An interesting phenomenon - a combination of weather and water conditions results in a fishing bonanza.
Wouldn't it be terrific if you could plan your vacation around something like this?
Thursday jubilee gives bounty of flounder, crab
Larry Dacus spotted the first signs of a jubilee Wednesday evening when he was working at cutting trees behind a house in Point Clear.
"I saw a large number of crabs near the shore, and that was a good indication that a jubilee was coming," Dacus said as he stood by the water's edge in Point Clear on Thursday morning. "This morning we were just looking for a northeast wind, and when we knew we had one, we came for the jubilee."
Dacus, a Point Clear native who moved to Daphne 10 years ago, arrived at the waterfront before dawn at 5 a.m. with friends and co-workers. Three hours later, he had 37 flounder and about a dozen crabs.
Dozens of other people from Point Clear, Fairhope, Daphne and even construction workers from Dauphin Island and Loxley, arrived at the scene with gigs and nets after being alerted by locals.
A jubilee is a Mobile Bay phenomenon that occurs when certain wind and water conditions deprive the bay of oxygen, forcing fish and crustaceans to move toward the shoreline. Dazed and oxygen-deprived, the bay creatures are usually easily captured.
This is at least the third jubilee this summer, with similar events occurring recently in Fairhope and Daphne.
There are so many things to see and do on Dauphin Island. You only need to give up the need for over-stimulation, to decide to take a relaxing, get away from it all king of vacation to realize all that Dauphin Island has to offer.
Rob Nykvist recently took a few hours to remind us just how beautiful this place is to those of us who call it our vacation home away from home.
This shot of a Morning Glory bloom was taken in late August on Dauphin Island, the height of the summer season.
For more shots like this one and to read a complete recap of Rob's recent tour around Dauphin Island by Kayak you should visit his web site here.
Joe Hilley is a lawyer based in Fairhope, near Moblie. He has recently published his third Mike Connolly novel, titled Electric Beach.
Mike Connolly is an attorney in Mobile attorney. He is a decent man struggling to live a decent life while he recovers from past mistakes. Connolly is a recovering alcoholic who drank himself into a divorce. His character is full of the same faults we encounter every day, which makes Mike Connolly both like-able and believable.
Connolly is hired to defend Perry Braxton, whose wife has disappeared. Braxton is suspected of murdering her, but no body has yet been found. In sleuthing around with his roughneck buddy Hollis Toombs, Connolly finds evidence all right, but it all seems to further implicate his client, not exonerate him.
...
Connolly must fight his alcoholism on a daily basis, one day at a time, and there is a fine and to me convincing scene where he loses. “As he watched, the red and silver label seemed to glow. A man on the label turned his head toward him. Their eyes met. The man smiled. ... The sweet smell of gin wafted up his nose and drifted through his sinus cavities. Taste buds on his tongue came to attention."
The action of this novel moves around Mobile, Dauphin Island, Grand Bay, and even to Cape San Blas in Florida, and familiar settings are always fun. Connolly has the lovesick yearning of Oxford’s Inspector Morse and some of the Don Quixote, knight-in-shining-armor attitude of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee.
The 27th annual Sertoma/Pepsi Family Fishing Rodeo awarded the prize of Master Angler to Kyle Pitt on Sunday. Mr. Pitt placed in three separate categories to win the award at the Sertoma/Pepsi Family Fishing Rodeo at Dauphin Island Marina.
Miranda Black took first place honors for top lady angler. Ms. Black's 40.74 pound black drum was big enough to take third place overall in it's category. Top junior angler honors go to Ben Lilley, whose third-place overall amberjack weighed in at 47.00 pounds.
Master Angler Kyle Pitt took first in speckled trout at 3.77 pounds, second in blackfish at 8.70 and third in white trout at 1.43. Not a bad day of fishing.
Once again fantastic fishing conditions are giving anglers all the fish they can handle off the coast of Dauphin Island. The 27th annual Sertoma/Pepsi Family Fishing Rodeo got off on a record setting pace yesterday as the first day of the tournament drew to a close.
Sertoma opener ends with flurry
DAUPHIN ISLAND -- The anglers in the 27th annual Sertoma/Pepsi Family Fishing Rodeo from a ho-hum Saturday afternoon into a fish-weighing frenzy as many boats lined up at the scales with only minutes left before the 6 p.m. deadline.
And the fish brought in to Dauphin Island Marina at the last minute were worth the wait.
Tyler Kennedy had a 26.09-pound red snapper, which crew mate Bill McRae had a 35.48-pound grouper.
The largest fish of the day was a 67.27-pound amberjack hooked by Michael Pierce.