The Mobile Bay estuary is one of the most environmentally diverse areas in America. Home to more than 125 species of fish, things like fishing and seafood are second nature to those of us that call Mobile Bay our home.
If you want to get more in touch with the bay or just want to have some fun outside this summer, check out these local activities that will have you around fish of all shapes and sizes.
Fishing
- People travel from the world over to fish on the Gulf of Mexico and in Mobile Bay. With the largest fishing tournament in the world done off of Dauphin Island the Alabama deep sea fishing rodeo, fishing is part of our DNA. Everyone who fishes has their own special place to do it, but if you’re just visiting Mobile or are a first timer, there are plenty of places where you can rent some equipment and join the fun like the Gulf State Pier. If you come to the Eastern Shore on the right days of the summer, you may just find the fish jumping on to the shore! This phenomenon is called Jubilee and it only happens in two places in the world: Mobile Bay and Tokyo Bay. If you have never been, now is the perfect time to go and try your hand at fishing for Gulf seafood.
Good Seafood Restaurants
- If you would rather leave catching the fish to the pros then you can connect to the bay by eating delicious gulf seafood. There are tons of options all over Mobile and Baldwin County that serve fresh gulf seafood year round. Wintzell's Oyster House has been serving oysters fried, stewed and nude for locals for generations and every oyster is better than the last one. If you want something a little more upscale, Dauphin’s is the way to go. Closer to the Eastern Shore, you can check out R&R Seafood and Felix’s Fish Camp to enjoy watching the sunset over Mobile Bay.
Sightseeing Fish
- Take the kids out this summer and check out the Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s Estuarium. The Estuarium showcases key habitats of coastal Alabama in it’s 10,000 square foot exhibit hall. With 31 aquariums holding over 100 species of sea life there is no shortage of things to see there. They even have a 7000-gallon stingray touch pool with a live webcam you can see on their website. Open till 6 everyday, tickets for kids and students is 6 dollars while adult tickets are 11. If you have been before, try to swing by again when they have their boardwalk talks or large tank feeding times.
Helping the Fish
- One last way to engage is our aquatic friends is to volunteer with local environmental non-profits. Despite our best efforts, we are not the best neighbors to local sea life, but we can help them out by joining local environmental causes. A good example would be the biannual Mobile Baykeeper apple snail hunt. Apple snails are an invasive species to mobile that compete with native wildlife for food. To ensure our native species will be here for the next generation volunteers help remove apple snails from our environment. To learn more about Baykeeper and other ways you can help our local environment check out their website.
