BlueWater Outriggers Fishing Report 5-22-2025
Well, my fishing friends, the time is nigh. The big question is are you going to join in the madness? On this opening day of Snapper are you going to sit in that ¼ mile long boat launch line watching yet another vehicle with out-of-state tags make its second or third attempt to back their boat up in a straight line? All the while the relentless Florida sun is bearing down on the hood of your black Ford like a laser beam and you can see the gulls gaining altitude from the thermals your vehicle is creating. Your “know it all” kids are in the back seat probably on the dang phone that they refused to put down to grant you one second of quality family time on your 7 plus hour trip to the Gulf that you worked your tail off for. Your blood pressure rises to worrisome levels as you try to go through the list of everything you need. Let’s see, swivels, hooks, leader, lead, you got all that. You spy the game warden truck at the boat launch in the distance. Surely he’s going to check you. Let’s see, you’ve got life jackets for sure and a fire extinguisher; throw cushion, yes. What about the flares, are they up to date? Oh well it’s too late now. What will happen will happen, you’ve come too far. “Come on Alabama!” You yell as they start to jackknife their trailer once again. There it is! You got the kiddos to pry their eyes off their stupid phone for one second as they watch their dad become absolutely unhinged in the chaos that is opening day. “Honey!” your wife says, in some vain attempt to bring you back to reality. “I packed your favorite crackers if you get hungry out there and don’t forget to bring the kid’s hats and sunscreen.” Hats? Sunscreen? Crackers? “Has she lost her mind?” you wonder as you finally get to pull up a truck length. The whole lot of them has not one inkling of an idea about all the preparation you’ve put into this trip. Heck, you didn’t even get a wink of sleep in that condo you're paying in the neighborhood of $500 a night for. You were too busy rigging up the rods, checking the boat plugs, the live-well, hooking up the electronics. They have no idea the amount of work! The only thing they cared about was getting you to fork over another couple hundred dollars to take them for a fried shrimp platter at Shipwreck. THEY can bring their OWN sunscreen and hats and if they get sunburnt, well maybe that’ll teach ‘em a lesson. Maybe their phones will get burnt up too and then you can have a little peace around here. You take a deep breath; what is happening to you? Are you really losing your mind? Welcome to the opening day of Snapper Season.
That was just a little bit of fun folks from someone whose grown up in a fishing family. If you’re going to get in it though, it should be a great time. NOAA is forecasting what looks to be wonderful conditions for getting offshore for the next four days. The seas are forecasted to be 1 foot or less on Saturday and Sunday and rising just to two feet on Memorial Day. The snapper should be ready to bite as they’ve had plenty of time to rest and replenish and do whatever snapper do. We know they’re hungry out there. Just a couple of days ago Jake was pulling a deep diving Rapala and had a nice Gag come up 60 ft off the structure to grab it. You can see Jake and his grouper with the Rapala in the picture above. If you get your fill of Snapper early you can head to about 30 miles out and get into some nice blue water to do some pelagic trolling. Here at Bluewater Outriggers we’re stocked up and ready to help you out with whatever it is you may need. From the latest and greatest slow-pitch and deep dropping gear to sunscreen, hats, and crackers, we have it all my friends. We’re here and eager to help you out with anything you may need on this opening day of Red Snapper season. On behalf of Bluewater Outriggers, we wish you a fun, successful and above all else, safe Memorial Day weekend.
I hope to see you out there!
-Jeremiah Beasley