We went out on a 4 hour on The Waterdog. Tom's guy did a great job. Tristan and Tyson were a great captain and deck hand. It was me, my son, my fiancé and her 11 year old daughter. We ended up with 40 beeliners and 2 keeper snappers. The tax man and barracudas collected a few. Funniest quote of the day was from the deckhand talking to my fiancé's daughter after she had 2 get got by a shark and barracuda. He told her she had to reel faster to get them up before the sharks got them and then said "I'd like to say I'm joking...but I'm not." We all laughed and she cranked up her game. LOL! Overall a great time and everyone was pretty wore out. Those guys are like a machine filleting fish.

Nice!

Nice! Them beeliners are some good eatin!

Very nice
This is at Orange Beach and how much $$ ? Was that out of behind Zeke restaurant or on down behind the lagniappe or where did y’all go out of ?

4 hour b about right for us

Nice mess of fish and lots of fun for the younguns. Every time I see someone post a table full of Beeliners it makes me think about just how good we had it back when I bottom fished, way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Everything on that table except the two Snapper would have gone in the livewell or filet board for bait. That biggest Beeliner I would have fileted the tail/backbone out of, hooked through the lips and sent straight back down. It was just about my favorite bait.

I’ll take a Mingo over a red snapper any day. Nice haul!

Me too!!

They also used to use Redfish for chum. Lol! Trigger fish also used to be part of your reef aggregate.

nice catch..

I will take a Trigger fish over pretty much anything other than a Scamp. When I would clean the fish after a trip with someone who was not a regular ride, I always handed them the "good" Red Snapper, as thanks, and I kept those nasty old Triggers for myself. I don't think I ever ate a Beeliner aka Mingo, so I may have been missing out. I do know large Snapper and Grouper liked them a lot, and that was what we were looking to catch. First stop of the day was usually at at a shallow wreck to put 20-30 of them in the baitwell. I remember when filleting them out for bait the meat seemed soft/mushy. I think they were more of a West Coast thing as far as being an eating fish, at least back then, because I would see photos of them in Florida Sportsman, but I really do not remember anyone I ever fished with on the East Coast keeping them.

Yep....Beeliners are quite soft. I like them okay FRESH.....But due to softness....they don't freeze very well.

We had some last night. Pan seared in olive oil and garlic butter. Fish was seasoned with Old Bay, salt & pepper. We liked it.

You have to get them iced asap or the meat will be mushy. I usually put saltwater in with my ice to make a slushy. That works great

We’ll skull, Tom is a childhood friend of mine and I showed him this post, he grinned and did the Ard head shake. Told me a little history and instructing them to burn extra fuel to make it a fun trip. Said there might be a little present heading their way. Guys, don’t think a four hour trip this time of year is common, skull created a relationship with a captain. We’ll off to have a retirement party the best captain of all times, best mentor, and the man that pushed me into the tackle business, Bobby Walker.

Nice. Looks like a good time

Bobby Walker is/was hands down the best Captain in the area. Never went on a bad trip with him, and he didn’t stock the box with small fish either. We fished an old garbage truck he said he dumped over 35 years ago, it was incredible fishing. My old company used to book him first 3 days of snapper season every year. I also had an awesome AJ trip with him

Yes sir!