Mo's Landing Park Fishing

Mo's Landing Park is the easy, free way onto the north side of Little Lagoon. The city built it as a public launch on land that once held a store, a private ramp and an RV park, and its docks double as fishing platforms when the boats are out.

• Free fishing from the park's piers and docks
• Calm, clear lagoon water away from the surf
• Speckled trout, redfish, flounder, white trout and croakers
• Restrooms on a deck overlooking the water, picnic shelter and a paved trail beside the road

The park is at 18068 Fort Morgan Road (Highway 180), 1.8 miles west of Highway 59 in Gulf Shores, on the north shore of Little Lagoon. The City of Gulf Shores runs it.

• Hours: dawn to dusk
• Parking: about 25 free spaces for cars and boat trailers, lit at night
• Ramps: a double-lane concrete launch with three docks
• The 5.3-mile paved bike path and walking trail along Fort Morgan Road passes the park
• The park is listed as wheelchair accessible

Little Lagoon holds mostly saltwater fish, and the bite changes with the season more than the spot.

• Spring (Mar-May): trout and redfish on the grass edges as the water warms, croakers on the bottom
• Summer (Jun-Aug): trout and flounder at first light and near dusk, pinfish everywhere in between
• Fall (Sep-Nov): flounder, trout and redfish feed hard; shrimp work better once the pinfish slow down
• Winter (Dec-Feb): a slower pick of trout and redfish in the deeper water on mild afternoons

Keep it light: a 6 1/2 to 7 foot spinning rod with 10 lb line is plenty.

• Speckled trout: a live shrimp or bull minnow under a popping cork, or a soft plastic minnow on a 1/4 oz jig head
• Flounder: a bull minnow on a light Carolina rig, crawled along the bottom near the docks
• Redfish: a gold spoon or scented shrimp imitation along the shoreline
• Croakers and white trout: shrimp on a small hook and a split shot
• Go to minnows or plastics in summer, when pinfish strip shrimp off the hook

The lagoon's water comes and goes through one narrow pass to the Gulf, and the tide is small: usually a single high and low each day, with some days of almost no movement.

• Moving water, even a little, turns the fish on
• Summer mornings and the hour before dark are the times to be here
• In cool weather the bite can last all day
• The lagoon is usually clear; light line and natural colors help
• Check the tide for the Gulf Shores area

The park is calm and family friendly, but it is a working boat launch.

• Give way to boats launching and loading; never block the ramps or cast across them
• Keep children back from the dock edges
• Summer storms move in fast across the lagoon; leave at the first thunder
• Bring sun protection; there is little shade on the docks
• Accessibility: paved parking and a park listed as wheelchair accessible

Facilities are simple and free.

• Restrooms on a deck overlooking the lagoon
• A water faucet
• A picnic shelter
• Two concrete boat ramps and three docks
• Lit, free parking
• No bait for sale; bring live bait from a Gulf Shores shop

• Fish the docks on weekdays, when fewer boats are launching
• Live bull minnows are hard to beat for flounder in the lagoon
• Paddlers launch here for the Little Lagoon water trail, so a kayak lets you reach the grass flats along the north shore
• Little Lagoon Pass Park, on the Gulf side, is the place to go if the fish are running the pass
• Arrive early on summer weekends; the 25 spaces fill quickly

Mo's Landing Park is managed by the City of Gulf Shores.

• The park is open dawn to dusk; launching boats have priority at the ramps and docks
• Little Lagoon is salt water, so the saltwater license applies
• An Alabama saltwater fishing license is required unless you are exempt; Alabama residents who are exempt (and anglers fishing only from a pier that holds a pier license) must still complete the free Saltwater Angler Registration
• Check current Marine Resources Division rules for size, bag and season limits before keeping anything