The day before Hurricane Isaias came ashore in October, the crew at the Gulf State Park Pier in Gulf Shores pulled up 91 of the heavy Ipe floor panels that sit over the piling groups. The idea was to take stress off the structure if the swells ran 15 to 20 feet overnight. In his Mullet Wrapper column, David "The Pierpounder" Thornton wrote afterward that wave heights got right up to the level that could have knocked those panels loose. The storm track shifted a little east, and the pier reopened a few days later.
So the fall season around Orange Beach came through mostly intact. One rule has changed it since last year, though. The largest fish of the season run past Perdido Pass in October and November, and almost all of them now have to be released. Most of the fish worth keeping this month are smaller winter species, and they bite best between cold fronts.
A few days off, then back to fishing
AL.com reported that Isaias made landfall on a Friday in the Florida Panhandle. Gov. Kay Ivey had ordered non-residents out of the beach communities, and double red flags flew in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. The beaches reopened that Sunday, the mandatory evacuation orders were lifted, and officials described the damage as minimal.
The fishing came back about as fast. Once the pier reopened and the Gulf cleared, Thornton listed Spanish mackerel, big ladyfish, redfish, black drum, huge croakers, mangrove snapper, a few keeper red snapper, white trout, pompano and even a keeper tripletail. The baitfish returned with that week's clear weather.
Then the first real cold front came through. He reported water temperatures in the back bays and the Gulf dropping 5 to 10 degrees or more, which left the water dingy for the rest of that two-week stretch. Even so, a Gulf reading of 78 degrees in late October sat right at the 20-year average for that time of year. As long as fronts come about a week apart, he expects clearer spells in between when fish bite better. November fishing around here mostly means watching that cycle of fronts.
The menhaden set the bite
The migration that drives this time of year is easy to miss because it's a baitfish. Menhaden leave the back bays for the lower bays and head into the Gulf to spend the winter. Predators wait for them at bay mouths and inlets, especially on a falling tide. Thornton calls the runs of bull redfish near Perdido Pass, and off the point near Fort Morgan, "legendary in fishing circles through the months of October into November."
The same push brings schools of redfish chasing menhaden along the longshore sandbar, often close enough for pier anglers to reach. The mackerel don't follow that pattern. Thornton notes that Spanish and king mackerel historically get scarcer every week after the end of October. They might be thick for an hour in one spot and then hard to find again as the water keeps cooling.
The 2025 rule that changed the bull red run
Here's the change. In June 2025, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced that red drum over the 16 to 26 inch slot could no longer be kept. The same update cut the sheepshead bag limit from 10 to 8.
That matters this month because, as Thornton puts it, almost all of the redfish in those Perdido Pass schools are over 26 inches. In past years a lot of them went home in coolers. Now that the exemption is gone, he writes, most will keep swimming for decades and spawning more redfish. A November trip to the pass is still the best fight of the year. It just usually ends with a photo instead of a fillet.
Here's how the main fall and winter species line up under the state's current saltwater size and creel limits:
| Species | Size rule | Daily limit per person | November status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red drum | 16 to 26 inch total length slot | 3 | Open; fish over the slot must be released |
| Spotted seatrout | 15 to 22 inch total length slot | 6, with one over-slot fish allowed | Open |
| Sheepshead | 12 inch minimum fork length | 8 | Open |
| Flounder | See state page | See state page | Closed to recreational harvest all month |
Rules change, and I'm a broker, not a game warden. Treat this post as general information, not legal advice. Before you keep anything, check the current Outdoor Alabama pages, including the state's season closures and notices page.
Why flounder are off limits until December
The flounder closure comes from the same seasonal movement as the redfish run. Female flounder leave the back bays and Little Lagoon in the fall to spend the winter and spawn in the Gulf. Thornton explains that this is why Florida closes flounder harvest from October 15 to December 1 and Alabama closes it for the whole month of November. He credits the closures with the better flounder catches of the past couple of years, since more fish get to spawn.
If you hook one this week at the jetties or off the pier, it goes back too. That's a lot of release fishing for one month. The big reds are over the slot, the flounder are closed, and the mackerel are thinning out.
What you can keep between fronts
The fish you can keep this time of year aren't the headline species. In his late-October outlook, Thornton put redfish inside the slot, pompano, whiting, drum and sheepshead among the late-fall prospects, and he noted more pompano in recent shore reports. The croakers are another option. He describes a push of large croakers, some reaching 16 inches, coming out of Little Lagoon on the storm's flood tides, with more expected now that dredging has reopened the pass. He also warns that croaker fillets carry two or three small ribs that are easy to miss when cleaning.
For shore anglers who don't want to wait on a boat, a few practical points:
- Gulf State Park Fishing and Education Pier. Open 24 hours, with accessible rail fishing. Alabama State Parks lists sheepshead, red drum, pompano, whiting and flounder among the fish caught there depending on the time of year, with staff on site from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. between September 8 and March 1. The park's pier page says weather or maintenance can close it, so check before you drive over.
- The beach itself. The City of Orange Beach allows fishing from the beach. The city's FAQ asks anglers to share space and prohibits chumming for sharks.
- Perdido Pass. The jetties and seawall are where Thornton's reports point land-based anglers for the menhaden-driven bite. Conditions there change with every front.
The launch you'll use this winter, and the one coming later
Boat owners heading to the pass this winter will most likely put in at Boggy Point, at the east end of Marina Road. It's getting its first major refresh in about 20 years. Gulf Coast Media reported in September that the state is putting nearly $3 million in Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act money into the launch. Marine Resources Division Director Kevin Anson described the problem. Tide moving back and forth through Perdido Pass has scoured under the ramps, a piece of one ramp broke off, and the pavers in the parking lot are sinking and cracking. The plan calls for asphalt and new ramps. Anson said design would take a few months and Army Corps of Engineers permitting about a year before construction starts, and the layout will probably look a lot like it does now. So this winter, the launch is the one you already know.
Up Wolf Bay, the city has a living shoreline project at Waterfront Park. Phase one is marsh creation and low riprap breakwaters in front of the Wind and Water Learning Center. Phase two covers about 430 feet at the Coastal Arts Center with marsh, rock sills and breakwaters. According to the City of Orange Beach, the project is funded by the remaining balance of a $12.8 million NOAA grant. In its October 19 update, the city put phase one on the calendar for October 2026 and said phase two could follow in late 2026 or early 2027.
Farther offshore, there's a new spot. On July 1, 2026, the state sank the former riverboat casino Argosy VI about 23 nautical miles south of Orange Beach, in 122 feet of water. The ship is 408 feet long and sits inside the 364-square-mile Dr. Robert (Bob) Shipp Reef Zone, joining more than 400 reef sites, according to the ADCNR announcement. If you plan a run out there on a calm winter day, check the reef fish rules first. Under the state's 2026 schedule, gray triggerfish were closed in January and February, so look up the 2027 dates on the closures page before a winter trip. The state also requires a Reef Fish Endorsement to land reef fish.
I've helped plenty of buyers sort out which condos and homes put them closest to Perdido Pass, a boat launch or a quiet stretch of Wolf Bay. If being near the water you actually fish is part of what you want from a place here, call Robin Roberts and we'll walk the options together, in person or on FaceTime. Contact me.
