Alabama’s Gulf State Park Pier partially reopens Updated 2:00 AM; With surf temperature near 70 degrees this week in Orange Beach, it’s prime time for pier and beach anglers to visit Alabama’s coast. The water is still a little too cool to bring throngs of swimmers to the shore, but it’s just right for pompano, Spanish mackerel, kings, bluefish, redfish, sheepshead and other nearshore species. The arrival of migrating schools of baitfish, which winter off southern Florida and follow the 68 to 70 degree temperature line as it moves north, also draws the predatory gamefish. This spring, there’s the added attraction of the partial reopening of Gulf State Park Fishing Pier, which was damaged by Hurricane Sally last September just as it was about to reopen after being rebuilt due to a hit from an earlier storm.