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Home › Waters › Alabama › Tensaw River
Estuary · Southwest Alabama, Mobile and Baldwin counties, the upper Mobile-Tensaw Delta near Mount Vernon · Alabama

Tensaw River Fishing Guides

The eastern distributary of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, the largest river delta in Alabama, gauged near Mount Vernon for discharge and tidally filtered flow where the tide still reaches upstream.

Low marsh grass and open water on a southeastern tidal river
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Tensaw River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Tensaw River

The Tensaw River is the eastern distributary of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, the vast wetland where the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers join and break apart again into a maze of channels, lakes and cypress swamp before reaching Mobile Bay. It is the largest river delta in the state and one of the most biologically rich in the country. The gauge near Mount Vernon sits in the upper delta and reads both discharge and a tidally filtered discharge series, which is the instrumentation that tells you this is a river where the tide still matters a long way inland.

That tidal reach is the key to fishing here. Water levels at Mount Vernon rise and fall with the Gulf tide even though the water is fresh most of the year, and the direction of flow can reverse on a strong tide against low river discharge. In a dry summer, salt pushes further up the delta and coastal species follow it. After heavy rain upstream the whole system flushes fresh and the fishery shifts back toward bass and catfish. Reading discharge against the tidal series is how you work out which of those two states the delta is in.

Largemouth and spotted bass are the year-round quarry, with crappie stacking in the cypress and the connected lakes in spring. Blue, channel and flathead catfish are abundant and reach very large sizes. Striped and white bass run the main channels. Alligator gar, longnose gar, spotted gar and bowfin are all present, and in a dry year southern flounder, red drum and speckled trout push well up the delta.

This is big, confusing water and easy to get lost in. A chart, a GPS and ideally a guide are all worth having.

This water needs a real photo

The photo at the top of this page is not Tensaw River.

It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.

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  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Tensaw River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Tensaw River cfs

Now: 8,260 cfs, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 02471019, TENSAW RIVER NR MOUNT VERNON, ALA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Mount Vernon - the nearest town to the gauge, with basic services.
Cliffs Landing - a public ramp on the upper delta giving direct access to the Tensaw.
Live Oak Landing - a developed landing and campground in the delta with a ramp.
Stockton - the Baldwin County community east of the river, with fuel, food and lodging.
Meaher State Park - a developed park at the delta mouth with camping and a ramp.
5 Rivers Delta Resource Center - the interpretive centre and paddle launch near Spanish Fort.
Mobile - the city south, with full services, marine supply and a strong guide community.

Seasons

Spring: crappie stack in the cypress and connected lakes, and bass move shallow through the delta grass.
Summer: hot and low, with catfish carrying the fishing and saltwater species pushing further up the delta.
Fall: excellent bass and redfish fishing as the water cools and bait moves, and the most pleasant time to be out.
Winter: high water is common after rain, and fishing shifts to the deeper channels and the protected backwaters.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Tensaw River?

As of Oct 18, 5:30 pm, the USGS gauge TENSAW RIVER NR MOUNT VERNON, ALA reads 8,260 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Tensaw River?

Anglers target Alligator Gar, Black Crappie, Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Bowfin, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Longnose Gar, Red Drum, Redbreast Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, Southern Flounder, Spotted Bass, Spotted Gar, Spotted Seatrout, Striped Bass, White Bass, White Crappie on the Tensaw River in Alabama.

Are there fishing guides on the Tensaw River?

GuidedFloats lists 2 guides and outfitters on the Tensaw River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Tensaw River?

Mount Vernon - the nearest town to the gauge, with basic services. Cliffs Landing - a public ramp on the upper delta giving direct access to the Tensaw. Live Oak Landing - a developed landing and campground in the delta with a ramp. Stockton - the Baldwin County community east of the river, with fuel, food and lodging. Meaher State Park - a developed park at the delta mouth with camping and a ramp. 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center - the interpretive centre and paddle launch near Spanish Fort. Mobile - the city south, with full services, marine supply and a strong guide community.

When is the best time to fish the Tensaw River?

Spring: crappie stack in the cypress and connected lakes, and bass move shallow through the delta grass. Summer: hot and low, with catfish carrying the fishing and saltwater species pushing further up the delta. Fall: excellent bass and redfish fishing as the water cools and bait moves, and the most pleasant time to be out. Winter: high water is common after rain, and fishing shifts to the deeper channels and the protected backwaters.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Tensaw River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Alabama agency site: https://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater-fishing-creel-and-size-limits