Fishing with the Reel Surprise
A bad day fishing is better than a good day _____________ (you fill in the blank).
I love the water. The bigger the “pond,” the happier I am. So, you know I am ecstatic when I’m floating on the Gulf of Mexico. I recently had the great pleasure of fishing with Captain Randy and Susan Boggs and their crew on the Reel Surprise.
In north Gulf Shores, the sky was blue when I stepped out of my door at 7:15 a.m. with my little cooler of ice. I had taken my generic less-drowsy formula Dramamine and was ready for the day. A quick stop at a beach road convenience store to purchase bottles of water, soft drinks and snack crackers put me at the marina just on time. I was excited; I had not been out with these great people in more than a year.
This time of year, the boats are not as crowded. Red Snapper season is over and folks like me not looking to catch that prize winner can have a great time just fishing. There were less than 15 people on board this morning and it was almost like having a private charter.
Capt. Randy told us we would be going about 20 miles south to some good fishing spots. When we left the marina and passed under Alabama Point bridge, we could see dark clouds south of us. We went through the pass and turned east to avoid the morning thundershowers. The water was a little choppy for a while, but I had experienced much worse and knew the captain would head to smoother waters.
After a pleasant ride, the seas were much calmer when we made our first stop. The deck hands already had the rods and reels rigged and the bait buckets spaced around the rail. We were ready to catch some fish. The man next to me dropped his line in the water and let it go down for what seemed like a long time. The next thing I knew, he was pulling in a nice trigger fish. I just barely gotten my line wet when I felt the faint tell-tale vibration. I starting turning the reel and could feel the fish trying in vain to escape the hook. I finally got it to the surface and it was a nice red snapper. The deck hand unhooked it and back to the water it went. After all, red snapper season was over. That was my first fish of the year. It felt wonderful!
We had a great day of fishing. When the fish would stop biting, we would move to another place. Capt. Randy kept us on fish all day. Someone even caught a queen trigger, a rarity for our part of the world. The queen trigger fish is usually found in the tropical Atlantic waters.
When we pointed northwest and started back to Orange Beach, a couple of the deck hands rigged two rods for trolling. I was sitting on a side bench watching the water go by when I heard the first yell. I walked to the rear of the boat and Susan had picked one of the rods up and was slowly turning the reel. She had a big smile on her face when she landed a king mackerel. It wasn’t too long before the other reel was singing with a catch. It was also a king mackerel.
When we arrived at the marina, we were all a little tired but very pleased with our trip. The next day, I had a few sore muscles, a nice bag of fish in my freezer and some wonderful memories added to my collection.
