This year\u00a0UNT and Texas A&M\u00a0had spring break at the same time.\u00a0 Linda and I took the week off.\u00a0 We all packed out bags and tackle boxes loaded up in our perspective Expeditions and headed for Alabama.\u00a0 Yup, Alabama.\u00a0 Ft Morgan to be exact.\u00a0 It’s west of Gulf Shores and east of Dauphin Island.\u00a0 A small beach community, it has no high rises,\u00a0mostly single family homes and a few condos.\u00a0 The beach was as nice as the state’s beaches 30 miles east (that would be Florida for the geographically challenged).<\/p>\n
As you may know, we have taken many vacations in the Destin Fl. area.\u00a0 We thought we would try something less crowded this year.\u00a0 As a bonus, it was less expensive as well.\u00a0 High on our to-do list was fishing so the island nature of Ft Morgan lent itself well to that activity with both surf and bay easily accessible.\u00a0 Sarah’s boyfriend, Greg joined us this year.\u00a0 I am not sure who was happier to have him along, Sarah or me.\u00a0 Sometimes the estrogen gets pretty think wherever Christy’s gather.\u00a0 Remember, I have 3 sisters 0 brothers.\u00a0 Katie and I gained a fishing buddy and Linda had someone else to carry stuff to and from the car.\u00a0 It was all good.<\/p>\n
In general we had good weather.\u00a0 It was a little nippy and a little windy at times, but we had plenty of sun.\u00a0 We rented a house, it was great.\u00a0 It was well appointed and truely had all the comforts of home plus porches on two levels and a view of the ocean.\u00a0 Here is a link if you want to see it\u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/www.vrbo.com\/264653<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We cooked some food to take with us which turned out to be a good idea on several fronts.\u00a0 We had the food we liked, it cost less than eating out, it was available anytime and it was a long way into town – about 14 miles.<\/p>\n Fishing – I did it every day.\u00a0 Our first day there we (Katie, Greg and I) chartered a fishing guide, Capt Kathy Broughton.\u00a0 It was an afternoon trip.\u00a0 Unfortunately the wind had been building all day.\u00a0 By the time we were out on the water the wind was hitting 20 mph.\u00a0 Not the best conditions.\u00a0 For 3 hours we tried to find fish and some decent water conditions.\u00a0 We essentially failed at both, we caught 1 fish between the 4 of us.\u00a0 No one complained but Kathy felt bad.\u00a0 She offered to head in early and take us out early the next morning when the conditions would be better.\u00a0 She got no argument from us.<\/p>\n The next morning we were up at 5 am so we could make it to the marina by 6:30.\u00a0 Unbeknownst to our captain, the time had changed the day before and sunrise wasn’t for another half hour.\u00a0 We went out into the Gulf to fish the far side of a jetty, it was a great day, very little wind about 58 degrees and a beautiful sunrise.\u00a0 We fished for about 30 min with no luck, so we moved to the other side of the jetty.\u00a0 There was a boat in the prime position so we had to move down a bit.\u00a0 We were there for 5 minutes and Greg caught a fish.\u00a0 Then Katie caught a monster Redfish, then it was my turn.\u00a0 The other boats saw us catching fish and lined up along the jetty.\u00a0 We were pulling them in, one after another, Redfish, Sheepshead, Black Drum.\u00a0 There were at least 5 other boats next to us, some of them no more than 15 yards away – NONE of them got a fish, not even a bite, it was crazy.\u00a0 On boat stopped fishing and just watched us.\u00a0 We started throwing them back.\u00a0 Finally we gave our spot to another guide who was friends with Kathy and went back to the dock.\u00a0 Kathy had some fish cleaning to do.<\/p>\n Katie’s Redfish was 33 inches long, we pulled in the biggest Sheepshead I had ever seen and a Black Drum that had turned my arms to rubber by the time I got it in the boat (we promptly through him back because he was too<\/em> big).\u00a0 It was a great day and it was only about 9am.\u00a0 Just one of the highlights of our vacation.\u00a0 Check out some of the pictures we have posted on Google.
\n