High Flying Kingfish

Night Time King Mackerel Action

On Thursday, leading up to a three day weekend, my nephew called me looking to go saltwater fishing.  It's the third weekend in July and that just happens to mean the biggest show in fishing is going on in Dauphin Island Alabama.  The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo is billed as the biggest fishing tournament in the world.  If I'm not fishing the rodeo then I usually try to avoid it.  On Thursday evening I checked the weather forecast for the weekend and its typical rodeo weekend forecast, rain and more rain all three days.  But it seemed that Thursday night was the one exception with a clear sky and calm seas.  I asked my wife Jennie and nephew Chase if they would like to try some night fishing in the gulf?  Both agreed and we left out about 08:30 pm.  After several stops for gas and bait we made it to the Fort Morgan launch around 10:30 pm.  We found a black, star filled sky.  The oil platforms dotted the bay with many colored lights of all shapes and sizes.  We made our way in a westward direction to the mouth of Mobile Bay.  Past the old bouy marking the site where the U.S.S. Tecumseh hit a floating mine and sank on 5 August 1864.  But on this night the Civil War fort was silent and we crept out into the Gulf of Mexico to find a light filled horizon.  It's hard to believe the number of gas drilling platforms in the water south of the Alabama coast.  It's a true fisherman's paradise.  We made our way southeast and picked out a rig three or four miles off the coast.  The waves were slowly rolling and about 1' high so perfect conditions for our 17' Cape Horn.  

Gas Drilling Platform

Chase got a good set on the rig with our 12' rig hook and the fishing began.  The excitement started early with huge splashing all around the rig and soon after Chase spotted a king mackerel in the air.  The fish were rocketing 10-12' in the night sky blowing up the bait on top water.  We set our drifts with balloons and not long after the action started.  Jennie had the first hookup which ended with the king in the oil platform supports.  Chase had a run 5 minutes later and landed a 25lb king. We had the first fish of the night in the ice chest.   

Jennie and Chase.

Night fishing at the oil platforms is a really cool experience.  The gulf is full of life and most of it is well represented in the bright lights.  We saw big groups of squid and huge schools of manta rays coming through the light's.  The kings kept blowing the water up and killing the baits. They seemed to be running in schools and several would rocket out of the water and then the lines would scream from the reels with another fish on.  We fish using steel leaders about 2' long with a swivel on top and a double hook set up.  The first hook has a trailer hook so you can get one in both ends of a cigar minnow.  We usually set the drifting bait out under a balloon, it's thrilling to watch the balloon pop when a fish takes the bait.  Around 2:00am  we starting making our way back to Mobile Bay with a bright red moon filling the sky.  

Jennie Byrd with a nice King Mackerel

We had our limit of fish and a great time cooking them the next morning with family.

Jennie, Chase and Shelby holding King Mackerel

 Question or comments:

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