Calm seas and good fishing

For the last few days, the Gulf of Mexico has had calm seas with pretty good catches of mingo, white snapper and more hitting the docks.

“It was slick calm … not a breath of wind,” said Capt. Eric Thrasher of the Game On Wednesday.

He and his group of anglers from Missouri pulled in several mingo, white snapper and a few porgy.

Although the seas have been calm, the dolphin and shark have stirred things up.

“We had to battle through the sharks and dolphins today,” said Huntress deckhand Carter Phillips Wednesday.

The anglers from Kansas hung in there and managed to bring in some big white snapper, Almaco Jack, amberine and some big mingo while aboard the Huntress with Capt. Mike Graef.

Texas anglers on the Backlash with Capt. Chris Kirby filled the nails Wednesday with mingo, white snapper and a strawberry grouper. They had a pile of white snapper. The deckhand said they were pulling in the white snapper three at the time on the three hook rigs.

Capt. Brady Bowman and his group from Louisiana on the Bow’d Up brought in a big catch of mingo, white snapper and a bonito. Captain said they hooked about a half dozen or more amberjack, but they were all a few inches to short.

“It was still a good pull,” he said.

Amberjack have to be 34 inches to keep and the limit is one per person.

Maryland anglers fishing aboard the Phoenix with Capt. Joe Quaranto pulled in three amberjack, mingo and white snapper. It was the first time for the out-of-towners to go Gulf fishing and they had a great time.

“Look at the three big fish we got,” one of the girls said of the big ’jacks on the rack.

Texas anglers on the Finest Kind with Capt. Jason Mikel pulled in their mingo, white snapper and few porgy on Wednesday. Deckhand Zach Thrasher said they hooked and released five sandbar shark but not before he took a hit himself. He pulled the hook out of one of the shark and he took a hit in the mouth from the swivel, giving him a fat lip. But he’s okay.

Capt. Stan Phillips backed in with some big mingo and white snapper aboard the Destination.

Tennessee and Kentucky anglers on the Suzie Q with Capt. Casey Godwin loaded up on mingo and white snapper. However, they did come in with a fish tale of sorts. Apparently deckhand Hunter thought they had hooked into a big squid while they were amberjack fishing. However, it was not squid but a 300- to 400-pound shark that had been hooked in the tail and was coming up in the water weird which threw Hunter off. They all had a big laugh when they realized what was happening.

Thursday was more of the same with calm seas and big catches of mingo.

Capt. Graef and his group from Texas filled the top rack with amberine and the bottom with mingo on Thursday.

Tennessee and Oklahoma anglers on the No Alibi with Capt. Chris Schofield pulled in mingo and white snapper, as did the Ohio anglers on the Big Deal. However, the word is “the dolphin is everywhere.”

As a matter of fact, when Capt. Cliff Cox of the Sweet Jody was asked how the fishing was, his reply was “the dolphin is biting real good.”

Dolphin tends to be a problem and love to steal the fish right off the line.

Capt. Josh Glidden on the Just Reel pulled in five king mackerel and one Spanish while trolling live bats on Thursday.

Tennessee and West Virginia anglers on the Just-B-Cause with Capt. Ken Bolden backed in with mingo, white snapper and a Key West porgy.

Ohio anglers on the Mighty Fine with Capt. Bud Miller got their mingo, white snapper and Almaco Jack on Thursday.

Fishing is good and the seas are calm.

See you on the docks.