Guide for Great Saltwater Fishing in Cooler Weather: Part Four
John E. Phillips 11.14.11
Terrific Saltwater Fishing in the Winter
There’s plenty of hard-biting, good-eating fish to be caught off Alabama’s Gulf Coast at this time of the year. Captain Randy Boggs of Reel Surprise Charters in Orange Beach, Alabama, offers fishing almost every day year-round for individuals and groups of people and explains, “You can call our offices and find out for sure what days we’ll be fishing throughout the week. You also can make a reservation for yourself and one or two people. We offer family fishing at reasonable prices, as well as 4- and 6-hour trips where you can catch vermilion snapper, lane snapper, triggerfish, white snapper and king and/or Spanish mackerel. On the longer trips (6-10 hours), we’ll often catch grouper too.”
Even though red snapper season closed in mid-July, no one has told the red snapper that the season’s closed. Right now the red snapper is the most dominant species caught off Alabama’s Gulf Coast. Even on 4- and 6-hour trips, you’ll more than likely catch and release large numbers of red snapper. Catching red snapper that weigh 5 to 10 pounds is quite common. On a past weekend in mid-October, we were on a 4-hour trip with a group of writers on the “Reel Surprise” party boat. Everywhere we stopped, we caught fish, with most of them red snapper, because there’s just so many of them. However, catching snapper and releasing them is a lot of fun. These red snapper are aggressive, they fight hard, they produce great photos, and you release them to grow some more until snapper season starts again in June, 2012. To catch the triggerfish, vermilion snapper and other fish that you can keep and eat, you need to go out to deeper water, which usually involves a 6-hour trip. On the “Reel Surprise,” you can take your food and drinks and stay inside the large cabin, until it’s time to go out and fish. When the boat stops, the fishing starts.
“We try to make sure that on our 4- and 6-hour trips, our fishermen have the opportunity to catch good eating fish, so they can have them prepared for dinner that night,” Boggs says. “We also want them to be able to take a couple of fish home to put in the freezer. Those vermilion snapper and triggerfish are delicious to eat. To extend the fishing trip, I suggest having the fish cleaned and taking them to one of the many restaurants in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores to be cooked.” So, my fishing party and I took one triggerfish to Mike’s Seafood Restaurant and had one fillet fried and the other fillet blackened. Between that and the side dishes that came with the meal, we weren’t able to eat all the fish that those two fillets made. I don’t believe a fishing trip can get any better than going out and catching a good number of fish, cleaning them and then having them prepared for dinner. One of the big advantages of fishing in the fall and winter is that this is when the fish are most abundant, and the fishing pressure is the lightest. So, plan to come down and catch a fish inshore or offshore. The people you meet in a single week can show you how to have several great fishing trips along Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
For more information, contact Reel Surprise Charters at 251-981-7173, email info@reelsurprsecharters.com, or visit www.reelsurprisecharters.com. To have your fresh fish prepared at the beach, go to www.gulfshores.com, click on restaurants, and check box for “Will Cook Your Catch.”
Click here to go on to the fifth and final part, the “Flounder Lady” catching flat fish in the late fall and a bonus flounder recipe. Click here to go back to part three.
John, the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors.
Phillips has been a contributor to many national magazines, has been affiliated with 27 radio stations across Alabama serving as their outdoor editor and wrote for a weekly syndicated column, "Alabama Outdoors," for 38-Alabama newspapers for more than 13 years. Phillips was Outdoor Editor for the "Birmingham Post-Herald" for 24 years. Phillips was also the executive editor for "Great Days Outdoors" magazine for 3 years.
The author of almost 30 books on the outdoors, Phillips is a founding member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and an active member of the Southeastern Outdoors Press Association (SEOPA). Phillips also is the owner of Night Hawk Publications, a marketing and publishing firm, and president of Creative Concepts, an outdoor consulting group.
Phillips conducts seminars across the nation at colleges in freelance writing, photography and outdoor education besides teaching courses in how to sell what you write to writers' groups. Phillips received his photography training as a still-lab photo specialist for six years in the Air Force. He was the chief photographer for Mannequins, Inc., a Birmingham modeling agency, for 11 years.
While serving as 2nd Vice President of the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Phillips was in charge of all press releases for the organization as well as serving as Chairman of Alabama's Big Buck Contest, which he founded more than 30 years ago. He also was president of the Alabama Sportsman's Association for three years.
Phillips is the recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the Governor of Alabama and the Department of Conservation for his work in the outdoor field. Phillips is vitally interested in the outdoors and travels the nation collecting personalities, stories and how-to information for his articles and features.
EDUCATION: B.S. degree from the University of West Alabama with a physical education major and a history minor.
EXPERIENCE: 10 years parttime and fulltime physical director for YMCAs and 34 years as a freelance writer, photographer, editor, book author, lecturer and daily-content provider for websites. Currently, Phillips is a field editor for Game and Fish Publications; serves on the editorial board of Grandview Media; is a regular contributor to 12 internet magazines and a daily content provider for 8 websites.
WRITING AWARDS: Runnerup - Best Outdoor Magazine Feature - 1981 - SEOPA; Certificate of Merit - Awarded by Alabama's Governor for writings on conservation; Most Outstanding Sports Writer in Southeast - 1983 & 1984; Best Outdoor Feature in Alabama, 1987 - Alabama Sportswriters' Association 3rd Place; Best Book of the Year - 1989 - SEOPA; 2007 - inducted into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Communicator; 2008 - received award naming him 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the Year from the Crossbow Manufacturers' Association; 2009 - GAMMA Honorable Mention for Consumer/Paid Best Essay for July/August 2008 in "Southern Sporting Journal."
