Many people are starting to think about charting a boat for a fishing trip this year. Our good friend, Captain Johnny Greene of the Charter Boat Intimidator, has provided some important fishing dates about the 2011 fishing seasons.  

“For the 2011 fishing season, red snapper will open on June 1 and close sometime in late July or perhaps maybe into August which would have been approximately the same number of days as we had in 2009.

However, there are some changes within our fishery for the 2011 season.  Amberjack is currently open but it will close concurrently while red snapper season is open. It will then reopen August 1 for the remainder of the year.

Gag grouper will open for harvest on October 16th and subsequently close November 15th of this year.  However, other grouper species will reopen April 1st.  At this time, the deep-water grouper such as yellow edge and snowy remain unchanged and open for harvest.

The vast majority of all the deep-water off shore oil rigs are open for to the fishing at this time. Fishing has been good offshore and we’re expecting a banner year.

On the shorter trips for King and Spanish mackerel, nothing has changed. We expect the King mackerel to show up in late April, as always, and the Spanish to show back up sometime in March.

The Vermilion snapper, white snapper and triggerfish remained open year-round and fishing for the species has been very good for 6 to 8 hour trips.

We are currently booking charter fishing trips on the Intimidator for the upcoming 2011 fishing year. We hope you will join us for a fun filled deep-sea adventure this year.”

For more information on Captain Johnny Greene’s Charter Boat Intimidator, visit www.fishorangebeach.com or call (251) 747 – 2872.