole thing than just catching a few big fish here and there," he said.
He didn't fish the bays east and west of Bayou La Batre because those shallow, shell-lined reefs in those areas have been loaded with specks since before the April 26 full moon.
Speck fishing was outstanding during the week leading up to and just after that full moon and Abruscato expects the same thing to happen ahead of the next bright moon on May 24.
"They were eating the rod tips off leading up to the April full moon and that week ahead of the May full moon should be even better," he said.
POST-FRONT GULF STATE PARK PIER BITE SHOULD IMPROVE
Down at the Gulf State Park Pier, Donna Vedros said fishermen were catching Spanish mackerel and flounder. One king mackerel had also been landed.
Vedros said one lucky fisherman brought a nice cobia over the rails on Wednesday.
The water is clearing, and Vedros said the north wind forecast to blow after the cold front passes through the area this weekend should help to clean it up even more.
There is plenty of finfish bait swimming around the pilings and the pier bait shop is stocked with live shrimp and bull minnows.
The pier store also sells frozen shrimp, cigar minnows and squid.
Ben Raines tried to dive on the Three Mile Barge Wednesday, but said visibility was only a couple of feet. Water clarity worsens, especially to the west, as the tide begins falling and muddy, freshwater dumps out of the back bays through Perdido Pass, he said.
Could the future quality of New Zealand's world-famous freshwater fishing be under threat? The Chief Executive of Fish and Game New Zealand seems to believe so and has made a plea to local anglers to send comments on proposed changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and also the Freshwater Reform Proposals before the submittal deadlines of April 2nd and 8th 2013.
Freshwater fishing's economic impact has grown to over $500 million dollars a year in direct spending, and this economic activity is spread across all regions of the province.
"Angling is an increasingly important industry in the province - one that has remained strong despite the economic slowdown in 2008," says Don Peterson, President, Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC. "It's positive news for the province as a whole. A significant number of BC anglers live in urban areas and fish in rural areas, which represents a transfer of economic activity from urban to rural."
Experience the best nature has to offer on both land and waterTaking full advantage of Nintendo's latest console, the Wii U versions of Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 and Rapala Pro Bass Fishing are now available for $49.99 and $39.99 respectively, Activision Publishing announced. In Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013, you will encounter the world's fiercest predators in this brand new hunting experience. You must remain alert as the all-new, advanced Prowler AI system makes for harder and smarter animal targets that have the ability to form pack hierarchies, coordinate complex group tactics and take advantage of the surroundings to set up deadly ambushes. In the new multiplayer Maneater Mode, you can combine your TV screen and Wii Remote with the Wii U Gamepad and invite a friend to join you on your hunt as you face oncoming waves of deadly marauders. 
Jack Wingate, to be inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame, was a legend on Lake Seminole. He appeared several times in Florida Sportsman Magazine, here with a white bass in the Oct. 1990 issue. Photo by Bob Burgess.