A jubilee is 'an interesting phenomenon that occurs in only two places in the world, Mobile Bay and Tokyo Bay in Japan,' says Scott Bannon, of Outdoor_Alabama (ADCNR)'s Marine Resources Division. But the jubilee doesn't mean you can ignore catch limits.
During a jubilee on Mobile Bay's Eastern Shore, flounder are among the species that move into shallow water and are easily harvested. Blue crabs will migrate to the shoreline, searching for oxygenated water, during a jubilee. Dr. John Borom casts his net during a shrimp jubilee on the Eastern Shore.When the weather gets hot and stagnant, the folks who live on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay go on high alert.
When the easterly breeze starts blowing, this creates a water current that causes the oxygen-poor water to migrate toward the shore. This has a corralling effect, herding the bottom-dwelling species into the shallows. There those species become so lethargic that people can just pick them up.There is no free-for-all to catch or gig as many as you can during the event. The daily creel limits remain in effect no matter how many flounder or shrimp or crabs are vulnerable to the taking.
Because of a significant decline in the flounder population in the previous decade, MRD changed the size and daily creel limit for flounder to five per person per day with a minimum size of 14 inches total length. Several years ago, I was fortunate to be on the “jubilee network” and got a call from my late pal and jubilee veteran Lee Rivenbark.
I’ve also seen jubilees that only affected hardhead catfish, some stranded on the sand to become meals for the seagulls and shorebirds. “Our enforcement staff has some idea of when the jubilees might occur. We just encourage people to follow the rules and regulations. Go have fun with it and enjoy the opportunity to capture some tasty species within the limits. It’s a good day when you can get shrimp, crabs and flounder all in one shot. That’s a pretty good inshore trifecta. I love these quirky, interesting things we have here in Alabama, but it’s a challenge to manage.
Although they can occur at different times, Borom said August and September are the best months to see jubilees.
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