Three Days with Buffalo Burgers – Orange Beach, Gulf Shores 5-3-2012

May 20, 2012 in Alabama, Deep Sea Fishing, Dolphin, Fishing Report, Grouper, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Sportsman Marina, Tuna, Wahoo

Three day fishing trips aren’t the normal overnight trip if all you want is just Tuna Fish and maybe some Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi). With only six anglers on board we headed out on a Thursday afternoon for a three night, three day trip. It’s not normal to leave that early in the afternoon and then run all night, but when you have three days to do it in, you just don’t need to get in a hurry. We left Orange Beach from Sportsman Marina around four pm and headed south around 10 knots. The seas were between 3-5 ft. with an occasional 4-6 ft. coming out of the south east with a 15-20 knot wind. I know it sounds bad and it was but this was actually better conditions than what they said it was going to be. For the first five miles or so out of the pass it was pretty rough and then it spread out and got a little smaller which made the ride tolerable but not comfortable at all. We just knuckled down and dug in for a slow ride and before you knew it we found ourselves in the dark and the boat wasn’t rocking near as much, Thank the Lord. That was pretty much the worst of the whole trip and it was behind us now. It got nicer and nicer for the next two days till it was as slick as a mill pond with hardly a breeze of air.

We traveled out at night for around eight hour s till we came to one of the offshore rigs that usually hold good fish so we stopped and checked it for some sign of life by Jigging for Tuna under the lights. The rig didn’t show much on the fish finder but we tried it any way and ended up catching one Black Fin Tuna. So, we headed on to the next one further out about 15 miles. Now it’s around 3 am in the morning and everyone is unconscious, except me. Once we got some coffee in us, it was game on! First line out, “Fish On!” We ended up catching a couple of huge Yellow Fin Tuna on live bait and chunk fishing. The fish bit all day pretty steady, our problem was keeping a fresh and lively angler on the business end of the rod, seems that the ride out and the long hours of the night took its toll on the crew. One of the best parts of these trips is the meals on the Big Green Egg. These guys have some buffalo Hamburger and I’d never tried any before. “Delicious!” Being the red meat guy that I am, that was awesome, not to mention the Prime Sirloin another fellow brought from Brazil like they serve at “Fogo de Chao” original restaurants. We ate like kings for three days. Sausage on the grill for breakfast, Buffalo burgers for lunch, rib-eye steaks for dinner, and like a good deckhand does, we had some cookies and cream ice cream for desert that he brought just to make sure we had all of the comforts of home, you know!

We wrapped up our trip with some 4-5 lb Mingo’s and a limit of 40-50 lb Amberjack to go along with a box full of Yellow Fin Tuna, Black Fin Tuna, Skip Jack Tuna and a couple of Wahoo in the 40-50 lb range. Yes, we did catch some huge Gag Grouper which do not open until July 1rst. and we properly ventilated and released them after taking some great pictures. It turned out to be a great trip for everyone, even the couple of guys that didn’t see daylight for about 36 hours. They have already booked a trip in the fall for another overnight Tuna trip.

Team Fishing in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach

April 12, 2012 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Deep Sea Fishing, Fishing Report, Gulf Shores, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Orange Beach, Saltwater Fishing, Team Fishing

Today we had a Six hour trip with 31 people on the Emerald Spirit charter boat. A good trip with a decent amount of people without being crowded. Every morning we have a Safety meeting and a fishing instructional before we pull out of the marina. We cover and discuss things like where the life-saving equipment is located, where the bathrooms are, as well as the dreaded sea sickness and what NOT to do. Part of the speech also covers rod and reel instructions, how to be safe with your equipment. The last part I go over is how we fish as a team to be more efficient. The primary rule is to have fun and enjoy the trip and we all know that an injury or illness is never any fun so we give as much information as possible to safeguard against any trouble. Being well informed is part of a team effort.

Our team of deck hands attends to every need of the customers from parking the car all the way thru the day till they get their cleaned fish in a Ziploc bag with some ice for their cooler. This same group of guys work together on the way out and on the way in every day as a team to get somewhere between 15 and 50 rod and reels ready to fish with new hooks on a new rig every day. On the way in they de-rig and re-rig all the rods we used that day and spray and wipe each one down with an anti corrosion lube so they stay in perfect working order.

Also in order for us to have hooks every day and bait in the freezer and bottom sinkers there has to be a team effort to tell someone in charge that we are low on supplies so that person can make sure supplies are provided. Everything has to work efficiently and smoothly, as a team we get it all together and provide a service that resembles a close knit family.

We want your trip to feel like you were out with good friends and family enjoying the day. As I say in the speech each morning, “Believe me, you’re better off fishing as a team”.

12 Hour Charter Fishing Trip with Frittatas

May 29, 2011 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Amberjack, Deep Sea Fishing, Fish, Fishing Report, Mingo, Orange Beach, Saltwater Fishing

It’s Saturday and we got one of our favorite customers on board for a 12 hour trip of deep water offshore fun. The best part about this trip is that all off the people on the boat are in some way involved with the restaurant business. My friend Marco makes this thing called a “Frittata”. It is delicious! It’s is like a giant omelet with sausage, mushrooms, cheese, potatoes and I don’t know what all else all mixed in a scrambled egg deep dish pan. Awesome!

I know what’s for lunch when they come. As usual, we went out Saturday and started with catching our Mingo’s, Triggers and stuff and moved offshore for some Amberjacks. As we went out farther the current got pretty strong on a few holes we stopped on and I heard some of the other captain’s complaining about how hard it was to hold up on the spot. I started to fear the worst for fishing in the deeper water we were headed for, however I noticed a huge tide line on the horizon a mile or so out in front of me and figured I was going to stop just beyond the line.

To my surprise we passed over the line about 500 yards and rounded up on the hole and I darn near ran slam off of the hole thinking it was like it was on the last hole. Thank goodness it was dead still. Cool! What a relief, I won’t have to fight the current or massive tangles in the deep water. After checking the spot we stopped on and catching some big Mingo’s and several huge Triggerfish we went on out for some Amberjacks.

I wish I could say they just jumped in the boat but that isn’t what happened. We had to work for them. Maybe that current wasn’t moving on top but something had them spooked a little. We caught a few here and there and ended up hitting one really good hole by luck in the end. I know you’re thinking, “He was saving that one till last” but I wasn’t. I’d rather be lucky than good on a day like that. All’s well that ends well. We had a great trip when it was over; I just had to work a little harder.