Thread: Greatest Week Ever

Well, after a 12 hour trip home (I 65 was a nightmare and I 10 was, too) and a busy, great Sunday yesterday, I finally have a minute or two to upload a few pics from our week. I had all five of my kids and all 10 grandkids in Orange Beach last week to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Now that alone made for a special time, but add in the pier experiences and it was a significant icing on our cake. We got up every morning at 4 AM for the trip over, and most mornings stopped by J&M first. Every time I'm around that place I marvel at the overall class of JohnG, his family, and his staff. It's an example of what an outdoor store should be -- hands down the best fishing store I've ever been in. Even at 5 am they are friendly and helpful (even when I couldn't find a ribbon rig right where they said it was).

We fished until 10ish every day, Monday through Friday. We caught good fish every day and lost kings every day. Some were sharked, some we lost from being inexperienced. One son and one son-in-law had never fished the pier with me before and the both caught kings.....big kings. We had broke lines, ate through leaders, inexplicable hook pulls, and several fish sharked. Tuesday was our slowest day, but a guy with a different color xrap (olive, the one JohnG says is the best) hooked up five times. Thursday was fairly slow but we still hooked up on some good fish -- just didn't put any on the deck. Wednesday and Friday were our best mornings with multiple kings and multiple king hook ups. Friday was the best king run I've seen in Gulf Shores since the fall of 2015. I think, if we could have stayed, that we would have caught several more and busted them off. I did that on a couple of hook ups myself. Thanks to you all who made this trip so great...and to our Lord Who "gives us richly all things to enjoy."

Kody Kings.jpgKody Sharked.jpgKory Nick Kings.jpgKody Red1.jpgFriday kings.jpg

Rich I am glad you had such a great week. It is a fun place to spend time with the family. You forgot to mention God blessed us with a beautiful weather week as well.
You are right about I-65 what a long parking lot it is. We left Saturday and what normally takes 5 hours took us from 10 until 7:30. Even with the traffic I would do it all again. As a matter of fact I am doing it again next week. Until I see you again Rich, God bless you and keep that family growing. Before you know it you will be doing the same thing with your grandkids.

Thank you Coach. It was great to meet you and get to fish with you. I'm cooking kings this morning for mack salad to take to the shelter where my wife works. Staff and kids all love it and ask for it every time I go fishing. They will make a gallon or two disappear really quickly. I envy you guys who live closer....but hey, my extra four hours doesn't keep me away much. If I can scrape together enough $$$ and three days of what looks like good fishing wind/tides...I'm on my way. Enjoy next week. Catch fish. Post pictures.

Sounds like you guys had a blast! What part of 65 was the issue? I'll be taking it next week when I head down...

Originally Posted by Nimakdm

Sounds like you guys had a blast! What part of 65 was the issue? I'll be taking it next week when I head down...

Everything from around Atmore to Birmingham that I can vouch for. Under construction intermittently on both sides. Expect delays. Lots.

Congrats on the 40th Anniversary .

That’s a long stretch of Highway to be under construction.

Well that's my next Thursday drive... Spending the day in Mobile before hitting Gulf Shores Saturday.

Thanks for the heads up!

It was good to meet you. So happy the fishing improved from the first of the week. Traffic cost us 2.5+ hours on our trip home Saturday.

Originally Posted by Rich1

If I can scrape together enough $$$ and three days of what looks like good fishing wind/tides...I'm on my way. Enjoy next week. Catch fish. Post pictures.

I could help with that this September