Fish, Weather and Anglers’ Excitement Are Warming Up

May 12, 2008 in Action Charter Service, Alabama, Fishing Report, Gulf of Mexico, Salt Water Series Tournament, World Championship Red Snapper Tournament

Fishing out of Orange Beach Alabama is building to an all time great high.

Red Snapper are more abundant than ever before and there has been a few 90 plus pound Wahoo brought to the weigh in scales for the Salt Water Series Tournament. We have seen some big Amberjack being caught in the 35-45 pound range as well as some 50-75 pound Yellow Fin Tuna. The Black Fin Tuna are biting well also.

On our last few offshore trips we have been bringing in some Scamp in the 15-18 pound range as well as some 4.5lb Vermilion Snapper (Mingo). Trigger Fish are making a good show along with big White Snapper in the 3.5lb range.

The Inshore action is doing well with the Cobia showing up, some weighed in at 90.3 lb, 86.5 and more. Spanish, King mackerel and Red Fish are biting along the beach. There are plenty of Cigar Minnows starting to bunch up in schools on the bottom.

So far we’ve seen an improvement in every species and it looks like we’ll see even more in the future. The weather is warming up every day and is expected to reach as high as 90 degrees today. We are all looking forward to the opening of Federal Waters for Red Snapper on June 1st. The season will be open until August 5th. There will be the “World Championship Red Snapper Tournament” going on the entire season for Red Snapper. Check out our web page and the photo gallery for pictures of some “Big” Red Snapper and Call or E-mail us for a chance to win $25,000.00 in the Tournament.

Good Weather and Good Fishing

May 8, 2008 in Action Charter Service, Fishing Report, World Championship Red Snapper Tournament

Once again we enter the fishing season with some good weather and the fishing has been great. We’ve reported to you on the start of the season and how it looked like it might be a sign of better things to come and so far it hasn’t let us down. The offshore action is picking up trolling out around the rigs like the Marlin, Beer Can, Patronius, and even the Ram Powell. Some 60lb.

Yellow Fin Tuna and small Black fin Tuna have been caught on each but are still moving around from rig to rig depending on the current and wind direction. Most are being caught trolling with small Ballyhoo and soft head lures wile there have been a few caught with live bait on a kite or chunk fishing. The other day one of my buddies told me that as he was trolling by one of the rigs early in the morning the Rainbow Runners suddenly showered out of the water toward the rig.

This could only mean one thing; the man in “Blue” was after them. He knew there was a Blue Marlin chasing the school for a morning snack. “They’re here”.

As for the bottom fishing, it hasn’t slowed down at all. If any thing it’s gotten even better due to the water temperature rising and the bait fish showing up more. The Red Snapper are bigger and more plentiful than ever before for as far back as I can remember and I’ve been here for 48 years in this Gulf Coast area. Thanks to the efforts of the National Marine Fisheries we now have so many fish that if they don’t let us have back our fish limits and Total Allowable Catch you can look forward to seeing swimmers being eaten alive like Piranha from the Red Snappers. Yet still they say that the Fish Stock hasn’t rebuilt itself from “Over Fishing”.

The Wahoo and King Mackerel are biting good trolling. We use a #2 Plainer with a 3-4 inch Drone spoon either plain silver, Hot Pink or Chartreuse. It depends on the clarity of the water that day and how much sun light there is. When we troll for Wahoo we use a pair of 9/0 Penn reels with wire line on a Bent Butt Deep Drop rod. Then we put a 16oz. to 48oz. trolling weight in front of a lure that is around 24oz.

Sometimes we change that up a little and use a soft head in front and over the top of a skirt with an 8oz. lead in the head for a different effect at a slower speed. Generally we troll between 13 and 18 knots. This is why we use all of the heavy line and weights, to get the lure down far enough for the fish to see it. Let me tell ya, “It Works!” We troll out to our fishing holes in the morning and then between spots and back home again every day.

The Scamp and Grouper bite is still going strong as is the Magnum B-Liners (Vermillion) or (Mingo). Some of the Scamp as big as 18lbs.and the Mingo’s as big as 5.5lbs. The Scamp are biting small Pinfish and Squid and the Mingo’s on Squid. The Trigger Fish are showing up as well in good numbers.

All in all you can’t ask for it to get any better that that. We are all looking forward to the Federal opening of Snapper Season on June 1st. That is when the “World Championship Red Snapper Tournament” starts. There will be a First Place Prize of $25,000.00 and it pays out thru 10 places, Tenth place being $1,000.00. I can’t wait. We’ve always placed in the top ten coming close to the big money, but not yet. Maybe next time. Call us and let us take you out for a chance to win.