Powered by RedCircle
This week’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta Fishing Report covers three timely topics for late-winter Delta anglers. Darren Shirah (Real Time Outdoors) shares a practical winter panfish approach using cane poles and handmade quill floats for bream and the early signs of perch moving shallow. Justin Dunham (Eight Mile Drifter) breaks down the local kayak tournament scene on Mobile Bay and the Delta, including how CPR (catch-photo-release) events work and how to correctly measure fish on a bump board. Captain Patric Garmeson (Ugly Fishing) closes with positive news on legislation aimed at banning open-water disposal of dredge material in Mobile Bay, plus what still needs to happen next for habitat recovery.
Conditions Recap
The Delta is settling into a late-winter pattern with stable sunshine after a brief hard freeze that dipped down around the mid-teens. Air temps have been bouncing between cold mornings and comfortable afternoons, and that swing is starting to show up in fish movement. Darren noted perch are beginning to show up shallow in the form of smaller male fish, which is often an early signal the bigger push is close if water temperatures keep creeping upward over the next couple of weeks.
Cold snaps still matter. When it’s truly cold (teens and 20s), the “wait until it warms up” strategy can burn most of your daylight, and fish bites tend to be more subtle across the board. The most consistent approach described this week was slowing down, working the water column carefully, and leaning into low-resistance presentations that let fish eat without feeling the rig.
Winter Bream and Early Perch Signals with Darren Shirah
Darren Shirah (Real Time Outdoors) has been probing the Delta for perch (and what many anglers call crappie) while mixing in winter bream trips when conditions allow. His read right now is that the perch are close to making a noticeable move shallow, especially if the warming trend continues for another week or two. He caught a couple of perch tight to the bank and took that as a clue that the “little males” are showing first and the better movement is coming…