Baldwin County is one of two coastal counties in Alabama and has an area of approximately 1,655 square miles entirely surrounded by water except for a seventeen-mile stretch along its northeastern border. Baldwin County has approximately 300,000 acres of wetlands and includes 1,800 miles of rivers and streams. There are more than 300 species of saltwater fish and numerous species of freshwater fish, such as trout and bass.

With such an abundance of fish and areas to go fishing, it’s no wonder people can be seen most every day on boats, at bridges, docks and even on the sides of roads that run along the water’s edge enjoying time fishing.

While out and about, I ran across a few people enjoying the waters of our area. The first people I ran into were Baron Benjamin, from Magnolia Springs and Tray Tippit, from Seminary, Mississippi. Baron said Tray was visiting for the week and wanted to go fishing, so he took him to the “freshwater” side of Hwy 98 at Fish River. Although they had not caught any fish, they were not discouraged and were enjoying spending time together trying.

I then navigated my car across the road to the “saltwater” side, where I was met by a boat pulling up to the docks. In the boat was Summerdale resident Billy Lambert and his son Todd, who lives in Mobile. While visiting with the two men, I learned they had been out enjoying the first trip on their new boat. And pulling up right behind them was Mitch Glass. Mitch, who is from Satsuma, had been trying out a boat that he may decide to purchase. I guess it was a good day for new boats!

Around the corner, down at the fishing dock, was a family spending the day fishing and having fun. Although it was early evening, it was still pretty hot out in the sun, so Vicky Breedlove and Susan Dolihite were relaxed under the shade watching everyone fish...pretty good idea I thought! Down at the dock was Robert Breedlove, Kimberly Hataway, Joseph Breedlove, Melody Breedlove and Lanie Benton. I watched as nets were cast and poles were set and visited with the family to lean they were all from Magnolia Springs, except Susan, who was visiting from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I really enjoyed visiting with everyone and was reminded of what a wonderful area we live in.