Seeing Red

After fishing in Alabama, you'll understand where the nickname "Crimson Tide" comes from.

by Alan Jones

April 1, 2006

Suddenly, everyone on the boat wants Dennis, the first mate, to yell at them. And not in the good-natured way that you would with a workout buddy to get up one more bench press rep, but rather in the precise manner that the Marine Corp drill sergeant, played by Lee Ermey, does in Full Metal Jacket when he finds the Twinkie in Private Pyle's footlocker. Get in our face and bark at us like a dog, we fervently hope ... because if he does, that means we might have a $50,000 red snapper on the end of our line. We aren't greedy either, we just want one that's 1 ounce bigger than the one now flapping on the deck brought in by a stunned and shagged-out Calvin Speegle, who's being vigorously high-fived by Dennis, who's pumped up and yelling, "This one's not coming off the board!"

You can tell that Speegle has a special fish on by the vociferous reaction by Dennis Treigle, the first mate on the Shady Lady. Up until this point, he has been a model of patience, calmly coaching the gregarious gang of mostly postal workers from Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to take control of their fish and make sure they don't head to the bottom, where they'll break your line. Today, he's the busiest guy on the planet, helping out as the crew hauls in one red snapper after another from the pond-like waters of the Gulf of Mexico off Orange Beach, Alabama. Big ones too, although the "teeners" the crew caught earlier are now relegated to "medium" status by the monstrous one that was just caught, which Brian estimates is several pounds larger than the winning fish caught in last year's Orange Beach Red Snapper World Championship, which tipped the scales at 32 pounds. Although he's careful not to raise Calvin's hopes, you can tell Dennis thinks this fish has a chance to take it all in the annual month-long tournament, which stretches from April 21 through May 22 and has a daily entry fee of only $5.

It's a wonder the crew is here catching fish at all, considering what happened in the fall of 2004. When you think of hurricanes that savaged the United States on the Gulf of Mexico, you now naturally think of Katrina, but the year before, a strong category three monster, dubbed "Ivan the Terrible," slammed the coast of Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, leaving a wake of destruction in its path. Ivan, the ninth most intense hurricane on record, was a bizarre storm in a number of ways. For one thing, it was the first hurricane ever to have formed as low as 10 degrees of latitude. Its rate of growth was unbelievable, having been named as a tropical depression on September 2, and three days later, upgraded to nearly a category four storm. After flattening Grenada, where it killed 39, it strengthened to a category five - the highest possible - and took another 17 lives in Jamaica, before weakening slightly to a strong three by the time it made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama. The death toll in the United States reached 25 - including eight in North Carolina. It set a number of records, such as creating the highest wave ever recorded, at 91 feet (scientists calculate there may have been waves as high as 131 feet). Perhaps even more significant for fishermen was the fact that it also created the strongest sea floor current ever, measured at 7.3 feet per second. After making landfall, it went inland all the way to Massachusetts before heading into the Atlantic Ocean where it turned south, reformed as a tropical storm and looped back into the Gulf of Mexico, later hitting Louisiana and Texas - lasting as a named storm for a total of 20 days. U.S. damage is estimated to be $14.2 billion, the third largest total on record.

Less than a year later, you still see signs of the devastation, but what's even more impressive is the massive amount of construction taking place to counter the effects. Almost representative of the effort is the rebirth of one of the most famous landmarks in these parts: the Flora-Bama Lounge - the tackiest, coolest bar ever set smack dab on the boundary between the two states. After a "No tears in the beer demolition/re-build party," it's back up and running. The beach itself took a heavy toll, losing up to 165 feet in spots with an average of 42 feet of beach missing. A massive renourishment program, which entailed a redepositing of 400,000 dump truck loads of sand, began as soon as possible. To re-create the dunes, workers placed used Christmas trees inside small fences - the idea is that they'll catch blowing sand and will, in time, help to provide coastal protection. From the vantage of the eighth floor of the new Seacrest condo, you can see the beach has recovered nicely and has been, for the most part, spared the devastation and misery that Hurricane Katrina heaped on the area just to the immediate west.

Capt. Butch Tucker is your typical charter boat captain - who just happens to have a master's degree in marine biology. Having paid his way through college by fishing for red snapper, Tucker was on his way to a doctorate degree, when he had an epiphany. "When I found out how much they pay PhDs in marine biology," says Tucker, "I went back to fishing." Perhaps because of his education, Tucker is very conservation-minded and doesn't fish in one spot very long - often leaving while the fish are still biting - and on this particular day he moves approximately a dozen times. When targeting red snapper, he doesn't even fish a spot unless he sees large fish. He explains, "I can see the big fish on the depth finder, and I've found that if you leave a spot alone that doesn't have large fish on it, it'll hold more fish later on." The fishing here is nothing short of phenomenal; the crew sees more quality red snapper in the first two hours than you'd typically see on a Florida head boat all day. The reason, Capt. Tucker says, is "The state of Alabama has done a fantastic job with its artificial reef program. Since the waters off Alabama are mostly sandy bottom with little natural reef structure, these reefs have created habitat for the fish where none existed before."

The program started in 1953, when Alabama legislators permitted fishermen to create their own reefs. Later, with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers and a mountain of decommissioned combat tanks, amongst other things, the number of artificial reefs grew. There are now an estimated 14,000 artificial reefs in a 1,200-square-mile area off Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. The results of these efforts are spectacular: Despite the fact that Alabama has only 5 percent of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in the United States with a miniscule 53 miles, it's estimated that between 30 to 40 percent of Gulf red snapper in the United States are caught in these waters. Although Florida - with its 1,350 miles of coastline - likes to brag about its artificial reef program, the number of documented man-made reefs there is probably only around 1,000.

In the months following Ivan, Tucker found that many of the 300 or so artificial reefs he regularly fishes had moved (he has fished more than 4,000 of them). Unlike other charter boat captains, whose businesses were suffering because of the loss of tourist dollars, Tucker took his boat out, with no fishermen on board, to re-acquire the fish. As a result, when the tourists started coming back, he knew where the fish were. On this idyllic day, those aboard the 60-foot Shady Lady have no problem catching their limit of four red snapper per person, and with plenty of time left, they shift their attention to triggerfish, which is one of the best eating fish that swims.

The day before is a great example of how a perfect day on the Alabama coast goes: Have breakfast on the patio of your oceanfront condo; head to Glenlakes and play the Vista/Dunes Golf Course and eke out a win over a noted golf editor; enjoy a quick lunch at LuLu's Homeport Restaurant, a happening little parrot-head-friendly spot owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister; and then head to the dock for some light tackle fishing for another crimson denizen of the shallows, the redfish.

After meeting Capt. Mo Shaver, who's visiting on the dock in Orange Beach with his dad and fellow charter captain, Brent "Hollywood" Shaver, they shove off in a roomy, industrial-strength center console boat, powered by a solo Suzuki DF250 that features a livewell with the capacity of Shamu's tank at SeaWorld. The hunt for bait can be tough sometimes, but today, Mo just heads back into a nearby bay that's loaded with pogies, and they get all the ammo they need in one throw of the cast net.

Moving to a nearby bridge at the inlet, they drop the live pogies down into the depths of a ripping outgoing tide and get their bait stolen half a dozen times before hooking up with a fish that's stripping line off the light spinning reel at an alarming rate. Mo yanks the anchor from its resting spot and drifts out in pursuit. Whether it's author/angler error or simply bad luck, the presumed bull redfish misses its chance to have its picture in a magazine. Despite the action, Mo elects to move to a spot where the current is pounding against a breakwall and is likely to be trapping baitfish there.

The decision to move after hooking up is somewhat puzzling, but as it turns out, Mo knows. In the next several hours, the pair of anglers catches one red after another. Mo's happy because he gets to fish for a change, and there's seldom a moment when the two anglers aren't hooked up. They're the perfect size for eating, so several are invited to dinner. Alabama has a more liberal redfish bag limit than Florida's draconian one-fish-per-person rule and 18- to 27-inch slot limit, which means if you catch a trophy, you have to toss it back. Alabama is obviously still protecting its resource, but allows anglers to keep three fish between 16 and 26 inches. In addition, one of the fish may exceed the size limit, so you can keep your fish of a lifetime if you happen to get lucky. That said, if you want to keep a fish for the dinner table, the smaller ones are better eating.

So how did Calvin's fish do in the tournament? He made enough to pay his $5 entry fee back ... with $9,995 left over. His 36.45-pound, third place red snapper missed first by only 1.55 pounds and was beaten by the second place fish by a paltry one tenth of a pound, costing him $5,000. While Calvin made out pretty well with a $10,000 prize, Capt. Tucker made out even better by winning second in the charter boat pool, taking home $15,000. So how's the fishing in Alabama? Ah ... let's say it's rewarding.

WHEN YOU GO
Despite having such a tiny coastline, Alabama has great fishing for a variety of species, both inshore and offshore. Local knowledge will definitely help here, so even if you bring your own boat, it would be a good idea to spend a day with Capt. Mo Shaver if light-tackle inshore fishing is your thing (251/979-1523 or 251/974-5715). If offshore fishing for red snapper, grouper, or triggerfish is more your speed, Capt. Butch Tucker will put you on them aboard the Shady Lady (850/492-9675 or 850/380-3321).

GOLF
There's plenty to do here in addition to fishing. If you love to golf, Alabama has many beautiful courses without the exorbitant green fees you see in other resort locations. Craft Farms has several challenging and well-manicured golf courses, like Cypress Bend (800/327-2657), rated the #1 most playable new course by Golf Digest, and Cotton Creek (800/327-2657), another favorite designed by Arnold Palmer. Glenlakes' Vista/Dunes golf course (251/955-1220) is one of the best values in the area with a Devlin/Von Hagge layout that will challenge your game management.

DINING
Gulf Shores
This area abounds with great dining for any budget. The Bayside Grill (251/981-4899) serves fantastic wood-grilled seafood, ribs, chicken and steak with a Creole-Caribbean flair. LuLu's Homeport Restaurant (251/967-5858), with its tropical atmosphere, is a great place on the Intercoastal Waterway to eat or just hang out, rehydrate and listen to live music. Owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister Lucy, can you guess why cheeseburgers are a featured item on the menu?

Orange Beach
Gulf Bay Seafood Grille (251/540-2526) features seafood done right with oysters on the half shell, mesquite grilled fish, po' boys, and a combination platter that lets you sample a little of everything. Calypso Joe's Caribbean Grille (251/981-1415) is an eat-out-on-the-deck kind of place that not only has great seafood and other island favorites, like jerk chicken, but often has live music. The parents will love the kids' menu, and the kids will love the hermit crab races.

WHERE TO STAY
This is one place you'll want to hear the words, "going condo." Kaiser Realty (800/225-4853, kaiserrealty.com) has almost 200 condo units to rent and can even put you in one of more than 100 homes for your dream vacation. Prices for oceanfront properties are surprisingly affordable, and all feature kitchen facilities so you can cook up your own catch of the day. - A.J.