Wounded Warriors Charter Fishing Trip

February 23, 2012 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Bull Shark, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Orange Beach, Saltwater Fishing, Wahoo, Wounded Warriors Project
Wounded Warrior Deep Sea Fishing Trip

Wounded Warrior Deep Sea Fishing Trip

We were fortunate enough this year to be asked to participate in the effort to give back to our soldiers who have been injured, and proudly said yes to the opportunity to take a few out for an outstanding day of deep sea fishing on the Emerald Spirit. Our day started like all the others; get down to the boat early and catch live bait, make sure all of the tackle was ready as well as the boat. The Crew is ready all the time, especially today because they know how important this is to everyone involved. They also know I was going to go to some of my very best holes in the Gulf.

We had a couple of sponsors pay for the Wounded Warrior Project to bring these guys out with us today. It is this kind of dedication as well as the dedication of our troops that really got to me so before we ever left the dock in Orange Beach I gathered everybody in the cabin for our safety meeting and proceeded to share with them my plans for the day. I explained how we normally fish and how I wanted to fish today, which is out of our norm somewhat. I call it “Hero or Zero” fishing. We basically do what you never do and that is go to your poor holes or ones that just don’t have much on them. Then we use the biggest bait you’ve ever seen, so big it would choke your average monster fish. I know, sounds crazy, Huh?

The way I see it, you will probably bomb out and not get a bite at all, BUT IF YOU DO! OH YEAH! Well we didn’t do too well in the Hero or Zero department so we just went to some of my 5 year old virgin fishing holes where the 25 pounders swim around on top and bite like a bass hitting a June bug! We didn’t keep anything less that around 20 pounds or so, and the water was real muddy. We did put out the drift line and finally got a bite, Wow, a 53 pound Wahoo. We also caught an 8 foot Bull Shark and everyone got to pull on him a while. Once everyone was tired I was told to take it in.

As we headed for home one of the warriors of the trip who had fished his tail off all day turned to me and said, “I’m sore all over!” and I thought, what a good job I did putting them on some big fish. Then I talked to one of the sponsors and told him what the soldier said and he explained to me, “You know that 80 % of his bones in his chest, shoulders, arms and back were broken when an IUD blew him up?” All I could say was Oh my God! You would have never known, he fished like he never had a problem and will most likely be stoved up for a week or so getting over the trip, yet all of the guys thanked me personally and that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Hopefully, we can do this again for our veterans. Thank you for coming!

Deep Water Delight

May 6, 2011 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fish, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Orange Beach

Tuna Fishing, Grouper, Scamp, Mahi Mahi, and fish galore from the Emerald Spirit Fishing Charter with Action Charter ServiceOnce again we are riding the Emerald Spirit out for a day of fishing in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. We had 10 hours to get it done in the same fashion we usually have 12. The first stop was on the rocks offshore for some Vermillion Snapper and white Snapper with the chance of getting some other good bait fish with them. The first place I stopped was on fire. We caught real nice Mingos and whites one and two at a time. Before you knew it we had limited out for the Vermillion Snapper at 10 per person. After that we decided to go a little deeper and try some Amberjacks and maybe a Scamp or two. I traveled about 3 or 4 miles, just enough time to let everybody get something to drink and let the deck hands regroup for the jacks with heavier tackle. We arrived to the hole and prepared to drop four lines at a time. You are allowed to keep one fish per person so with seven anglers I figured it wouldn’t be long for each person to tag out and pass the rod off to the next guy. Boy do I love it when a plan comes together. We dropped four baits and immediately were on with four big Jacks. We tagged out with the rods to the next anglers as the fish came in and in no time we were done, limited out.

They brought up Yellow-edge Grouper, Snowy Grouper, Scamp and to my huge surprise some of the most Monster-size Mingos we’ve ever caught. No kidding. They were 5-6 pounds a piece.

So I told them to grab the two hook bottom rigs and drop them for some Scamp right there on the same spot. Sure enough we caught a few but it wasn’t what I knew we could do so we moved to our third hole of the day which was even deeper than the last, now we are in 290 – 310 feet of water.  As I rode down to the next spot I was remembering the last time we fished there last season and it dawned on me that we caught some deep water Grouper there. I told the deck hands to get ready for some of those and we’ll try it. When we got there every one was baited up and ready to drop. You have to be ready to drop when I tell you, especially in the deeper water like this because it’s sort of like precision bombing, everybody has to go down at the same time to avoid tangles and to assure you hit the target. We dropped and it didn’t take long to see we hit the target good. Everyone got fish on and I knew we made the right decision. They brought up Yellow-edge Grouper, Snowy Grouper, Scamp and to my huge surprise some of the most Monster-size Mingos we’ve ever caught. No kidding. They were 5-6 pounds a piece. It was a good thing the deck hands used up some of the other b-liners we had for live bait earlier because I would have died to have to throw those back. That’s when I realized it was time to go home. Three stops and we put the mash down on them. It doesn’t get any better. I can’t wait till next week when we go on our first overnight Tuna trip. The reports are great offshore and there are plenty of nice fish, we’ll check it out.

Cobia Fishing Is Upon Us

April 26, 2011 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Cobia, Fish, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Orange Beach, Perdido Pass

Cobia Fishing in Orange Beach, AlabamaWe are in the beginning of Cobia season and have been fishing for them. Cobias are a migratory fish that come through our area usually April and May. They are fished for by sight where you ride in a tower and look for them and then throw a lure or live bait over to catch them. They are very good to eat and usually pretty good size.

The Emerald Spirit was getting some improvements and out of the water for 52 days painting the bottom and re-doing the decks. We also put new railing all around the boat with rod holders and a place for your weights. It looks awesome and we’ll have some photos up shortly. As soon as we got in the water we did a small test run out for some Cobia for a couple of hours and saw 2 Cobia, both with other things on there mind. Then we got to go out the other day on a one-day tournament to benefit Capt. Mo Schavers who owns Mo Fishin Bait and Tackle Shop in Orange Beach, Alabama, There was a one-day tournament with half of the money generated going towards some hospital bills he had incurred so we gladly entered.

We left the dock around 6:00 a.m. and returned around 6:00 p.m. We left out of Terry Cove, through the Orange Beach Pass and fished all the way to the other side of Pensacola Beach, Florida’s fishing pier. (Yep, we’re licensed in both Alabama and Florida so we can go that way!) On the way down there we saw 2 fish that were real nervous and wouldn’t bite. Then a couple of hours later we saw another fish who was a little more interested than the first two but still not hungry. Finally we saw a good fish around 45 or 50 pounds and he was more interested in our baits than all of the other but still wouldn’t eat any thing we threw at him. We did see another fish later, but he was like the rest, not interested.

The weather was great, the sun was popping in and out of the clouds most of the day but we had a great time. I hear there are a bunch more Cobia headed this way and we will get to see soon. First we have a little getting ready for our annual United States Coast Guard (USCG) Inspection. After that you’ll be hearing from us again, hopefully with a better report about how many we put in the box.

Cool Spring Changes

March 16, 2010 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico

Once again it’s time to dust off the tackle box, clean up our rod and reels, check the line on the spools and take inventory of hooks, swivels, leader material and sinkers. Before you know it summer will be here with all of the wonder of this year’s season. We are getting ready for our 2010 fishing season and planning on all the stuff we have to get done for our annual coast guard inspections and making sure that every thing else is ready to go.

Just in the middle of working on this we got a phone call to run a trip with 45 people from the Navy ROTC for a 4 hour trip. Needless to say, we were glad to go out for our first trip of the season even though it was a bit cool. The temperature was in the mid 50’s in the morning but warmed right up to a 67 or 68 during the day. With the wind blowing out of the northwest around 15 to 20 knots the clear sky’s and warm sunshine was a welcome sight. We left the dock around 11:30 and returned around 3:45, your average 4 hour trip. We traveled for around 45 minutes before we came to our first fishing spot. We used our basic two hook rig with a #4 circle hook. These are small wire hooks with a real sharp point that virtually do all of the work for you. They will catch anything from a pin fish, Mingo snapper, White Snapper, Triggerfish to a Red fish or a Bonito. Some of the inshore guides use them for Sheephead, Flounder, Pompano and Trout.

On our trip we caught White Snapper, Trigger fish, Mingo (Vermillion) Snapper, Red Fish, Red Snapper (we had to throw them back, closed season till June 1). We had a great trip and the people really had a great time. Lots of these guys had never been deep sea fishing ever before. That’s what the beauty of the 4 hour trip is, a chance for those who have never done this to get out and experience what it’s like to be out in the Gulf of Mexico and let the deck hands teach them how to use the equipment and catch fish. It’s all about enjoying your time fishing together with friends and making good memories you can tell your kids about for years to come.

Whale Shark off Orange Beach – Fishing Charter Report

August 15, 2009 in Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Orange Beach

While returning from a four hour trip on the Emerald Spirit on August 12, 2009, we came upon a rare site. A Whale Shark easing along with seemingly no cares in the world. He had around 30-40 juvenile Cobia swimming around him. I spotted the Shark and announced over the P.A. system to the customers that there was a Whale Shark off the port side and every one rushed over to see as I slowed the boat down and approached with caution as to not spook the fish. We pulled along side and I quickly reached for my camera. It was as if he knew we wanted to look at him and take pictures. He simply laid there almost motionless, every once and a while swishing his tail to keep moving ever so slowly as sharks have to do to breath.

Whale Shark off Orange Beach - Call us if you want to have Fishing Trips like this!!!

Call us if you want to have Fishing Trips like this!!!

Whale Sharks are Plankton feeders and skim through the water for small minnows and other microscopic organisms. This is the time of year that we have lots of little red minnows that swarm in huge schools along our coast. Every thing feeds on them from King Mackerel, Red fish, Spanish Mackerel, Blue Runners, Bonito and Sea Gulls just to mention a few. It was a rare treat to see this fish that day because he was only around 10 miles off the beach. Normally they are known for living far offshore in the extremely clear Blue Water of the Gulf Stream usually located 40 or 50 miles out. However, we have been blessed with some real clean water lately all the way up to the beach. The Wahoo are starting to bite good again with this good water flow. The Whale shark was sighted a few more times by some of the other boats in the following days of our sighting. Maybe he’ll stay around for a while.

Red Snapper Making a Comeback

August 3, 2009 in Alabama, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Perdido Pass

Red Snapper Making a Comeback

By DAVID RAINER

Capt. George Pfeiffer deftly maneuvered his 65-foot charter boat, Emerald Spirit, to the spot where he had deployed an artificial reef a few years before and confidently said, “Watch this.”

Mate Eric Rochester and deck hand Drew Phillips grabbed chunks of bait and tossed handfuls into the water. Within seconds, the surface of the water turned into a churning pool of red snapper eager to dine on the free meal.

“I told you,” Pfeiffer beamed.

While I’ve witnessed red snapper rising to the surface to investigate the chumming efforts of anglers, never have I seen the number and size that acted as if Pfeiffer had trained the fish in his backyard pool.

The fish performed this trick on two different spots. The first artificial reef had only been down for three years and about 15 snapper cooperated. On the second spot, the snapper numbered close to 30 or so and the size ranged from 8 to 15 pounds – an amazing spectacle.

“Red snapper are at an all-time comeback through the efforts of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS),” Pfeiffer said, paying homage to the federal entity that controls the seasons and bag limits for U.S. territorial waters. “They’ve done a wonderful job through the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Unfortunately, the data is not showing how many snapper there are out there. Otherwise, they’d give us our bag limits back.

“There are more snapper out there now, in the estimation of all the charter boat captains that I know, than there’s ever been in my lifetime and I’ve been professionally fishing for snapper for 25 years. I’m 49 years old and have lived here all my life. I build my own reefs. I’ve been fishing from Panama City to Texas. The State of Alabama through its reef-building program with the three-to-one matching funds and the cutbacks in the bag limits has caused the snapper to come back in record numbers, as we saw today. You got pictures of snapper swimming all over the top of the water – 15-pounders swimming around all over the place.”

Recreational snapper fishermen, which includes the charter boat industry, have been under severe restrictions from NMFS for several years because the aforementioned Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that bag limits and/or seasons must be restricted for any species that is overfished or where overfishing is occurring. The current bag limit is two fish 16 inches or larger and the season starts on June 1 and ends on Aug. 5. Because of the restrictions, charter captains have had to change the way they fish to keep what customers remain happy.

“What we’re doing now is being more selective in the way we’re fishing – understanding where the fish are in the water column and choosing the right kind of bait, basically a much bigger bait that a small snapper can’t even get in its mouth,” Pfeiffer said. “It forces you to be more selective about the size of snapper you catch, thus having a reduced mortality rate from the throwbacks. Of course, it increases the catch size in the box. What we do is fish up higher in the water where the bigger snapper live. The smaller fish stay close to the wreck where they know they’re protected. The bigger fish venture away from the wreck because they’re wiser and older and can survive against predators better.

“Knowing all this from scuba diving and all of my experience – we can see them on the fathometer and we can tell where they are depth-wise. That changes from spot to spot, depending on the water currents and thermocline. Sometimes when you have a thick thermocline they won’t come above it or won’t go below it. In either case, I can look at the fathometer and tell my customers where to fish by dropping it (the bait) for a certain number of seconds, thus putting the bait right in front of the fish so they don’t have to swim through a thermocline. Also, we can be much more selective on what we catch.”

To ensure that release mortality is kept to a minimum, anglers on the Emerald Spirit are outfitted with large circle hooks and huge chunks of cut bait, whole squid stuffed with a minnow and live bait caught along the beach just outside Perdido Pass.

“We use the biggest baits we can, preferably live bait like hardtails (blue runners), threadfins and sardines,” Pfeiffer said. “We’ve got 10 Sabiki rods and we give the customers the rods and let them catch the bait, which they enjoy. It’s better than bream fishing because you can catch three or four at a time. We also catch pinfish in traps at the dock. We troll some and if we catch bonita we can use them. Bonita is the best cut bait. Otherwise, we use squid stuffed with minnows and big strip baits.

“According to the clarity of water, the salinity and brightness of the sun, they might like something better one day and like something else better tomorrow. We always have a vast selection of different baits. What we try to do is be selective and harvest a larger fish with less effort. Also, we don’t want to injure the smaller fish.”

Captains like Pfeiffer are trying to keep their customers happy with larger fish, but that turns into a double-edged sword.

“They keep shortening our season because of the total allowable catch,” Pfeiffer said. “The reason they’re doing that is they say that overfishing is occurring so they keep cutting us back. The thing is the snapper are a lot bigger and there’s more than there have ever been. Consequently, now they’re saying that because the fish are bigger we’re harvesting more pounds, so we’re going to go over the limit again. It’s a Catch-22.

“We’re trying our best to survive, but we are going broke. There are several hundred boats that have gone out of business. The economists are saying next year is going to be just as bad, so we don’t expect a turnaround for two or three years.”

Throw in Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina and several other tropical storms and one can understand why the number of charter boats is dwindling along the Gulf Coast.

“With the bad economy, people are not willing to come down here when they can only catch two red snapper,” Pfeiffer said. “Our business is off from 60 to 70 percent from just the change in bag limit and the season, which coincides with the total allowable catch (TAC) that has been reduced by NMFS. We’re working with a 65-day snapper season where it used to be a six-month season.”

For Ira Burris, the dedicated Gulf angler who organized the trip on Emerald Spirit with a number of his co-workers from Bagby & Russell Electric Company in Mobile, a longer season would make the two-fish limit much more tolerable.

“For them (charter boats) to be able to make it, we just need a longer season,” Burris said. “Keep it at two fish, but give us more time to fish. When you charter a boat like this you’re just looking for a good time and decent-sized fish. I had met Capt. George before and I knew his passion for fishing. He promised us he would put us on some good-sized fish and he didn’t let us down.”

With the current regulations, the charter industry along the Gulf Coast is desperately trying to educate anglers about the other species of fish available to catch. It’s a difficult task because Orange Beach has been known as the “Snapper Capital of the World” for decades.

“We’re trying to tell our customers – and it’s a hard thing to do – that there are other things to catch besides red snapper,” Pfeiffer said. “I remind my customers there are lots of other fish out there. On an average 12-hour trip, we spend three or four hours fishing for snapper. That’s about half of your fishing day. If snapper season is closed, we simply fish for something else – grouper, scamp and amberjack. We are currently using deep-drop electric reels that will fish in 700, 800, 1,000 feet of water. That’s where you catch the yellowedge grouper, snowy grouper, tilefish and scamp. These fish live in water that’s 250 feet deep plus. We understand that that’s hard for the average person to wind. A couple of drops and they’re tired. That’s why we’ve incorporated the electric reels and the braided line that cuts through the water. So I tell my customers that we will use the time normally devoted to red snapper to look for grouper and other stuff. Actually, you’ll have as many or more pounds of fish in your cooler than you would when you can catch snapper. And to be honest, it’s better table fare.

“But it’s not like snapper fishing where you pull up to a spot and you get a bite instantly. With grouper fishing, they’re scattered around on natural bottom and you have to be patient. You may have to move around, but eventually it pays off. I let them know that before we leave the dock so they’ll know what to expect.”

Pfeiffer said he does all he can to help NMFS and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Marine Resources Division gather accurate information about each fishing trip – including the number of fish caught, how many were released, now many were released alive and how many were eaten by bottlenose dolphin.

“The only problem is this is a paper trail and a paper trail takes time,” he said. “We’re trying to implement some electronic reporting methods with laptops linked to satellites that we would use to upload data that day. The main purpose is to provide accurate data to NMFS for its survey so we can get our seasons and bag limits back.”

Pfeiffer admitted that he picked out several prime spots for our trip.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I wanted to show exactly how easy it is for anybody to go out there and see the fish so thick that they swim on top of the water. People are catching snapper in Escambia River at Pensacola and they’re catching them in the upper end of Mobile Bay. The fish are in places they’ve never been before because of the efforts of NMFS.

“And if they don’t do something about it soon, there are going to be red snapper swimming around in schools like piranha, eating the swimmers 10 feet off the beach,” he added with a hearty laugh.

Karl Baldwin holds up a large red snapper caught off the Emerald Spirit.

Buddy Kroner holding an amberjack caught during a recent Gulf fishing excursion.

Fishing Orange Beach – Cold-Front Catch

April 14, 2009 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach

Fishing Orange Beach - Cold-Front Catch

Fishing Orange Beach - Cold-Front Catch

We don’t like it when it gets cold, but the fish don’t seem to mind most times. As a matter of fact, they seem to notice the change in barometric pressure and go on a feeding frenzy. As the high pressure center approaches it draws in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico with low pressure. As the pressure drops the fish sense it and knowing of the impending change begin to feed. This gives us a chance for some great opportunities to catch the big one. We also remember to consider the tidal flow when planning your trip. In our area some of the best spots for bait are, under the bridge at the sea wall, out at the end of the rock jetties, on the point in the grass beads, generally somewhere there is a change in structure to give the bait somewhere to duck in and hide while being washed down stream. Remember, live bait is always preferred for offshore fishing for the big ones. If you have any questions that I can help with please call me @ 1-888-558-3889 or e-mail me CatCharters@FishOrangeBeach.Net.

-Captain George Pfieffer

Tales of Tails – Fishing in Orange Beach from Cpt. George

March 22, 2009 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fishing Report, Fort Morgan, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Perdido Pass, Salt Water Series Tournament, World Championship Red Snapper Tournament

The Catch from Fish Orange Beach - Call 888.558.3889 to Book Today!

We have great anticipation of the 2009 season and know how hard everyone works all year to finally get a few days off to go fishing. We went fishing this past week with a group of guys who did just that and boy did it pay off. We had a great day of fishing as you can see from the pictures attached. Although Grouper season is closed currently, one of the anglers caught a huge nice Grouper which we released after taking pictures. We also caught Snappers, Triggers, Amber jacks, Mingos and just had an overall great catch.

Action Charter Service has also just purchased a new 65’ Bonner named The Emerald Spirit. It is powered by Twin 600 h.p. Lugger engines which allow it to cruse about 19 knots. We have two 2.5 ton air conditioners/heaters, a 900 lb. a day ice machine, a 3,000 pound fish box and live well. There is a refrigerator, microwave and large Green Egg.

The Emerald Spirit is U.S. Coast Guard Inspected for Safety and Certified for 49 passengers out to 100 miles with overnight accommodations for 12 people from Apalachicola Bay, Florida to Brownsville, Texas.

We have purchased the boat and completed a full and extensive overhaul to the entire Vessel. From all new steering and electronics to running gear and deck stringers, wiring, paint job inside and out to plush new cushions in the v-berths. We have literally re-built the entire boat with the latest and greatest.

The Emerald Spirit has all new tackle. 70 matching rods and 4/O Penn reels. We have a 100 gallon live well to keep all the live bait you can use fresh and vigorous.

Joshs 50lb Grouper

Josh's 50lb Grouper - Call 888.558.3889 to book today!

With over 160 feet of rail space over the walk around deck, there is plenty of room to fish anywhere you please.

Two bathrooms have hot water showers and the cabin has plenty of air conditioning or heat to keep you comfortable.

Visit our websites at www.FishOrangeBeach.Net or www.FishEmeraldSpirit.Net to book a trip and get your day of fishing on the Gulf.

Welcome to the absolute best fishing charter on the Gulf of Mexico!

February 2, 2009 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fort Morgan, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Perdido Pass

If you are looking for an expert fisherman or an experienced guide for your tour of the beautiful Gulf Coast waterways, Action Charter Service and Captain George Pfeiffer invite you to join them on The CAT. The CAT, Coast Guard Certified for up to 30 passengers, will meet and exceed the needs of your fishing trip or sightseeing tour.

The CAT is fit for deep or blue water fishing up to 100 miles offshore, fishing along the Gulf Coast or within its hundreds of miles of inlets. Using the best bait, top-of-the-line rods and reels, and the combined experience of Captain George and his Mate, Action Charter Service will make sure that your trip is exciting and memorable. With Action Charter Service you will get on the fish and get those fish on the boat.

No matter what your pleasure, Action Charter Service can accommodate. From offshore trolling for Blue Marlin, Wahoo, Tuna, and Dolphin, to bottom fishing for the hard fighting Grouper, Amberjack, and the delicious Red Snapper, we will put you there. The CAT is also available for fishing tournaments, providing ample room for you and your guests to have multiple lines in the water.

For sightseers, Action Charter Service is available for events such as Blue Angels expositions, concerts at The Wharf, fireworks shows, even bird-watching tours. Captain George has lived on the Gulf Coast his entire life and is familiar with all of its natural wonders.

Captain George Pfeiffer and Action Charter Service are your best choice for your fishing or sightseeing trip along the Florida and Alabama coast. Service is available throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall fishing seasons.

Call Captain George Pfieffer @ 888.558.3889 to book your Fishing Trip!

Welcome to Action Charter Service! On our web site you will find information to help you book your fishing trip with us as well as information about us. On the Captain and Vessel pages you will find profiles of our captain, George Pfeiffer, a Florida Gulf Coast native, and his ship, The CAT. In our Photos section, you will find pictures from our many successful trips in and around the Gulf Coast. Under the Fishing Seasons section of the site, you will find Captain George’s monthly reports on local fishing game and photos of that month’s most exciting catch!

Before you check out the pricing and booking you should take a look at our fishing blog in the Fishing Reports section. There you will find posts about previous trips we’ve taken out into the Gulf, and, within the blog, you can get a feel for what a day with Captain George on The CAT is like. When you’re finally ready to get going on your trip, you can park it at our Pricing and Booking section filled with detailed information pertaining to the type of trip that you want.

Action Charter Service makes every effort to ensure that your trip is safe and fun so that you and your group can have a great time and catch heaps of delicious fish!

Repeat Performances

July 7, 2008 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico

Fishing in Orange Beach with Captain George Pfieffer of Action Charter Service

With Action Charter Service, consistency is the key to success. The good weather, calm seas and hungry fish are all consistent as well as our catches lately. We’ve had the good fortune of good weather and great anglers who have been bringing in the fish. Amberjack are plentiful offshore around 40 to 50 miles and a few Cobia have been showing up on the deep water wrecks.

We stop in the mornings and catch our live bait just offshore before we go out. Hard tails, green Elwys, and Cigar Minnows are still plentiful around the pass. As for the deep water fish, Scamp and Grouper are still holding strong in about 250 feet of water. The extremely large Vermilion Snapper (or Mingos) have slowed a little bit but are still in good numbers. As usual, they still prefer cut squid or small live bait like Cigar Minnows. We use small circle hooks in the deep water because it is so hard to feel them bite, it seems to help the customers land the fish in the boat.

Fishing with Captain George Pfieffer

King Mackerel, Bonita, Jack Cravelle and Spanish Mackerel are all biting good on the four hour trolling trips close to shore and out about five to six miles. We use small clark spoons and a number 2 planer with about a twelve foot leader and troll at about 5-6 knots. Most of the fish are holding around some of the wrecks but there are schools swimming out in the open water close to the beach. Just look for the birds, they’ll always show you where the fish are.

Check out our catches below and come fishing on the C.A.T. Boat with Captain George Pfeiffer!