Posted By: mickeytfc
Dauphin Island report - 08/18/17 07:09 PM
Back from 6 days fishing offshore from Dauphin Island, Alabama, our second annual guys trip. Same crew, a great mix of skills, experience, personality, and energy. We didn’t even allow ourselves to consider topping last year, when we caught dozens of kings; including 38, 42, and 55 pound trophies; many great amberjacks and red snapper, Spanish mackerel, a mahi mahi, a 250 pound bull shark, saw loggerhead sea turtles and amazing sights, and had great food and conversations. But this trip was just as awesome!
With the unpredicted changes in red snapper regulations this year, the first day out we excited that we could keep fish. We went to sea by the light of the stars to beat everyone to the spot our captain had found the day before, and we had our 4 person limit in under an hour; good sized, hard pulling fish. We hit a few other spots and through the day released another dozen snapper, added a bonus mangrove snapper, and a few kings.
Trolling ribbonfish over a sunken WW II Liberty ship turned reef produced hard pulling amberjacks rather than the expected kings. The anticipation while trolling, watching the rods with intensity is intoxicating, waiting for that zip, zip, zipping of the drag as the rod bucks and bounces as the fish fights against this unseen force that is the line and the boat pulling against it. But to pry that rod out of the gunnel holder to do battle with not a ten or fifteen pound king but with a forty pound reef donkey is truly an invigorating pleasure.
Trolling ribbonfish also produced barracuda, red snapper, and cobia and the saying “you can catch it all on a ribbonfish!”
With the unpredicted changes in red snapper regulations this year, the first day out we excited that we could keep fish. We went to sea by the light of the stars to beat everyone to the spot our captain had found the day before, and we had our 4 person limit in under an hour; good sized, hard pulling fish. We hit a few other spots and through the day released another dozen snapper, added a bonus mangrove snapper, and a few kings.
Trolling ribbonfish over a sunken WW II Liberty ship turned reef produced hard pulling amberjacks rather than the expected kings. The anticipation while trolling, watching the rods with intensity is intoxicating, waiting for that zip, zip, zipping of the drag as the rod bucks and bounces as the fish fights against this unseen force that is the line and the boat pulling against it. But to pry that rod out of the gunnel holder to do battle with not a ten or fifteen pound king but with a forty pound reef donkey is truly an invigorating pleasure.
Trolling ribbonfish also produced barracuda, red snapper, and cobia and the saying “you can catch it all on a ribbonfish!”