This week on the Alabama Freshwater Fishing Report, we’re starting off down on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta with Peter Jordan of Delta Marine and Outdoors. Peter says this first real stretch of cold weather has settled the Delta nicely. The algae bloom has backed off, the water has cleared up, and the tides have lined up in a way that’s giving anglers a rare window for sight-fishing. Right now, you can ease along the Causeway and visually pick off redfish sliding around the shallows, and if you really want a challenge, Peter explains why this is one of the best times of year to try your hand at sight-fishing buffalo. They’re picky, they’re spooky, and they eat tiny insect-style flies—something Peter says pushed his fly-fishing skills in ways redfish never do.

As bass begin sliding into their late-fall feeding patterns, Peter breaks down why this season is one of the most consistent windows for quality fish in the Delta. With the salt wedge gone and the water mixing freely again, bass are roaming and keying hard on finger mullet. He’s finding fish pushed well into areas he normally considers “saltwater territory” and catching them on articulated flies, glide-style streamer patterns, suspended jerkbaits, and slow topwater presentations. He also talks about how warming mud flats on rising tides act like heating pads that draw stunned baitfish shallow, creating afternoon feeding flurries that reward anglers who sleep in.

Peter closes with a great reminder: fall in the Delta is basically our version of the spring bite everywhere else. The fish are feeding, the conditions are stable, and on any given cast you might hook a largemouth, a redfish, or even the buffalo you’ve been chasing all morning. It’s a special time to be out there.

Next, we check in with with Darren Shirah of Reel Time Outdoors, who’s been splitting his days between fishing, and chasing hogs. Darren loves this stretch of cool weather just as much, and he says the fishing has been better than it’s been all year. He’s been catching a mixed bag of bream, bass, and the occasional crappie on everything from crickets to beetle-spins, with bass beginning to group up on points and deeper pockets as they shift into their winter patterns.

Darren walks through his favorite way to fish his handmade eighth-ounce jigs, which he modeled after the classic Strike King Bitsy series but with a bigger four-aught hook to give him more confidence around wood and brush. He talks about reading the bite, why most people miss jig fish without realizing it, and how the biggest bass often “just pick it up” instead of smashing it. Hook sets are free, he reminds folks, and worth making even when the bite feels funny.

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