Looking for saltwater fishing reports to help you catch Gulf of Mexico fish? "What's Biting" can be your Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama fishing report to keep you up-to-date on offshore fishing in the Alabama Gulf Coast area.

Families Reel in Memorable Experience Aboard Orange Beach Charters

By: John Phillips

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Editor’s Note: Don McPherson, captain of the “Getaway” charter boat, docked at Zeke’s Marina in Orange Beach, Alabama, will fish for any variety of fish. Although Captain McPherson will take any type of group fishing, he specializes in family and blue-water trips.




Question: Don, what will be biting this month?
McPherson: The snapper bite has been really awesome this season. We’re catching more and bigger snapper than we’ve caught in years past. We have tons of snapper in the Gulf of Mexico right now, and as the weather continues to warm-up, the water will warm-up, causing many of the snapper to move in closer to shore. Fishing out of Orange Beach, we catch a wide variety of fish, including red snapper, grouper, triggerfish, amberjacks, vermilion snapper, white snapper and scamp. When you fish offshore, you can catch tuna, wahoo, dolphin and marlin. Generally within sight of the beach, you can catch king mackerel and Spanish mackerel. In July, the current slacks-up and we’ll start seeing that pretty green water bring in the mahi-mahi (dolphin) and the wahoo.

Question: What types of trips do you run?
McPherson: We run from 4- to 12-hour trips. We really enjoy family trips, which generally are 4- or 6-hour trips, because many times younger people don’t want to stay out in the sun all day. On a 4-hour trip, we fish for king mackerel and Spanish mackerel. On a 6-hour trip, along with fishing for the Spanish mackerel and the king mackerel, we also fish out a little further and catch red snapper.

Question: What type of family trips do you take?
McPherson: We take two-parent family trips, as well as single-parent family trips. Because my first mate Gil Havard has three young boys, he knows how to help young people learn how to catch fish. We fish with light tackle, so parents and their children easily can handle pulling in any fish. While Gil takes care of the youngsters, the parents can catch fish themselves or sit back, watch the kids and take photos. Gil really enjoys fishing with young people and teaching them how to fish. If we have newcomers who never have fished before, Gil teaches the parents and the children how to fish together. We try to provide each family with a trip it’ll never forget.

Question: When you fish offshore this month, what will you be catching?
McPherson: We’re catching really-big amberjacks offshore this year. Some of these amberjacks will weigh 90-pounds plus. Although the grouper bite has been off, we’re still catching really-big grouper. Scamp fishing has been very good offshore, and we’ve seen a lot of nice-sized scamp caught out in deep water. Of course, we’re finding big snapper the further out we travel. If you add wahoo and dolphin, you’ll have a great offshore trip.

Question: What will the red snapper do as the water warms-up?
McPherson: The snapper will move closer to shore and be easier to catch. Many times we’ll see really-big snapper caught on 4- and 6-hour trips. You don’t necessarily have to be on a 12-hour trip to catch big snapper here at Orange Beach. I’ve seen fishermen on their first deep-sea fishing trips bring prize-winning snapper to the scales.

To contact Captain Don McPherson, call 251-981-8047, e-mail getawaycharters@yahoo.com, or visit www.getawaygulffishing.com.