Summer Time - Going from the Woods to the Water

June 27, 2016
Gulf Shores, Alabama


It's the time of the year when most sportsmen make their way from the woods to the water. I've enjoyed all types of summer-time fishing but nothing compares to fishing offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Gulf of Mexico waters that are located off the coast of Alabama are known as the world capital of red snapper fishing. Red snapper are one of the most popular fish to catch in the Gulf of Mexico. This is mostly due to the fact that they are so tasty. The current red snapper record in the state of Alabama was caught in 2002 and weighed 44 lbs 12 oz. I've never seen a snapper that weighed over 30 lbs and I can't imagine the endurance it would take to get a fish like that in the boat. Although, my brother was able to successfully land a 29 pounder in 2012. We all thought he was joking when he was struggling to keep the rod upright. It only took 15 minutes of intense fighting for everyone on the boat to realize that he had something huge on the line. This is still the largest red snapper that was caught on the Fairwater II docked at Zeke's Landing. 

This year was not unlike the years past. I was able to take a deep sea fishing trip out of Zeke's landing with my dad and my brothers, Joseph and Garrett. This was our first trip on the Class Act and we were excited to start reeling in the fish. We had motored out about 20 miles when we stopped at our first reef. Alabama has the largest artificial reef program in the United States that spans over 1,030 square miles. Needless to say, there are no shortages of good fishing spots off the coast of Alabama. Next, the captain squawked over the loudspeaker that we could start fishing. We dropped our cigar minnows and cut bait down through the water column towards the bottom-dwelling red snappers. Snapper are not only prized sport fish but a favorite target for sea predators like sharks. For this reason, the larger red snapper will be higher in the water column and the smaller fish will be deeper, taking more cover on the reef or structure. We caught our limit of snapper and headed to "trolling alley". Trolling alley is what the local fishermen call a series of submerged concrete pillars. These concrete pillars hold bait fish and provide a perfect ambush scenario for open water predatory fish. We had enough time to make 4 passes through trolling alley and were able to catch 2 king mackerel. We headed back to the dock with an ice chest full of fish. 

July 27, 2016
Emerald Isle, North Carolina

I was fortunate enough to take two deep sea fishing trips this summer. The second being a near-shore trip with Teezher Charters. I was excited to be able to fish in the Atlantic ocean for the first time. The day started early when Louis, Hunter, Parker and myself met Captain Bobby at the dock. We loaded the boat and headed out. 

We didn't make it past the marina when we stopped to catch bait. Captain Bobby threw the cast net net and tossed hundreds of finger mullet into the back of the boat. We picked 25 of the largest fish to use as bait and threw the rest back. We then ran down the intracoastal waterway and though the breakwater in route to the the first fishing spot. The first fishing spot was a submerged rock about 8 miles offshore. We were going to be fishing with light tackle for king mackerel. Light tackle fishing is a finesse form of fishing that allows the bait fish to have little to no resistance from the fishing tackle. This limited resistance allows the fish to swim freely and appear more natural. We set 4 lines, 3 baits on the surface and one bait at 20 ft. on the down rigger. We caught several small sharks on the down rigger before we hooked our fish king mackerel. The first king swiped the surface bait that was closest to the boat and began tearing line out of the reel. We fought the fish for a few minutes before we got him in the boat. We landed 2 ten-pound kingfish and headed back to the marina. This was more than enough meat to grill and feed all of the families that were on vacation. We grilled all of the fish that night and had fish tacos which ended up being one of the best meals we had all week. 

Science of Reloading

January 9, 2016
Baton Rouge, Louisiana & Beaumont, Texas

The science of reloading is as old as shooting itself. Reloading can be beneficial for several different reasons including increasing the precision of a cartridge while lowering the cost per round. 


I recently started loading my own ammunition in an effort to increase my long range precision. I've always been interested in long range shooting proficiency but it became a necessity after I booked my first West Texas mule deer hunt in the fall of 2015. The guide for my upcoming (2016) West Texas hunt prefers that the hunting party be comfortable and proficient at shooting up to 500 yards. At 500 yards, there are only a few factors that affect the trajectory of the bullet, mainly, bullet drop and wind speed. 


For the past 10 years, I have shot 130 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertips out of my Remmingington model 700 .270 with great success. I took the last of my silvertips to the range today in order to get a baseline grouping. I wanted to have a factory-loaded group at 500 yards so that I could compare the results with the customer loaded ammunition. There was a decent left-to-right cross wind at the range today which pushed all of my shots off-center. The grouping measured 7" from the farthest points. I am hoping to get a grouping below 5" with my new custom ammo. 

My first cartridge that I chose to load was a 140 grain Berger Very Low Drag (VLD) hunting bullet loaded in .270 Remmington brass and Alliant reloader 17 powder. The Berger VLD bullet is a jacketed bullet whose design reduces the effect of wind drift by 27% at 500 yards over the silvertips. The 140 grain bullet has a longer length that allows for increased spin stability at longer distances. I was also able to increase my muzzle velocity by 50 fps while staying below the manufacturer's recommended maximum chamber pressure. The increases in long range bullet stability and muzzle velocity should provide for a much more potent hunting load for my hunting trip later this year. 

West Texas Whitetails

This year I had the privilege to go on a West Texas hunting trip. I was invited on the trip by my good friend and co-worker, David. He had a spot open up and I jumped at the opportunity. We set out with the intentions of hunting mule deer and aoudad for the first time. We had to change our plans midway through the hunt and I was able to kill a very nice West Texas whitetail and aoudad ewe. I used my new GoPro camera throughout the trip to make a short video of the hunt. I hope you enjoy!

December 4, 2015

Terlingua, Texas 

We started our trip hunting on a property near Terlingua, Texas for mule deer and aoudad. This was our first experience with Midwestern plains game. This is a very different style of hunting than your traditional whitetail hunting. Hunting Midwestern plains game means spending most of the day hiking and glassing for animals. December 4th started before dawn as we made our way to the 'Red Knob.' The Red Knob was the name of the mountain that we would be hunting the few days. We saw a few trophy aoudad ram early in the morning but we wanted to hold out for a trophy mule deer. We hiked and glassed all morning and put a stalk on a few mule deer but we never saw any quality deer. We were nearing the end of the morning hunt when we came up on our last herd of aoudad and the guide allowed me to shoot an ewe so he could have the meat. The shot ended up being 267 yards and I was very glad that I had spent time at the range before the hunt. Aoudad, also known as Barbary sheep, are native to the mountains of North Africa and have been introduced to West Texas. The alpha male in an aoudad herd will have a darker coat than the other and will have a mane that reaches down his neck. These animals are more aggressive than the native big horn sheep and are considered a nuisance for that reason.

December 6, 2015
Sonora, Texas

I was able change hunting properties midway through the hunt and go after a West Texas whitetail. I drove to Sonora, Texas to the Shurley Brother's Ranch which is a MLD level III property. A MLD permit is only issued to property owners that implement the most strict deer management practices. I was able to punch my tag on a huge West Texas whitetail my first afternoon. This deer was the most dominant buck in the area that I was hunting. Earlier in the afternoon he had fought a smaller 8-point running him out of the area. I knew the rut was in full swing when I shot my deer only because he was chasing a doe. I was able to see several mature bucks and doe during my short time at this ranch.

Thanks to Muley Mike and the West Texas Hunt Organization for a great hunt!

Goose Hunting in Maryland

November 28, 2014
Havre de Grace, Maryland

I recently got a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt Canadian geese in Maryland. I went to Baltimore to see my Fiancé’s family for Thanksgiving and my future father-in-law was kind enough to plan a goose hunt for us. So I packed my gear and brought it on the 1,450 mile trip to Maryland. The hunt started at 4 AM when we met up with Joey of Joey Jobes Gunning Decoys at his local shop and headed for the duck blind. It was a bitter cold morning, especially for a southern boy. It was about 27 degrees when we started setting out the decoys before dawn. We were hunting on a small pond that had not seen any goose hunters during the 2014 season. We huddled in the blind that was made out of short pine and cedar branches and waited on the first geese to make their way to our pond. 

The first wave of geese came through twenty minutes after daylight. The first wave was around 200 geese. The geese were coming from local farms where they were feeding throughout the night. Joey began to call the geese with various goose calls when we could tell the geese were contemplating landing in the pond. The first wave was easily fooled and attempted to land in the pond. We waited until the very last second before we all stood up and emptied our shotguns into the flock, dropping no geese. I'm not sure if we were not shooting accurately, jittery from excitement or distracted by the number of birds but there was a moment of silence after the flock left where everyone understood that we needed to shoot better. We had several flocks come in on the pond throughout the day and these flocks were much smaller averaging 3-4 birds. We had much better luck shooting the geese out of the smaller flocks. The 13 different hunters sharing our blind were able to kill 23 different geese that day. This was a very exciting hunt, one that I will never forget. 

We took several geese home and Joe prepared them for dinner the following night. The meat was excellent - not too tough and the flavor was not too strong. The meat was prepared two ways: one with orange juice and one with wine. The meat prepared with the orange juice was the group's favorite because it was the most tender. This was one of the most exciting hunt I've been on to date. Joe even got me a Canadian goose replica for a wedding gift. Thanks Joe!

Sight Fishing Redfish in South Texas

October 25, 2014 
Port Lavaca, Texas

It was a long trip down to Point Comfort. I was in Point Comfort to train at a local petrochemical plant and luckily, I had my best friend with me for the entire trip. We decided to find a local fishing charter because we heard that there was great fishing in the local bay. We found a guide through one of our plant contacts and booked the fishing trip. The guide’s name was Sonny and we met at the dock before sunrise. This is the first fishing trip that I had been on with Dylan. We started out early in the morning and I was able to snap a couple of pictures as the sun was rising. I thought it was very interesting that the bay was only 2-6 feet deep even though it was miles from one side to the other.

We started the morning by using corks and live shrimp to catch schooling trout. This is the first time that I had fished for trout so we made sure to get as much information from the guide as possible. The first fishing spot was a rock jetty reaching out into the bay. The guide informed us that when a school of trout is feeding that they continually regurgitate and eat the bait fish. So, we spotted an area along the rocks where there was an oily slick on top of the water indicating that the trout were feeding in the area. We popped our corks and landed our limit of trout by midmorning.

The guide then took us around the outskirts of the bay in hopes of catching some schooling redfish. We swapped out tackle to spinning reels with gold and silver spoons. We were in extremely shallow water and the guide was on the tower of the boat. We were sight casting the redfish when the guide would spot the fish from the tower. This was much more difficult than catching the trout. The guide caught one redfish which didn’t fit into the slot limit so we had to release him. We bounced around the rest of the morning trying to find schools of redfish. We caught several redfish but only one fit into the slot limit. By midafternoon our arms were sore from catching so many fish and we headed back to the dock. This was one of the best fishing trips I have ever been on.

Offshore Business

September 14, 2014 
Corpus Christi, Texas

Port Aransas 

There are perks to traveling for business. I was able schedule an offshore fishing trip with some of my new co-workers. I started a new job working for a chemical company in Texas shortly after I graduated from Auburn University. I started the chemical company in an entry-level training program with nine other chemical engineering graduates. We were split into groups to travel around to various oil refineries and petrochemical plants. I was traveling in Corpus Christi, Texas with Jeff and Christian when we got to do a little offshore team building. 

As with most fishing trips, we started for the dock before daylight. There was an 80% chance of rain and the sea conditions were expected to be 5-6 foot swells. This is usually the limit for when the chartered boats will stop the trip and stay at the dock. We took a ferry over to Aransas island where we bought our one day saltwater licenses and waited for the captain to load the boat. While we were waiting a monsoon type rainstorm started battering the dock. The wind was blowing the rain nearly horizontal. We passed around a few looks of possible regret but no one was ready to quit on the trip just yet. Thankfully, the rain subsided after about 20 minutes and we loaded the boat. After passing the break water, we knew we were in for a rough day of fishing by the size of the swells. We motored out for about 2½ hours until the brown, costal waters of South Texas turned into the deep blue that you would expect to see offshore. Even the foam on top of the breaking swells was blue. Most of the trip included dodging the 15 different sea sick passengers on the boat. Sea sickness is due to the conflicting information that your brain is receiving from the rocking of the boat and the still horizon. 

We started our day drift line fishing for king mackerel. We used light weights and baited our hooks with cigar minnows. We all fished from the same side of the boat and let out about 150 feet of line. This allowed the minnows to drift away from the boat and stay suspended in the water column. We hooked up with several bait fish and then the kings started piling in the boat. I landed a 3 foot king and then we moved spots and started bottom fishing for reef shark. I was the only person in our group to land a king but both Christian and Jeff brought reef sharks home. We finished the day with a 2 ½ hour nap on the way back to the dock. We got a couple of recipes from the deck hand on how to prepare the reef shark. He told us to fry the fillets and use salsa to make a reef shark quesadilla.

Thanks to Captain Kelly's Deep Sea Headquarters for a great fishing trip!

Whitetail Hunting in the Mountains of Northern Michigan

Grayling, Michigan

This hunt was a hunt that young outdoorsmen dream of; a hunt where you travel to another part of the country in hopes of killing a trophy. We encountered lots of cold weather, deep snow and some northern whitetails.

November 22, 2012

We loaded up Jonathan’s truck last night so we could get on the road early this morning because it’s a fourteen hour drive to the property that we’re hunting in Michigan. We stopped 3 times for food and gas – there was nothing stopping us from getting there as soon as possible. The drive started in a moderately cold Alabama driveway and ended in a few feet of snow in Northern Michigan. We could feel the temperature dropping as we made our way across the country. We drove late into the afternoon on a highway through northern Michigan, missing our exit by about 30 miles due to an intense blizzard. 

Later we found out that this was due to the lake effect from the nearby Lake Huron. This was a blizzard beyond what I had ever seen and Jonathan was doing his best to keep the truck on the road. There were countless vehicles crashed into the snow banks that were accumulating on the sides of the highway. Backtracking to the right exit took us over an hour driving in 4-wheel drive and never getting over 40 mph. This was the nail in the coffin for our truck’s transmission. We barely made it to the right exit when the truck wouldn’t shift out of 1^st gear. Luckily, BP, the man we were hunting with, picked us up at the exit. We made it to the hunting camp very late that night. Tired and cold, we had dinner with BP and one of his buddies. BP is one of Jonathan’s great uncles and we were hunting at his camp. Needless to say, we slept well that night.

November 23, 2012

We woke up early, around 4:30 AM, in order to get some breakfast before our first morning hunt. We found out quickly that in order to stay warm in temperatures around 0°F requires consuming mass amounts of calories. After finishing off about 2 dozen eggs between the four of us, we headed to the snow blinds. The blinds had to be heated with propane so we wouldn’t freeze while we were hunting. It was a very cold morning and no one saw any deer. This gave us time to head back to town and get Jonathan’s truck put in the shop to have a new transmission installed.  

Needing some success out of this adventure we took back to the woods that afternoon. I ended up spotting two doe work in and begin feeding on the corn and doughnuts that we used as attractant. Yes – doughnuts, the deer loved eating the doughnuts and could smell them from miles away in the cold weather. Not knowing what type of deer management strategy they had for the property, I passed on the doe in hopes of a Michigan buck. Later I found out that BP wanted us to take as many doe off of the property as possible. That night we settled back into the cabin and prepared to ride out the cold night with the wood-burning stove. The cabin’s only heat source was a wood-burning stove in the center of the cabin. We had no electricity just a few light bulbs scattered throughout the cabin that were lit with propane. We had running water that came from an outside deep well. This meant using an outhouse for seven days and no showering. In order to take a shower, we had to pump the well with enough pressure to reach an outside shower head. Then, we had to get the shower running before the water froze in the pipe going to the shower head. Like I said - no showering for the week. Jonathan attempted a shower once and we ended up unfreezing the water hose on the wood stove. He got his shower and said it was all worth it.

November 24, 2012

The next morning provided the same results as the last: lots of food, cold weather, deep snow and no deer activity. By this time we realized that the deer were moving closer to dark in the afternoon and throughout the night because it was too cold for them to stay bedded. Later that afternoon, I had some success with the same doe that fed the evening before. I was able to take a mature doe that I had seen the previous afternoon. We packaged up the deer and waited until the next day to process it for the meat. This wasn’t a problem because the outside temperature was equivalent to a deep freeze. 

November 25, 2012

Instead of cleaning my deer at daylight we decided to hunt for a few hours and tackle the task of cleaning a deer in near sub-zero temperatures later that morning. This proved to be a good decision because Jonathan was able to take a mature 6-point at daylight. These deer were much different than the whitetail that we were custom to seeing in central Alabama. They had much thicker fur coats and the meat was full of fat. We also noticed that the deer had much shorter snouts, this was to help them burrow in the snow for the underlying food. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the two deer and scouting the property on four-wheelers. The rest of the trip provided no more deer activity but we definitely made some memories. Jonathan was able to get a new transmission installed and it took us all the way back to Alabama. We still joke about not showering for a week and all of the vehicle issues. We haven’t been back to Michigan as of today and no plans to go in the near future.