Southeast
Fly fishing in Alabama
Short answer
Alabama has one trout fishery: the Sipsey Fork below Lewis Smith Dam, where cold water released from the bottom of the reservoir supports stocked rainbow trout year-round. Everywhere else the fly rod is for bass, bream and coastal fish. A licence is required from age 16, and there is no trout stamp.
What makes Alabama different
Alabama has exactly one trout stream, and knowing that saves a great deal of driving. The Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River runs out of the bottom of Lewis Smith Lake at around fifty degrees, and the few miles below the dam are cold enough to hold stocked rainbow trout through an Alabama summer — the only place in the state where that is true. It is stocked monthly, it is small, and it fishes best when the dam is not generating. What the state has in abundance instead is warmwater fly fishing of a quality that trout anglers tend to underrate: shoal bass and redeye bass in clear rocky rivers, bream on poppers in numbers that make a beginner feel like an expert, and a coast full of redfish. Treat Alabama as a bass-on-a-fly-rod state that happens to have one trout river, and it is excellent.
What trout and other fish are in Alabama?
- Rainbow trout
- Stocked into the Sipsey Fork below Lewis Smith Dam, and nowhere else in the state.
- Redeye bass
- Native to the clear rocky rivers of the north. Small, beautiful and a proper fly-rod fish.
- Spotted and largemouth bass
- Everywhere, and the backbone of fly fishing here.
- Bream and shellcracker
- On a popper in May, as good an afternoon as fly fishing offers anywhere.
- Redfish
- The Mobile Bay delta and the coast. Sight-fished and worth a trip on its own.
Where to fly fish in Alabama
- Sipsey Fork
- Below Lewis Smith Dam. The state's only trout water, stocked monthly and fished on the generation schedule.
- Smith Lake tailrace
- The short cold stretch immediately below the dam, where the trout concentrate.
- Cahaba River
- Shoals, lilies and redeye bass, and one of the most biodiverse rivers in North America.
- Little River Canyon
- On Lookout Mountain. Clear water, redeye bass and genuine scenery.
- Mobile-Tensaw Delta
- Enormous backwater country for bass, bream and redfish.
- Mobile Bay
- Redfish and speckled trout on the flats, which is saltwater fly fishing, licence and all.
When to fly fish in Alabama
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| November – March | Peak trout months on the Sipsey. Cool weather, lower generation, and the most comfortable wading of the year. |
| April – May | Bream on poppers, bass on the beds, and the best all-round fly fishing in the state. |
| June – August | Hot. Trout survive only right below the dam. Fish at dawn for bass, or head to the coast. |
| September – October | Cooling water, redfish on the flats, and river bass feeding hard before winter. |
| Year-round | The Sipsey holds trout in every month, which no other Alabama water does. |
Do you need a license to fly fish in Alabama?
Yes. Licenses are issued by Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
| License | Price |
|---|---|
| Resident, annual | $17 |
| Non-resident, annual | $66.25 |
Figures are ADCNR's published rates for an annual freshwater fishing licence. The non-resident figure applies to most states; Louisiana and Mississippi residents pay more under reciprocal agreements. Licences expire on 31 August whatever date you buy them, so a licence bought in July is worth six weeks. Prices change — check with the agency before you buy.
Rules worth knowing before you go
- A freshwater fishing licence is required from age 16. There is no trout stamp — the ordinary licence covers the Sipsey Fork.
- Recreational licences expire on 31 August regardless of when you buy them.
- Saltwater fishing needs a separate licence, and the Mobile Bay flats are saltwater.
- Non-resident licence fees differ for residents of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee under reciprocal agreements.
- Generation at Lewis Smith Dam decides whether the Sipsey is wadeable. Check the release schedule before you drive out.
Regulations change every year and vary water by water. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources rule book is the only authority — this page is a starting point, not a legal reference.
Flies that matter in Alabama
Each of these is a card in the deck, and each has a full page in Our Fly-brary.
Keep reading
- Do I need a fishing license? — how licensing works across states
- How to read water — where trout hold, anywhere
- Best time of day to fly fish — the seasonal logic behind the table above
- Our Fly-brary — every fly in the deck, explained
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