FISH FLASH: Odd fish, big fish and more fish

It’s been really fishy along the harbor this week, with fish hitting the docks left and right.

Texas anglers on the Silver King with Capt. Alex Hare came in Wednesday with a rack full of mingo, white snapper, king mackerel and amberine.

Tennessee anglers on the Outta Line with Capt. Trey Windes filled the nails with 10 king mackerel. The limit on mackerel is two per person.

Mississippi anglers on the Striker with Capt. Bill Williams came in with a mix of mingo, black snapper and white snapper.

“It was nice, nice, nice,” Capt. Williams said on the water Wednesday.

It was mackerel and mingo for the group aboard the Sea Fix with Capt. Phillip Blackburn.

The High Cotton with Capt. T.J. George at the helm and his group from St. Louis came in Wednesday with a king mackerel, mingo, white snapper and a porgy or two.

Capt. John Gibson and his group on the Gulf Breeze came in with several stringers filled with mingo and white snapper. They even had a strawberry grouper in the mix. A strawberry grouper is usually pretty small and covered in little red strawberry spots. This one looked to be about 2 pounds.

The Wahoo with Capt. Matt Behnken backed in with an about 20-pound red grouper, along with several mingo and white snapper on Wednesday.

Capt. Jason Steele and his group on the Barracuda pulled in a 25-pound king mackerel and a cobia that weighed about 40 pounds.

“We were trolling,” Capt. Steele said. “The mackerel are firing back up after the full moon.”

Anglers on the Just B Cause with Capt. Ken Bolden came in Wednesday with a king mackerel, mingo and white snapper. Word is they released a bunch of red snapper. The last day for red snapper was July 16.

Georgia, Texas and Illinois anglers on the Miss Nautica with Capt. Jimmy Miles came in Wednesday with a king mackerel, mingo, white snapper, black snapper and bonito.

“Fishing was pretty good,” Miles said. “The mingo was a little slow after the full moon.”

Capt. Paul Cox on the Al-Le and his group from Texas and Tennessee reeled in mingo, amberine, bonito and white snapper on Wednesday.

Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming anglers on the Sure Thing with Capt. Paul Cornish came in Wednesday with some mighty big mingo.

“It was easy fishing today,” Cornish said. “We live for days like today.”

Ohio anglers on the Shamrock II with Capt. Eddie Dykes also loaded up Wednesday on the mingo and white snapper.

“I had some good fishermen today,” Dykes said of the folks from Ohio. “When the horn blew, they were after it.”

Fishing seemed to be just as good if not better on Thursday.

Capt. Eric Thrasher and his group from Georgia on the Game On came in with a limit of king mackerel on Thursday.

“They decided to bite today … they got hungry,” Thrasher said.

Alabama and Tennessee anglers on the Fish-N-Fool with Capt. Casey Weldon came in with a smorgasbord. They had a blackfin tuna, mingo, lane snapper, white snapper and a dozen king mackerel on the racks.

Ohio anglers on the Sea Winder with Capt. Chris Couvillion came in with a good mix of grouper. They had scamp, two red grouper and a gag grouper. They also had mingo, amberine and white snapper on the nails.

“We had the right bait, right people and right seas,” Couvillion said.

Texas and St. Louis anglers on the Windwalker II with Capt. Bernie LeFebvre came in Thursday with four kings, along with mingo and white snapper.

Arkansas anglers on the Backlash with Capt. Chris Kirby reeled in king mackerel, some big mingo and a few bonito on Thursday.

“It was a like a pond out there today, but hot,” Kirby said of the water conditions.

Anglers on the Vengeance with Capt. Nathan Putney came in with five kings, mingo, scamp and white snapper, while the Al-Lin with Capt. Harold Staples at the helm pulled in kings, mingo and white snapper.

Although they had plenty on the racks, Capt. Staples said they released a lot of fish as well.

“The triggerfish are every where,” he said. “We were catching two at the time.”

Triggerfish are currently closed and will not reopen until January.

South Carolina anglers on the Big John with Capt. Todd Allen had the oddest fish of the day. Alyssa Swiss, a first-time angler, pulled in an African pompano. It looks similar to the pompano we usually see here in the surf, but bigger. Captain said it was the first one he’s ever seen or caught on his boat. In addition to the pompano, they had grouper, amberine, white snapper, mingo and bluefish.

The No Alibi with Capt. Chris Schofield came in with six king mackerel, a pile of mingo and a blackfin tuna.

Kansas City anglers on the Special K with Capt. Kyle Lowe came in with a limit of kings and an Almaco Jack.

“We were trolling live baits about four miles out,” Lowe said. “They wanted herring today.”

The biggest catch of the day that this reporter saw came in about 6 p.m. Thursday aboard the Twilight with Capt. Robert Hill. The group of Mississippi anglers pulled in five-and-a-half grouper, three scamp, two Almaco Jack, a big black snapper, king mackerel and some huge mingo (weighing about 3-pounds each). The group had been on a 12 hour trip.

Fishing is good and getting better.

See you at the docks.