Went deep sea fishing on Sunday in Gulf Shores, Alabama aboard the High Cotton . Went with my dad, brothers and their wives, father in law, uncle feddi, and brother in law Jared.

I have been fishing with Capt. Chris for 11 years. He is a good friend, and one of the best offshore fisherman in the area.

Here are some pics, complete details and pics available at Nates Fishing Blog

Now I am really jealuse,why cant I have a deep sea fishing pond?

Looks like a great mixed bag! Looks like a fun day...

Great trip Nate - great catch.
Next time you fish the salty blue let me know and I'll loan you my Sage 12wt flyrod and you'll really have some fun.
When I landed my first 25# class King Mackeral the Captan returned to the marina and told eveyone that guy landed a big fish quicker on a fly rod than he could on a boat rod.
True story - big fish fight the flyrod, not the fisherman.

Big flies on leadcore sinking lines get down to where the monsters live.

Wish I could fish the blue water again but I have the memories.
Thanks for sharing.

Nice haul, Nate. What all of that is good to eat?

Every single fish in those pictures is DELICIOUS!
Amberjack is my favorite- firm meat for the grill.
Grouper is most peoples favorite, my number 2.
Lane Snapper is third
Trigger Fish is 4th
White snapper is 5th

George, we were fishing 200 feet deep on our near the bottom. Although the Amberjacks were only 30 feet down, but still there is no possible way you could land an amberjack on a flyrod! Those fish must have an unlimited supply of steroids they stash some where?

Nice fish, blah, blah. Do these people know NOTHING about the Condello Photographic Method??? Come on Natester, you know the old saying...

Give a person a fish you feed them for a day, teach a person to fish you feed them for a lifetime, teach a fisherman the Condello Photographic Method and you guarantee them "trophy fish" photos.

Nate, I've landed baby Amberjack on afy rod but their mama and daddies are tough customers.
I don't like bottom fishin - I love the jump and runners..

nice report there n8, enjoyed that.

George, I love bottom fishing because you never know what your gonna catch. Besides a yellowfin tuna, the amberjack are the hardest pulling fish I have ever tangled with. A 20 lber will kick my butt with semi-light tackle (60 lb test)

Someday I will hit the big pond with a flyrod in pursuit of some king macks and such, that would indeed be a BLAST! actually mahi-mahi out of the keys would probably be more fun!

"actually mahi-mahi out of the keys would probably be more fun"
They are a blast to catch - we call them Dolphin (fish) and known as Dorado on the west coast.

My Dad and I used to go on annual trips to the East Cape of the Sea of Cortez. Here's dad holding a nice size Dorado (Mahi Mahi, Dophin Fish).

Hey Dwight, notice I'm wearing a Corona shirt?

That's a very nice sized dolphin!

Nate, here's a photo of a fly rod dorado that Brandon Powers caught last summer offshore Loreto, Mexico.

They're so colorful when they come out of the water, but they really fade fast, don't they?

I swear, I have never seen a fish like that all square, how strange. And I hate to say it but JHAP's fish looks like a monster gizzard shad. What is that fish?

I'm guessing a species of trigger fish? Not a real expert when it comes to Gulf Coast fish...

JHAP's fish sure looks like a yellowfin tuna to me.

I wish I had pics of the last few offshore trips. Catching ling (cobia) on bay tackle is an absolute blast!!

We have a winner! It's a Yellowfin Tuna. That's not a particularily large one as far as yellowfins go but it put up quite a fight, well that is if you like manually pulling an anchor up from the bottom. For those that don't know, most of the time when you hook a tuna they swim straight for the bottom. Then you spend quite a while (if my memory serves it took me 45 minutes) hauling the fish up to the boat. Hard on your back and arms.

Dad's Dorado was a great fish. It weighed somewhere around 70 pounds and gave dad quite a fight. It did some terrific tail dancing as he was reeling it in. We took a bunch of trips to the East Cape and fished, had some great adventures, made some memories with my dad that I cherish.

Oh and someone asked, yes they loose the color very quickly after being caught. They are great fighters and they taste wonderful (order some Mahi Mahi in a restaurant and you'll know what I mean).

Jeff, that is an awesome pic man! You nailed the yellowfin fight right on the head. Pretty much torture.

The Dorado however are much more fun and exciting! 70 lbs is HUGE!

George,
That picture of Brandons is so good, it looks fake! I love to eat the Mahi Mahi!!!

You guys must think I'm an idiot, I thought that green fish was a square fish, related to Sponge Bob, my husband pointed out to me that it was the fin!!!!!!!!!! HA HA - he suggested I take my "post off of there." Wow if he learns how to turn the computer on in the future, I'm in trouble.

The adult male Dorado's have a squared off forehead, the females stay more fish (torpedo)shaped.

On one of the 10 day trips that I took out of San Diego was on the Prowler, and Buzz (the captain and owner) had us almost down to Cabo while we chased Yellowfin and Bluefin. IIRC, we ended up with over a hundred YFT, 7 Marlin, countless Dorado, Wahoo and Yellowtail. We'd fish all day, make bait right after dark adn Buzz would be off in search of fish. He usually drove all night and when the sun was starting to rise, we'd be fishing again. My biggest 'hoo was 65# and I even caught one at night while we were catching 25# black skipjack for fun. When the 'hoo hit the deck, it was funny to see the guys scrambling out of the galley to get their rods in the water.

Unfortunately that was before I had a digital camera, and somehow the prints got wet & are stuck together.

We came up on 2 sleeping marlin, and another guy and I had small greenies (mackerel) hooked up and ready to go. Both of us got hammered, and each fish took off in a different direction. Unfortunately, both of us were spooled with 50# line and all we could do is watch it all melt off the reels down to the knot, then POP! both fish were gone. That trip was a blast!

I've always wanted to hop on the Excel, Polaris Supreme or another boat of that class for a 16 or 18 day trip, but never had the chance. Longest trip on the Excel was a 5 day'r.

My first deep sea fishing was off off the coast of California for mackeral. It was from a barge and not really that exciting for me. Here's a couple from a half day off of Kona, Hawaii on my second adventure. We were trolling birds at like 8 knots and the baits were just skipping across the water. I was shocked that the fish would even try to catch a bait moving that fast.

SWEET Ryan!
Some day I would love to go on a 5-10 day trip!

That's funny Esshup, the only time I ever hooked a Wahoo I was trolling squid jigs for bait fish. I hooked one and was reeling it in when a Wahoo took the bait fish. Spooled my reel in a matter of seconds. Those Wahoo are FAST, FAST, FAST.

Unfortunately Ryan the fishing in Southern California waters isn't what it used to be. That's why we alway went down to Mexico.

They say the sailfish is the fastest swimmer, but I think a 'hoo can beat them hands down. I've seen line go slicing thru the water so fast when hooked to a 'hoo that it left a roostertail.
When one was brought on the boat the deckhand would take a billy club and give them a good whack to kill them asap. Their teeth are sharper than you'd believe! I've got a Marauder in my tackle box that has a perfect set of tooth marks in it from a 'hoo. I think they taste even better than fresh bluefin! That's one thing that I really miss living in the Midwest now - not being able to fish on the Ocean.

I agree, but a KIng Mack is a 1st cousin and will make it a close race...

Photos are memories revisited
Looking at Nate’s “Deep Sea “family fishing adventure reminds me of memories from the past, that I can relive with photos with the realization that these days are long gone.
Jeff’s picture with his dad is a precious moment that is recorded on film as well as in his memory, and now can be shared with family and friends.

Nate’s pictures will serve him well.
Thank’s to all for sharing your photos – they are appreciated.

My favorite “blue water” fly fishing trips were on the Moody Blues, a 34 ft twin-engine diesel big game craft that we would charter out of Port Aransas, Texas.
Not for the boat especially, but for the skipper. He was the very best sport charter captain for many years until he retired a number of years ago.

Couple of fly fishin’ buddies and I would make annual trips to the coast strictly for C&R sport fishing, both for “deep sea” and saltwater flats fly fishing.

Y’all have made me go back and find some of my old pictures.
My favorite fish on the fly were King Mackeral and Bonita, which would put on a hundred yard run run on you in the blink of an eye that would melt the drag on bad reel. – and then do it all over again when they see the boat.
Don’t laugh at my dink dolphins – those babies will jump like crazy and are a blast to catch.

We would fish the oil rigs, anchored shrimp boats, and the “Rock”, 30 mile offshore.

Pictures of most fun trip with fidhin’ buddies 1997 - fish on every cast - wore us out that day:



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wow george, that was a blast, great story telling....

nice release posture on that 5th pic.
i've heard you want to catapult the fish in head first, i am assuming to give them a rush of oxygen over the gills.

thanks,

Here's a couple more shots of Kings caught from the Moody Blues on another day - my favorite salty fish on the fly.

i think i remember once tasting king mackeral meat....it was dark like tuna, but oh so much tastier than tuna.

Great pics, great fish, AND you give Brettski's legs a run for their money!

Thanks George! I love the pics and the baby dolphin, at the rate dolphins grow, them pups might only be a couple weeks old! Probably not even weaned yet....

No one is gonna laugh at your fish George. Anybody that catches a King Mackerel or a Dorado on a fly rod is a man's man in my book. I'll bet you've caught more fish on a fly rod than I've ever caught with all the fishing tackle I've ever used put together.

George, you caught and landed all of those Kings on a fly rig? Now George...

Nope, family trip - Stan, Kathy and Nicki cheated and caught theirs on boats rods with "bait" - YUK ...

Now Dave don't make me go search the shoe box for more pictures?

Find 'em and post 'em. I would like to see 'em

There are a couple of Kings on there that would just about destroy a boat rod; much less a sissy stick.

Dave, would you believe that the 25 pond King was caught on a "sissy stick"?
The captain could hadly wait to return to the marina to tell everyone about the guy that whipped a big king faster on a lfy rod than on a boat rod...
It's true, a 12-14 wt 9 ft. blue water fly rod is a beast at fighting big salty critters.

My Sage RPLX 12 wt fly rod is a stick man...
This post belongs on the "Whats YOUR Best day fishing" topic.