Editor’s Note: Captain Dennis Treigle, the captain of “Find Me Fishing,” based at Zeke’s Landing Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama, is an inshore and near-shore fisherman.





At this time of year, we’ll go inshore on calm days and targeting big, bull redfish. We fish both the Alabama and the Florida coastal waters. Right now, we’re finding big redfish running about 4 yards off the beaches that weigh from 15- to 35-pounds each. However, there are never many people fishing for reds at this time of year. In the last few weeks, the redfish have been on-fire. Once you find them, catching them is easy. We can catch take reds through February, but November and December are the best months for them. We look for the birds diving on bait to pinpoint the concentrations of red fish.

In November, I went out with four fishing buddies. We caught and released more than 150-giant redfish from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. That’s a phenomenal catch for only five people. In Florida waters, these fish are all catch and release, but in Alabama waters, you can keep one big red. We encourage everyone to release these big bulls back into the water. They’re not as good to eat as the other redfish, and these fish are our breeders fish that have moved in to breed at this time of year. These giant reds are easy and fun to catch, but there’s really no reason to keep them. When you find these fish, they’ll eat almost any bait you put in the water.

Where to Bet on Speckled Trout

If you fish with a charter-boat captain who has a license for both Alabama and Florida waters, you can follow the schools up and down the beach. At this time of year, as the water cools, the speckled trout and the smaller redfish begin to move into the mouths of the coastal rivers. As the weather cools down, the speckled trout will move into the deep holes of the river. Most people catch specks on live bait and lures like the Zara Spook and the MirrOlure Top Dog and She Dog. Any floating bait you can add a walking-the-dog type of action to will produce speckled trout this month.

I prefer to fish around the Lillian Bridge, Bayou Texar and deep holes and docks around the Intercoastal Canal. The Fish River and the Bon Secour River have been productive places for speckled trout this month, and you can’t beat Mobile Bay at this time of year, especially around the mouths of rivers.

What About Flounder Fishing

Finding live bait for flounder fishing is difficult. The flounder have been concentrating in Perdido Pass and on the shallow wrecks along the beach. In December, they’ll start moving toward the river mouths. Lots of guys are gigging for flounder in shallow water and doing really well at night. The inshore and near-shore fishing along Alabama’s Gulf Coast really will be productive during December.

The Gulf Coast region will have plenty of warm days until New Year’s, so when fishing the backshore areas, you don’t have to be nearly as concerned about wind and weather conditions. On the Upper Gulf Coast, anglers can get fish inshore just about every day of the year. If you want string-stretching, rod-bending action to remember for a lifetime, come down, and catch these big redfish with us. You won’t believe how big the fish are and how many you can catch.

To fish with Dennis Treigle, call (850) 221-7732, or email fmfcharters@cox.net.