MONSTER HAUL OF RED SNAPPER
The “Hog Wild”
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: During 30 days of fishing in the spring of 2004,
more than 8,000 anglers on 95 boats participated in
the Orange Beach Red Snapper World Championship and
caught big snapper with more than 28 of them weighing
over 25-pounds each. This year’s Championship
will take place April 21 – May 20, 2005 with headquarters
at Zeke’s Marina. Total tournament monies will
be $500,000 with a $200,000 bonus if a new world ‘s
record red snapper is caught, but anglers only will
pay $5 per fisherman per day to enter the tournament.
All proceeds from the tournament will go to support
the building of public reefs and conducting red snapper
research. You can buy tickets to participate at Blue
Water Ships Stores in Foley, Ala., Outcast Bait and
Tackle in Pensacola, Fla., and in Orange Beach, Ala.
at J&M Tackle, Orange Beach Marina, Outcast Marina,
Sam’s Stop & Shop, San Roc Cay Marina, Sportsman
Marina, the Rod Room, Top Gun Tackle, Trent Marina and
Zeke’s Landing Marina. To learn more about the
Championship, visit www.gulffishing.net
where you also can see a list of captains and their
contact information; or call: (251) 981-8565; the Orange
Beach Fishing Association at (251) 981-2300; or the
Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.orangebeach.com)
at (800) 745-SAND.
 According
to Frank Garrett of Cantonment, Florida, who fished
on the charter boat, “Hog Wild,” with Captain
Ronnie Hogue out of Pensacola, Florida, during the tournament,
“I’d never fished with Captain Hogue before.
But my nephew from Kansas had heard of him and asked
me to meet Hogue and charter his boat for a family fishing
trip. We were fishing about 85-miles south of Pensacola
in about 180 feet of water when I caught a 30.70-pound
red snapper to take second place in the tournament and
win $15,000, plus $250 for the biggest fish of the day.
I caught the fish on a frozen cigar minnow that I’d
hooked through the eyes. I really thought I’d
hooked a grouper because the fish kept trying to get
back to the bottom.”
Hogue’s customers had caught big snapper before
over this natural bottom. As Hogue explained, “My
boat had caught a 35-pound snapper on this same spot
in 2003. I only fish for big snapper at this place once
a year. This site hardly even shows up on a bottom machine,
and that’s why the big snapper are there. This
spot is so unique that most  fishermen
run past it and never fish it.” Hogue fishes with
the same type snapper rig as Greene, except instead
of using 80-pound-test main line, he prefers 130-pound-test
main line. “I want the heaviest line I can possibly
use to get a big fish up,” Hogue emphasizes. Also
Hogue utilizes a somewhat different strategy for hooking
a big snapper. “To catch big snapper you must
make sure the snapper never feels the line until the
bait’s deep enough in its mouth to get a good
hook set. I tell my anglers to let their egg sinkers
lay on the bottom. Then when one feels a snapper bite,
he needs to allow the fish to take the bait for a little
while before setting the hook. Remember, the egg sinker
drops to the bottom and will arrive at the bottom before
the bait does, which means the bait will be well up
off the bottom, even when the sinker’s on the
bottom. When the snapper comes up to take the bait,
the baits on a slack line. So, the fish doesn’t
feel the line when it sucks in the bait. Then you can
start reeling to fight the fish.”
Hogue believes that this technique produces best when
you’re fishing on a natural bottom. However, when
he’s fishing artificial reefs and wrecks, he instructs
his anglers to reel their lines up to about 5 to 10
feet off the bottom before starting to fish. Hogue’s
secrets for catching big snapper include that an angler
must …
* “be on at least a 12-or a 14-hour trip or an
overnight trip to have enough time to fish enough spots
to try to catch a really big snapper.
* “fish big baits, like an amberjack fillet, a
whole live mangrove snapper or a large whole dead herring.
* “use heavy line, because I believe you need
strength in the line to move a big snapper.
* “fish big-snapper spots. A captain who fishes
long enough in the Gulf can and will learn where big
snapper live.”
Captain Hogue won $15,000 for taking second place in
the tournament because he’d entered his boat.
TOMORROW: THE “THERAPY”
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