Finding the Ghost Trout of Alabama’s Mobile
Bay
Fish Artificial
 Editor’s
Note: Most visitors to Alabama’s Gulf Coast fill
their ice chests with speckled trout, redfish and flounder
during the spring, summer and fall. Five and 6-pound
trout come frequently from the artificial reefs, numerous
oyster reefs and oil rigs in Mobile Bay. But when Jack
Frost comes calling, he seems to cause the trout in
the bay to vanish like ghosts. Only the locals and some
veteran fishermen know the secrets, which they pass
down from generation to generation, to finding these
trout that take a northern wintertime vacation to warmer
waters and more-abundant food. What we’ve learned
from these ghost-like trout in Mobile Bay may help you
find where cold-weather trout stay in secluded hot spots
all along the Upper Gulf Coast.
“Wintertime is the one time of the year that
we consistently catch more speckled trout on artificial
lures than we do on live bait,” Captain Gary Davis
of Foley, Alabama, who’s guided and fished for
40 years on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, says. Even though
the weather’s cold, top-water action for speckled
trout heats up the first two hours of daylight. Southern
fishermen, some of the most-traditional anglers in the
world, enjoy fishing with lures that have caught fish
for years. I know outdoorsmen who often buy two or three
dozen of lures they particularly like and hide those
lures and not let anyone know of their existence –
only sneaking them out to fish when no one but the immediate
family’s in the boat with them. Many sportsmen
treat old lures that have continued to catch speckled
trout as
family heirlooms and pass them down from generation
to generation. Avid trout anglers feel that although
bait companies bring out new lures and discontinue old
lures almost every year, if a lure catches speckled
trout today, it will catch speckled trout 20 years from
now.
That’s why many Alabama Coast fishermen use the
Heddon Vamp, the wooden version of what Heddon converted
to plastic in 1932 that became known as the Heddon Vamp
Spook. You can’t buy these baits anymore, especially
not the old wooden ones that walk the dog and call speckled
trout up from their deep-water river haunts. Throughout
the years, the bone-colored Vamp with the red head has
caught the most specks and still does today. To s olve
the problem of running out of Vamps, several fishermen
around Mobile Bay hand-carve these old-style lures from
wooden mop and broom handles and then hand-paint them.
“Even today, you still can buy reproductions of
the Vamp in Foley and Gulf Shores, Alabama,” Davis
mentions. “On a cold morning, you can throw the
Vamp, the She Dog, the Zara Spook or the Spike-It soft-plastic
jerkbaits out, work the lures on top of the water and
pull speckled trout up from those deep holes.”
When the mornings top-water fishing ends the trout
move back down into the deep holes. You have to fish
for those deep-hole trout with: live shrimp, by putting
a shot lead up the line about 1 foot above the hook
to get the bait down; jigs; grubs; the D.O.A. Shrimp;
the Berkley Gulp!; and/or the Fin-S grubs.
When planning a trip, check out Tidewater Fishing Service
(Captain Gary Davis), Foley, AL 36535, (251) 943-6298
and www.gulfshores.com,
1-800-745-7263.
Tomorrow: Enjoy Hot Fishing
in Cold Weather
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