More Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

EDITOR'S NOTE: Even when snapper season isn't open, you can catch plenty of fish with Captain George Pfeiffer at the Gulf of Mexico in the Orange Beach, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida, region.

Michael O'Neal from Birmingham, Alabama, almost needed ankle straps to prevent his getting pulled overboard when we fished with Captain George Pfeiffer recently. His rod dove violently toward the bottom as he fought to pull a fish to the surface. His drag screamed, as his reel reluctantly gave up line. When the drag stopped slipping, O'Neal reeled frantically to gain ground on the fish.

O'Neal's wife Summer started a cheering section for Michael, but before she had time to become too enthusiastic, her rod tip lurched downward. She caught her breath and started to wind furiously. In a few minutes, Michael O'Neal brought a triggerfish the size of a garbage-can lid over the side of the charter boat "C.A.T." While he unhooked his fish, Summer O'Neal landed an 18-inch red snapper -- a fish long enough to meet the 16-inch-minimum snapper length limit.

With its bright, blazing-red sides and head, pearl-colored belly and white flaky meat, the red snapper has become the most-sought-after fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, restrictive bag and size limits today mean anglers catch and keep fewer of these bottom-feeder beauty queens than in past years.

The National Marine Fisheries Service now implements a snapper season for the Gulf Coast's federal waters that runs from April 21 until October 31 each year. State waters in Alabama open a week before federal waters do, but they close on the same day. Once the red-snapper season closes, generally very few anglers go bottom fishing. As a result, saltwater anglers lose almost half of the year of fishing -- unless they fish out-of-season. Many fishermen define out-of-season as the time of year when they can't keep the red snapper they catch.

To learn about fishing in the Gulf of Mexico to catch species other than snapper, I chartered a trip with Captain George Pfeiffer of Pensacola, Florida, on the charter boat "C.A.T.," based at the Florabama dock on the Florida/Alabama state line near Orange Beach, Alabama.

Captain Pfeiffer fishes in and out of snapper season and keeps bent rods on his boat throughout the year. Even during closed snapper season, Pfeiffer and his anglers can fish the Upper Gulf Coast and catch large numbers of a wide variety of fish. Before, during and after snapper season, you'll encounter plenty of grouper on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico in man-made holes and artificial reefs. Anglers along the Upper Gulf Coast have sunk numerous grouper condominiums -- barrels lashed together, pipes tied in bundles or other artificial-reef material designed to create a habitat for grouper. Many captains go out in the Gulf before and after snapper season and experience phenomenal days of grouper fishing. Besides grouper, you also may catch scamp and amberjack on some deep-water spots before and after snapper season.

"In November after snapper season closes is usually when we catch lots of big amberjack, especially if the weather stays warm," Pfeiffer reports.

When you fish on a reef off the Upper Gulf Coast in the early spring or the fall, you'll have a good opportunity to take king mackerel and/or cobia. Cobia usually begin their run in mid-March off the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coasts and continue their migration to the mouth of the Mississippi River until mid-May.

Since king mackerel generally arrive later in this region, you probably won't catch a big king mackerel in the early spring. However, late in the fall, anglers will encounter as many large king mackerel along the Upper Gulf Coast as anywhere in the nation.

Most charter-boat captains I've spoken with, including Pfeiffer, suggest that you double-down when you fish out of snapper season. "In the spring before snapper season opens, we usually put out a fly line with either a live bait or a whole cigar minnow on it, no lead and a hook tied straight to the main line," Pfeiffer explained. "The main line generally will be 30-pound-test monofilament. We'll cast the bait well out past where our anglers are fishing on the bottom and try to catch amberjack and cobia. But, if the line breaks, we'll reel in quickly, tie on wire leader, rebait and cast out for the king mackerel that has evidently cut the line. At most of the larger areas we fish, we'll keep a king mackerel, a cobia or an amberjack on the fly line most of the day."

If you plan to fish at the Gulf of Mexico this fall after snapper season ends, start planning now for the best fishing success then. For more information about booking a fishing trip with Captain George Pfeiffer on the C.A.T., contact him at (850) 432-0337. To learn more about hotels and other accommodations as well as restaurants and sites of interest, contact the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 968-7511 or go to the website at www.gulfshores.com; or call the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce at (800) 874-1234, or go to the website www.visitpensacola.com.

TOMORROW: Other Gulf of Mexico Species