Sepulga River

Fish and Fishing in the Sepulga River of South Alabama

The Sepulga River is the English version of the Indian name Sucka Pulga, which means Hog’s Creek. A long coastal river with headwaters beginning in Lowndes County near the town of Fort Deposit, the Sepulga River watershed covers 1,050 square miles across seven Alabama counties in the south central portions of the Coastal Plain. Persimmon Creek and Pigeon Creek are the major tributaries.  The Sepulga River enters the Conecuh River about seven miles south of the Brooklyn community at the border of Escambia and Conecuh counties.

The Sepulga River itself is quite narrow in width, and is more like a creek than a river. Despite its small size, this river has some Class I rapids easily run in a small jon boat or canoe. The water is a fairly clean and clear, with a watershed that is over 97% forested, making it one of the best protected river systems in Alabama. Folks out for a scenic day of fishing will be equally impressed with the lush greenery lining the banks. The river  winds through deeply cut sandstone banks lined with dogwoods, magnolias, and scrub pines mixed with ferns that make for a beautiful river float fishing trip unique to south Alabama.

Anglers will find that the fishing is good, but sometimes challenging, due to the very clear, clean water typical of this river. The habitat changes quite a bit from slow, deep waters with sandy bottoms to brisk flows across rocky cobbles and boulders. Fish species that you may expect to catch include largemouth bass, spotted bass, bluegill, warmouth, flier, and shadow bass. Fish tend to be scrappy. Most can be caught on light tackle with a variety of small artificial lures such as beetle spins, roostertails, and curly-tail jigs. Small crawfish and wiggler worms make excellent live bait used on a small float and very light line.

Links (disclaimer):

Fishing license information may be found at: Licenses. Instant licensing is available via Internet (2% fee) or telephone 1-888-848-6887 ($3.95 fee). Fishing licenses may also be purchased at local bait and tackle stores and county probate offices.  Youth age 15 and younger fish for free. Alabama residents age 65 or older are not required to purchase a fishing license.
Possession and creel limits for Alabama public waters are listed at: Creel Limits 

The U.S. Geological Survey provides gage heights and estimated flow for the Sepulga River near the community of McKenzie, http://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/uv/?site_no=02373000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060.

Additional information on this river can be found from the Conecuh-Sepulga Watershed Alliance (P.O. Box 2792, Brooklyn, AL 36429; 251-867-2445; www.ag.auburn.edu/aux/grassroots/cswa/).

The entire Sepulga River (or Creek) in Butler, Conecuh, Covington and Escambia counties has been determined or declared navigable, which means the bottom of the stream is public land. "Sepulgah Creek from the mouth Bottle Creek in Conecuh County up to the mouth of Pigeon Creek" was declared navigable by the Alabama Legislature on December 30, 1823. The entire East Sepulga River and West Sepulga River in Conecuh County were determined to be navigable.

The Alabama Department of Public Health issued a fish consumption advisory, www.adph.org, under "News" or "A-Z Contents" sub-directory "Fish Consumption Advisories."

The Alabama Water Watch has published a report on this water.

For more information on the upper and eastern portions (Butler, Crenshaw, Covington counties) of the Sepulga River, please contact the District IV Fisheries Office (334-347-9467 or ken.weathers@dcnr.alabama.gov). For information on the lower (Monroe, Conecuh, Escambia counties) portion of the river, please contact the District V Fisheries Office (251-626-5153 or dave.armstrong@dcnr.alabama.gov).

"It shall be unlawful to intentionally stock or release any fish, mussel, snail, crayfish or their embryos including bait fish into the public waters of Alabama under the jurisdiction of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries as provided in Rule 220-2-.42 except those waters from which it came without the written permission of a designated employee of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources authorized by the Director of the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries to issue such permit. The provisions of this rule shall not apply to the incidental release of bait into the water during the normal process of fishing."

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Prepared by: Fisheries Section, Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. This site is presented for information only the Fisheries Section cannot be responsible for the quality of information or services offered through linked sites, disclaimer. To have your site included, send your URL, email address, or telephone number to the Fisheries Web Master, doug.darr@dcnr.alabama.gov. The Fisheries Section reserves the right to select sites based on relevant and appropriate content of interest to our viewers. If you discover errors in the content or links of this page, please contact Doug Darr. Thank you.