Rolston Park, Coden Fishing

Rolston Park is a quiet waterfront park in Coden with a short public pier over Portersville Bay, one of the few places left around Bayou La Batre where you can fish from the shore. Locals come for an evening cast, a picnic or the sunset.

• The Craig Bryant Memorial Pier, about 100 feet long, with a grant in hand to double it
• Speckled trout, white trout, croaker and redfish in shallow sound water
• Covered gazebos with picnic benches, a playground and paved paths
• Owned and looked after by the City of Bayou La Batre

The park is at 7880 Coden Belt Road in Coden, on the shore of Portersville Bay just east of Bayou La Batre. The land belongs to the City of Bayou La Batre, which runs it as a city park even though Coden itself is unincorporated.

• Getting there: follow Coden Belt Road along the waterfront; the park is on the inland side and the pier stands across the road on the bay
• Entry: the city's park page lists no entry fee
• Parking: the city does not describe the parking, so use only marked or obvious spaces and keep the road clear
• The walk: winding sidewalks lead through the park toward the pier
• Hours: not published; read the signs at the entrance

Portersville Bay is shallow, sheltered and usually stained, so fish drift in and out with the seasons and the wind.

• Spring (Mar-May): sheepshead and black drum around the pilings early, then speckled and white trout as the water warms
• Summer (Jun-Aug): croaker and white trout on bottom baits, with trout feeding at first and last light
• Fall (Sep-Nov): the best months, with trout and redfish feeding hard and flounder working toward the passes
• Winter (Dec-Feb): slow; black drum and sheepshead on mild afternoons between cold fronts

Light to medium spinning gear with 10 lb line is plenty off a pier this size; a long-handled landing net helps with a redfish or a heavy drum.

• Speckled trout: a live shrimp under a popping cork, or a 1/4 oz jig with a soft plastic swum close to the bottom
• White trout and croaker: a two-hook drop rig baited with small pieces of fresh shrimp
• Redfish and black drum: a Carolina rig with cut mullet, half a blue crab or a whole dead shrimp, cast as far out as you can
• Sheepshead: fiddler crabs or shrimp on a short leader, fished tight to the pilings
• Flounder: a mud minnow dragged slowly over the bottom in the fall
• Bring your own bait; none is sold at the park

Like the rest of the Mississippi Sound, this shore sees a single high and a single low on most days, rarely more than a foot or two apart, with a few days every two weeks when the water hardly moves. The Dauphin Island area predictions are the nearest guide.

• Fish while the water is moving; a stalled tide usually means a slow bite
• A north wind behind a cold front blows water out of the bay and leaves the inshore end shallow, so move to the end of the pier
• Steady south winds push water in and can muddy it
• After heavy rain upstate the bay freshens, and trout slide toward the islands and passes
• Calm mornings and evenings are best in the summer heat

This is a calm family park, but the pier is short and open, with no shelter on the deck.

• Head for the gazebos or your car at the first rumble of thunder
• Coden Belt Road runs between the park and the pier, so cross with care and watch children closely on the pier and along the waterline
• Give other anglers room when the pier is crowded
• Handle catfish carefully; their spines cause painful wounds
• Bring water, a hat and sun protection
• Access: paved sidewalks wind through the park, and one of the portable toilets is ADA compliant; check that the pier itself suits your needs before you set up

The park is set up for picnics and strolls as much as for fishing.

• The Craig Bryant Memorial Pier
• Covered gazebos with picnic benches
• Playground equipment for children
• Winding sidewalks for a walk along the bay
• Portable toilets, including one ADA-compliant unit
• No bait, tackle, food or lighting listed, so bring what you need

• The pier is short, so the deepest water is at its end; claim a place there early
• Sunset brings photographers, families and birdwatchers as well as anglers, so a weekday morning is quieter
• Shore fishing around Bayou La Batre is scarce while the city docks are closed for rebuilding, which keeps this pier busy
• Live shrimp from a bait shop on the way down will outfish frozen bait for trout
• The free county pier at Cedar Point, a short drive east, is the nearest public pier when this one is full
• Watch for news of the pier extension, which will put anglers over deeper water

Rolston Park is a City of Bayou La Batre park. The city does not publish fishing rules for the pier, so read the posted signs before you start.

• Hours are not published; follow the signs at the park
• Share the pier and keep the walkway clear
• 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. Under-16s are exempt.
• Check current Marine Resources Division rules for size, bag and season limits before keeping anything