I had plans to go to Destin last Saturday then got a last minute invite to go to a buddy's condo to fish out of Ft. Morgan, AL. Up until Friday it was going to be a crew of 2. Then he found a coworker that was going to be in Dauphin Island at his Dad's for the weekend. So we caught some bait and rigged tackle Friday night then set out to fuel up and pick them up Sat morning.
It was a slow but steady day with shifting wind and heavy current, and we fished hard trying to fill the box. Jerry fought to keep us positioned and on the fish that would cooperate, and I didn't take many breaks to snap pix...
But we did end up with some really good fish including several big kings and some good bluefish that were all released, 3 BIG Snapper below, 3 others from 6-10lbs, 4 nice redfish, one keeper trigger fish, one 32" AJ, some smaller AJ's, grouper, etc. that were released... And we only lost 2-3 jigs and a handful of assist hooks.
My biggest snapper to date... 25lbs! Caught speed jigging a pink 200g Turkey Slider on my Tuna Max 5'2" H, Stella 8000 w/ 60lb OTI braid and 60lb fluoro leader:
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After a little jigging early, I guess Jerry finally got tired of watching me catch fish.
On his first drop after several hours and first lift of the rod he caught this 16.5lb snapper on my updated Daiwa Catalina 5'6", Saltiga 30T w/ 60lb OTI braid, 60lb fluoro and 200g orange Nagamasa copy:
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Bill's 16lb snapper caught on whole squid. Hard to believe but this was the only quality fish caught on cut or live bait:
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View from Jerry's condo looking West and his Glacier Bay 26' canyon runner on the lift. The rigs in view are in the bay but it's only a 3 mile run to open water. Man, what a nice place!
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I'd estimate that jigs out-fished bait by approx. 4:1. And also caught all but one of the quality fish too. And that was with 3 live/cut baits down and only one jigging most of the day.
I had a blast, I think Jerry might really be hooked on jigging now, and I got an email that Bill wants me to put together a list of tackle to get him setup for jigging too!
It was a slow but steady day with shifting wind and heavy current, and we fished hard trying to fill the box. Jerry fought to keep us positioned and on the fish that would cooperate, and I didn't take many breaks to snap pix...
But we did end up with some really good fish including several big kings and some good bluefish that were all released, 3 BIG Snapper below, 3 others from 6-10lbs, 4 nice redfish, one keeper trigger fish, one 32" AJ, some smaller AJ's, grouper, etc. that were released... And we only lost 2-3 jigs and a handful of assist hooks.
My biggest snapper to date... 25lbs! Caught speed jigging a pink 200g Turkey Slider on my Tuna Max 5'2" H, Stella 8000 w/ 60lb OTI braid and 60lb fluoro leader:
After a little jigging early, I guess Jerry finally got tired of watching me catch fish.
On his first drop after several hours and first lift of the rod he caught this 16.5lb snapper on my updated Daiwa Catalina 5'6", Saltiga 30T w/ 60lb OTI braid, 60lb fluoro and 200g orange Nagamasa copy:
Bill's 16lb snapper caught on whole squid. Hard to believe but this was the only quality fish caught on cut or live bait:
View from Jerry's condo looking West and his Glacier Bay 26' canyon runner on the lift. The rigs in view are in the bay but it's only a 3 mile run to open water. Man, what a nice place!
I'd estimate that jigs out-fished bait by approx. 4:1. And also caught all but one of the quality fish too. And that was with 3 live/cut baits down and only one jigging most of the day.
I had a blast, I think Jerry might really be hooked on jigging now, and I got an email that Bill wants me to put together a list of tackle to get him setup for jigging too!
