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John's Journal... Entry 90, Day 5

Other Gulf of Mexico Species

click to enlargeEDITOR'S NOTE: You still can fish at the Gulf of Mexico off the Alabama and Upper Panhandle of Florida coasts and catch numbers of various species whether or not snapper season is in or out. Plan now to fish this fall at the Gulf of Mexico once snapper season ends.

The meat and potatoes for out-of-red-snapper-season fishing include triggerfish, vermilion snapper, white snapper and an occasional gray snapper. To catch these fish that feed from the bottom up to 6 to 10 feet off the bottom, fish a Berkley Inshore Power Tube. The Power Tube stays on the hook longer, which means you can keep it up off the bottom longer and catch more fish. Cut bait and dead bait also will produce these bottom feeders, but you'll have to rebait more often. Small hooks and small baits trigger not only the most strikes but also yield the most fish brought onboard.

click to enlargeWhen you want to catch fish for your table, I can't think of any better-tasting fish than the triggerfish. Once considered a trash fish, today the triggerfish commands the same price -- if not a higher price -- as the red snapper -- around the country. After removing the leathery hide of a triggerfish, you'll enjoy its tasty, light, white meat. Generally, before and after red snapper season you can catch plenty of triggerfish.

More than likely you'll have a difficult time finding a captain and a boat on the weekends -- or even on weekdays -- during red snapper season. But when you fish out of red snapper season, you generally can fish with the captain on the boat you want to fish with almost anytime you venture out into the Gulf of Mexico.

"A lot of anxious charter-boat captains are more than willing to go fishing when snapper season isn't in," Pfeiffer reported. "You usually can get a better rate, which means a less-expensive trip, when you fish out of red snapper season. On an in-season weekend, I charge $1,000 for eight people for a 10-hour trip. During the off-season, that same trip will cost between $600-$700.

click to enlarge"Like other captains, I also tend to stay out a little longer during the off-season to make sure my customers get plenty of fish, since they can't keep the red snapper. I want my customers to be happy and have a good time during the off-season. That encourages them to come back again either before or after red snapper season."

In 2001, I fished the last Friday in March with Captain Pfeiffer and 11-other anglers. We couldn't have had a better trip. We rarely fished for more than five minutes before several anglers had fish tugging on their lines. We caught and released more than our limit of legal red snapper -- throwing back probably twice that many undersized red snapper. Too, our group took a number of triggerfish, grouper and other bottom-feeding species. In that one day, the 11 of us reeled in 200 to 250 pounds of fish -- enough for a fantastic fish fry that night with plenty left over to take home. If you like to saltwater fish and don't mind not keeping red snapper, consider bottom fishing before and after red snapper season. Make your plans now.

click to enlargeFor more information of booking an out-of-season 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 visit the website at www.visitpensacola.com.

 

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about Fishing With Captain George Pfeiffer ...

Day 1 -Saltwater Fishing Off Pensacola, Florida
Day 2 -The Trysler Grounds -- One of the Best Bottom-Fishing Areas Near Pensacola, Florida
Day 3 -More Productive Fishing at the Trysler Grounds
Day 4 -More Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico
Day 5 -Other Gulf of Mexico Species

John's Journal