# 56212: 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 offshore
Seas: 2-3 building 3-5
Weather: Sunny with 12 to 15 knots ESE wind
Fishing_for: Red Snapper
Boat: Mar-t
captain: Chris Dalton

Report:
Sunday, April 22, aboard the MAR-T

Well, once again the forecast looked pretty sporty with more 3 to 5 foot seas and plenty of east wind that was supposed to move to the south east later in the day. The owner of the boat, Marvin Thompson, had the boat for the day to take two of his grandsons out. Even with the sure to be rough conditions, the boys had been up since 3 a.m. and eager to go, so there was no stopping this trip. Also along for the trip was Ed, my fishing compadre Gary “Red” Gates and even the deckman Bo was going to get a chance to make a few drops. Everyone on board bought a Red Snapper Championship ticket, except Ed.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the seas had not stayed as high as they were Saturday afternoon. I was able to throttle the MAR-T up to 16 knots for the run out to check a couple of spots where a larger than average red snapper should be lurking. It was a long and somewhat bumpy ride, but, I figured I was out to get a boat limit of fish, take a shot at a biggun or two and get back to the dock before the wind turned the seas back into a washing machine.

Spot #1 yielded four nice red snapper and a trigger fish. No tournament winners, but a nice grade of fish.

Spot #2 held yet bigger fish and they were more fired up about eating. This is where we found out that Ed had beginners luck on his side as he proceeded in putting on a clinic on how to catch big red snapper on a circle hook. The largest fish of they day came here. It is always entertaining to have a first timer hook into a good sized hard pulling snapper. Goes something like this: Ed: “I can’t turn my reel handle, uh, why is the line pulling out of my reel? When am I going to be able to reel again?”

Red had been soaking live pinfish with but one nice snapper to show for it. So he went to Ed bait, pogie. Before I knew it, we had taken 10 fish from that spot and I pulled away to save some for another day.

Now, the wind had steadily gotten up to speed and the 2 to 3s turned back into the 3 to 5s of the previous day. The motion of the ocean had taken a toll on one of Marvin’s grandsons and he was down and out for the day. The other young man managed to get in some really nice fish between bouts of the saltwater virus.

After a total of 5 stops we had our legal allotment of red snapper and a couple of triggers. I pushed the MAR-T back to about 14 knots and slogged our way through the building seas.

We had pulled away from the dock at 7 a.m. on the money and I backed her into the slip at 2:00 p.m.. Total trip time was 6 hours. When we got to the dock, there was a 1’ chop in the marina. The wind was kicking.

Ed’s big fish, the biggest he has ever caught, went 17.9#s. Here's a shot with him before he took his prize to show his bride.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/capt_dalton/Fishing/04-22-07Edinpick.jpg[/IMG]

Here’s the rest of the crew with the rest of the fish: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/capt_dalton/Fishing/04-22-07crew.jpg[/IMG] Left to right, grandson #1, Mr. Marvin, Bo, grandson #2 and Red.

Total tally for the day was 28 red snapper and two triggerfish. Total box weight was 164#s.

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