What Happens on a 24 Hour Tuna Trip

Ever wondered what it's like to go on an offshore fishing trip for 24 hours? How far could you go? What type of fish are out that far? Do you get an extra man (or woman) card issued automatically upon return? We spoke with Captain Benjamin Troxel to find out all about it!

Heading Out

Get all your beauty sleep because the boat doesn't leave the dock until

noon the day of your trip. Glide out of

the bay and wave to all the people who wish they were going. When you get past the Perdido Beach Blvd bridge and are in open water find a seat and hang on, it's about to get fun.

Bait

In this part of the trip, Captain will guide you to spots to catch live bait fish. Once the live wells are full of bait fish, we start heading south to find the big monster fish.

Fishing Begins

Now that you're full up on bait fish and have traversed the ocean, it's time to get down to business. A few hours before the sun sets we arrive to our first fishing destination. This is in the blue water usually next to one of the plentiful offshore drilling rigs that the fish use as an artificial reef. Alabama is home to the nations largest artificial reef system, covering approximately 1,060 square miles of water, providing many pelagic fish species with habitat and food source. While at the rigs Captain Benjamin likes to, " jig, chunk, troll, throw top water, and use live bait to catch tuna such as yellowfin."

Night Falls - The Fun Begins

As night falls on the gulf, you will enjoy the lights of the rigs and the stars. Normally between sunset and midnight the top water activity is intense. All types of tuna are blowing up on the surface. Between midnight and 3 am you will experience a lull in the tuna bite, but don't worry, it's not over yet! There's a possibility to set a night time swordfish bait and make a long drift. This is a great time to get a bite of food or take a nap and recharge. Get ready because, "these are not your run of the mill fish. A 5 pound black fin tuna will make you sweat, so if you hook an 80 pound yellowfin it's quite a workout," says Captain Benjamin.

Early Morning Workout

Around 4am we are back at it. This is what Captain calls "live bait time." Most of the big tuna are caught from around 4-6 am. At about 7:30am we take a group vote to either stay a few more hours and fish or head north to under a water cliff. Here we try our luck deep dropping for grouper, tilefish, and other deep water species.

Heading Back

By 10am we are pushing back north and heading home. Depending on time allowed and season we typically stop to try our luck on some red snapper before heading back to the marina.

Although this is the typical protocol for 24 hour fishing, there's a high probability of seeing other amazing things. "Rare rice whale, shooting stars, huge pods of dolphins, sea turtles, the list is endless," says Captain Benjamin.

If you want to be a part of the fishing fun, book a walk on 12 or 24 hour trip or choose from our 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, or 24 full trip! Check out our options! Call or text us at

(251) 215-1371

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