Overnight Fishing with Orange Beach Deep Sea Fishing Charters like The Intimidator and Captain Johnny Greene
October 21-22, 2010 - The weather was great and we loaded up the Charter Boat Intimidator about 5 a.m. this morning. Captain Johnny Greene and his mate, Barry Bracknell were chomping at the bits to get the Intimidator underway. "Daylight is a wasting" said Captain Greene. The Intimidator was full of fuel and was heading out with a day of serious deep sea fishing in Orange Beach ahead. Nine anglers from the Jackson, Ms. area were chugging down coffee and talking the usual charter boat smack. The traditional competitiveness of the anglers was here and these friends were ready for some serious deep sea fishing.
36 hours of real Alabama Deep Sea Fishing was our goal and we were going to catch some serious fish. The seas were a mild chop and the ride was really nice offshore. After a 2 hour ride, we looked up and one person joked " I think I see Cuba." He was just joking of course, but he was like the others. They were ready to fight some big fish. We made our first fishing reef with the expectation of catching some nice Trigger Fish. Boy were they nice. We caught some that were over 8 pounds and that is really a treat. We moved around the Gulf of Mexico a few more miles and fished for Vermilion Snapper and White Snapper. It seemed we could do no wrong. Everything was going just fine and we had some happy customers.
By mid day, almost all of the guys were tired of reeling in fish. We put them on the fish and they had a blast reeling in one nice sized fish after another. We figured we would try and catch them some Amberjack. Everyone was saying, "Bring it on" and they had no idea that they were about to get more than they could handle.
Barry and Jacob rigged some Amberjack rods with some special live bait that we had caught at the Orange Beach Marina just prior to departure. There is something about using live bait on full day deep sea fishing charters. Big fish like Amberjack live in deep water and taking a full day or an overnight fishing charter is the best way to get a chance to catch them. We dropped the baits below the boat to a count of about 20 mississippi. It did not take long before the first angler was on his knees, hanging on to his rod and reel. Deep sea fishing for Amberjack is more than a thrill ride. It is a fight between one anxious angler and a monster fish that does not want to get caught. Some of the times, the Amberjack get a full head of steam up and catch the angler sleeping and he takes the line to the bottom and somehow wraps the fishing line around the wreck. There is nothing an angler can do, except hang on and break off the fish. Sometimes you get lucky and the Amberjack swims out from the reef and you get a second chance to get the fish up and away from the bottom of the Gulf.
We caught several large sized Amberjacks and we lost some. That is how AJ fishing goes on the Alabama Gulf Coast. One thing for sure, Orange Beach sure does offer some corporate anglers the opportunity to fight some big fish. I like it when the biggest and burliest guy gets hooked up with a nice Amberjack and it pulls his rod and reel to the edge of the boat. A skilled angler can catch these monster fish but a brawny man can quickly be humbled by the fight. Locals call Amberjacks, "Sea Donkey's" because of the hard fight and they kick like a mule when they swish their tail as they pull an anglers drag off a fishing reel as he descends to the depths of the ocean. Either way, watching people catch Amberjack is fun and humbling.
The afternoon Sun was wanting to set down for the day, so we headed to a special area where the water is over 1,500' deep. Did I mention the water was deep? We got to the area where we thought we could catch a swordfish at night. Swordfishing is a wonderful way to pass the night when you are on an overnight fishing charter from Orange Beach. It takes patience and a lot of luck. Swordfish can get to over 1,000 pounds but the average in the Gulf is around 200 to 300 pounds.
Barry and Jacob rigged up some nice sized Northern Mackerel and monster Squid with the 300 pound leader and flourescent lights. We dropped three lines out behind the boat. Each line was at a different depth. We started at 200 feet then went to 250 and the last line was 300 feet deep. We used balloons to hold the baits up on the surface and let them drift behind the charter fishing boat. It did not take but 30 minutes, we saw the balloons jumping and bouncing around. There were two strikes and then the monster 80 wide fishing reels went to screaming. The angler got into his harness quickly and began fighting the monster of the deep. After a 20 minute fight, we realized that we had a real nice Swordfish on the end. It was unique because the Swordfish ate two baits before deciding to swallow the last bait. This was one nice fish but was too small to keep. Captain Johnny gently removed the hook and set this nice Swordfish loose to grow and be caught again another day.
Red Snapper season opened Friday morning and we decided to fish our way back home catching some nice fish. The Snapper population is recovering quickly and the average size is over 8 pounds now. We caught plenty of fish and had a great time with our anglers. Each of our guests were extremely satisfied and happy to get back home to clean their catch. The best thing about fishing with a large group of friends is you get to watch them share memories that will last a lifetime. The comradery among friends and co-workers is phenominal and we aim to please them all.
