LAST CAST
HOOKED ON REDNECK AQUACULTURE I don’t live in Alabama. But I can see it from here. Literally.
fshing. He fgured $400 was a good investment to buy a
Just a half mile across the water is Ono Island, Alabama. My
little local knowledge. Unfortunately, the fsh weren’t biting
home is on Perdido Key, Florida. I can (and do) actually swim
that night, so the guide, who wanted a happy client, got
to Ono, right across the border between the two states.
drastic. “I usually don’t do this,” he told the doctor, “but I feel
Usually I take the boat.
bad about getting skunked, so I’m going to take you to my
Around here, people fsh a lot. The Gulf of Mexico is
favorite honey hole. I always catch fsh there.” Sure enough,
in our backyard, with everything from mullet to mackerel
as they pulled up to a long dock with a bright blue light
inshore, snapper to grouper midshore and tuna to blue
shining on the water, the fsh were hitting the surface and
marlin ofshore. The back bays are full of trout, redfsh, more
the doctor was getting excited. “This is it? This is your honey
mullet, tripletail, founder and the occasional run of tarpon.
hole?” he asked. “Sure is,” the smiling guide replied. “I told
We can even take the boat far enough upstream to catch
you. It’s guaranteed.” The doc looked at the guide and said, “I
bass in freshwater. Basically, it’s a cornucopia of fshing.
hate to tell you this, but this is my new house. I just paid you
One of our most popular fshing quests came about by
$400 to bring me fshing to my own dock.” True story.
FRED GARTH
accident. Some years ago, waterfront homeowners started
For the past 25 years, Fred D.
putting high-powered streetlights on their docks to ward of
someone would come up with waterproof lights that
Garth’s articles have appeared in
rascals who liked to steal small outboard engines while they
you can sink to the bottom and entice game fsh to come
numerous books, magazines and
were founder gigging late at night. Even if the foundering
investigate. I’m open to trying anything that will make a
newspapers around the world.
wasn’t too good, the motor gettin’ was always pretty steady.
fsh eat.
Read his blog at: GuyHarveyMagazine.com.
Then, folks noticed that fsh liked to gather around
We night-fshing goblins knew that inevitably
Above-water lights shine down on top of the fsh so you
the lights and a few inventive dudes began mounting
can see their color—the silver and black spots of a speckled
streetlights about three feet of the water. Now, as I sit
trout or the copper fash of a redfsh chasing bait. Fish
on my porch swing—no kidding, I actually have a porch
illuminated from below become watery shadows gliding in
swing—I can count a couple dozen lights on docks at Ono
and out of darkness. Sometimes they seem gigantic when
Island. Most are either yellow or blue. My quick estimation
they swim a few feet away from the light, kind of like a hand
is that the yellow light to blue light ratio is about 50/50—
puppet casting shadows on a distant wall. When a monster,
probably something to do with Auburn and Alabama fans.
two-foot-long shape chasing your lure turns out to be 10-in.
I’ve tossed many a DOA shrimp and Clouser minnow into
juvenile trout, that’s just wrong.
the yellow glow and blue glow and caught fsh. There is no color bias in my fshing. Bottom line: lights work. Case in point: years back, a
Regardless of the nuances of blue, yellow, underwater, above-water, etc., the end result is that coastal residents have created what is essentially a bunch of personal
wealthy doctor from Montgomery bought a sprawling beach
aquaculture ponds. In a state known for agriculture, we
house on Ono and decided to hire a guide for some night
now have our own version of redneck aquaculture. I’ve seen
