Red Fishing In Alabama

Tina Harbuck | The Log

When it comes to fishing these days, most are hitting that point that you can’t go beyond — otherwise known as the limit.

“When you get the limit, that’s the best you can do,” Capt. George Eller of the Checkmate 2 was telling his crew as they stood back admiring their catch Monday afternoon.

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His group had brought in a limit of red snapper and a red grouper.

The limit on red snapper is two per person, per trip.

Arkansas anglers on the Windwalker II with Capt. Bernie LeFebvre hauled in a limit of red snapper and a small amaco jack. Capt. LeFebvre said it was “a little rolly” out Monday.

Anglers on the Al-Lin with Capt. Harold Staples reeled in a limit of red snapper and one triggerfish.

Capt. John Tenore on the Dawn Patrol came in from a four-hour trip with a limit of red snapper and a couple of mangrove snapper.

“It’s phenomenal at how good it is,” Tenore said. They caught the majority of their fish within three to four miles of Destin.

Dawn Patrol Too with Capt. Robert Broestler at the helm pulled in with their limit of red snapper, scamp and a few mangrove snapper.

Capt. Trey Peerson and his crew aboard the Back Atcha reeled in a couple of king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, red snapper and black snapper. Capt. Peerson said they were fishing “near shore.”

It was a flats kind of day aboard the Inshore Angler with Capt. Jordan Whiteman. He and his group headed down toward Sandestin and fished the flats and brought back 15 speckled trout.

Anglers on the Anastasia with Capt. Tony Davis brought in a nice catch of red snapper and bonito.

Capt. Joe Taylor on the No Doubt and his family group brought in a nice haul. The Phillips brothers, Tim, Glenn, Mark and Wayne, along with brother-in-law John Pair and grandson Garth Ellis, pulled in a pair of cobia, triggerfish, red snapper, bonito, rock salmon and a little tiger shark.

Oklahoma anglers on the Phoenix with Capt. Scott Robson filled the boards with red snapper.

Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Alabama Coast, Gulf of Mexico, fishing ...

How did the BP oil spill of last summer affect fishing in the Gulf of Mexico this year? To learn the answer, we talked with the Orange Beach Fishing Association (OBFA) in Orange Beach Alabama. "I've never seen red snapper fishing better in 40 years of fishing Alabama's Gulf Coast," says Captain Ben Fairey, the past president of OBFA. When asked by Herb Malone, the president and CEO of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, "What's the biggest snapper you've caught this June, and what's the average keeper snapper?" Fairey smiled and answered, "This season we've had two, 22-pound snapper brought-in and weighed, and the average snapper that our customers are keeping weigh between 8.1 and 9.1 pounds. We're bringing-in 20-or-more snapper per trip." This year the Alabama Gulf Coast is experiencing a phenomenal fishing season, not only for red snapper but for all saltwater species. Even the party-boat trips that last only 4 or 6 hours each are coming-in with limits of snapper for their customers, according to Captain Butch Tucker of the charter boat, "Zeke's Lady," out of Zeke's Marina in Orange Beach Ala., who explains, "We carry up to 50 people on our 6-hour trip in the morning and the same number in the afternoon for a 4-hour trip. We're getting limits of red snapper for almost all of these folks. We're also catching a lot of big snapper. For instance, this morning in mid-June we were catching some red snapper that weighed 20-pounds each. The red snapper this year are bigger than they have ever been in the 42 years that I've been fishing Alabama's Gulf Coast. We caught 100 red snapper on the morning 6-hour trip, and 20 of those fish were 10-20-pounds each and larger."

Captain Tucker went on to say that his customers are also bringing-in big triggerfish that will weigh as much as 10-pounds each, as well as good numbers of vermilion snapper weighing a pound to 2 -1/2-pounds, lane snapper weighing 2- or 3-pounds each and numbers of scamp grouper. "We are also catching some really-big gag grouper, but because the season's closed, we have to throw them back," Tucker reports. "We caught a gag grouper in mid-June that weighed 20 pounds. We have caught them as big as 40 pounds." Too, Tucker's fishermen are catching and keeping some red grouper that average 12 to 15 pounds. Cobia and king mackeral also are being caught frequently on these party-boat trips.

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Congressional Record, V. 144, Pt. 13, July 31, 1998 to September 8, 1998