# 56211: Subject: Gom, Alabama

Submitted by capt_dalton (ip 199.254.206.4)

• Fished on 4/22/2007

• Report received: 4/25/2007

Water Temperature: 70
Water Clarity: Clear blue
Seas: 2-3 built to 3-5
Weather: Sunny and windy, 12 to 15 knots out of the ESE
Fishing_for: Red Snapper
Boat: Mar-t
captain: Chris Dalton

Report:
Saturday, April 21st aboard the MAR-T,

The forecast for opening day was not great, but, the Vickery group was up for it, after all, it was Ty’s bachelor party. The east wind was kicking and somewhere around Dauphin Island Light, the tone for the day was set: very large white capping waves, lots of spray and not more than 10 knots speed.

I made 9 stops for the day and we put keeper fish in the box on all but one of those. The red snapper ranged from just keeper, up to about 6 pounds. We had a heart breaker when we lost a 30ish pound ling at boat side. It had hit a sow rigged pogie being dropped on a snapper spot. The fish fought for about 8 minutes. When I looked back, I saw the egg sinker above the gunnel. My deckhand, Bo, had the gaff and was reaching for a shot. When I looked back forward, I heard the egg sinker slap the side of the boat. The ling had taken the trailing hook with him on his way out of town. Tough break on a tough day. One of the guys had wanted to catch a shark, and on our last drop looking to get the last snapper in the boat, two guys hooked up. The first fish to the boat was a nice 5 or 6 pound snapper. We lip gaffed him and trailed him in the water to see if the other fish hooked was going to be bigger. After a sporty fight in the rough water, shark man got what we wanted and the fish being trailed in the water lost out on its chance for freedom. It was just too rough to run back in, so I set the throttles at around 9 knots and we deployed some trolling gear. Between the king rig and Farewell buoy, a nice king took a black and red dolphin delight. The groom to be did the honors and fought the 17#er to the boat for a nice box topping fish.

Total tally for the day was 32 red snapper, 8 triggerfish, 7 beeliners, 1 king mackeral and one Atlantic sharp-nosed shark. The Vickery group had a total box weight of 184 pounds and has plenty of fish for the reception party.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/capt_dalton/Fishing/04-21-07dockshotsmall.jpg[/IMG]

To add a remark to this report click here.