Two trips, one playbook
Alabama's deep water is a long run from the beach, and the fish at the bottom of it are worth it. These are two trips our team made there: one with Chad Busiere, Derek Engle and Ryan Smith, and one out of Dauphin Island a few months later, with Ryan and a crew that included an angler fishing his first slow pitch setup.
Both days followed the same logic: start where the fish are biting, go deeper when they aren't, and pick the jig by depth.
Red snapper to start, then deeper
The first trip opened on red snapper, and the boat was done with them in under 30 minutes, all solid fish. The plan was big scamp next, but the scamp wouldn't bite and amberjack were all over the jigs, so the crew made the call to go deeper.
At about 800 feet the longtail bass turned on right away, with a double and a nice scorpionfish mixed in.
Golden tilefish at 1,100 feet
Next stop was 1,100 to 1,200 feet for golden tilefish, and they were home. Ryan hooked up as soon as he hit bottom and landed his first golden. Then things got strange: a big fish came unhooked about 100 feet from the surface, and a few minutes later it floated back up, dead, with the 540 g STRYKE still in its mouth. It weighed 23 lb. Derek added an 18-pounder, and by the end of the stop everyone on board had a golden tilefish.
That's the STRYKE 540g, the jig behind most of the deep fish on these two trips.
Barrelfish, the bucket-list fish
The last move of the first trip was to 1,000 feet for barrelfish, a long-time bucket-list fish for Chad. The screen looked right. Derek came tight first, then Chad, and when the first fish surfaced the whole boat shouted it: barrelfish. The second one was a barrelfish too, a double and a milestone for both of them.
On the second trip, out of Dauphin Island, the crew went straight for them in just over 1,100 feet. With almost no current Ryan could have fished lighter, but he went with the 540 g STRYKE in yellow anyway, because he had fished there before:
The first one to the bottom has a huge advantage.
He hit bottom, gave it two pitches and was on. He sent it right back down and hooked another. By the end of the first spot, the boat had four barrelfish, all on jigs.
A first-timer's day
The star of the second trip was Tim, who had just bought his first slow pitch setup. On one spot, in three drops, he landed his first yellowedge grouper, a massive bearded brotula and a huge scorpionfish. A legal cobia came up as a bonus for the boat.
Back toward the island, the red snapper were thick. Ryan landed a new personal best, 25 lb, on the DEEP 300g in yellow, then tried a 320 g WYLD for yellowedge, but the snapper wouldn't let anything else get to the bottom. They were out of season that day, so every one went back after a quick photo.
What to know about deep dropping off Alabama
- Know your depths. On these trips: longtail bass around 800 feet, barrelfish around 1,000 to 1,100, golden tilefish at 1,100 to 1,200.
- Be first to the bottom. A heavy jig that gets down fast gets bit first, even when the current would allow a lighter one.
- You need drift to find tiles. On a day with no current or wind, the crew couldn't cover enough ground to find the big ones.
- Have a plan B. When the scamp wouldn't bite, going deeper saved the day.
All of these jigs live in our slow pitch jigs range.
Before you go
Seasons, limits and permits for Gulf reef fish change often, and Alabama has its own licensing rules. Check the current requirements with Alabama Marine Resources before every trip.
