July 12, 2026

Birthday Barracuda — Chris's Reef Trip Off Alligator Light

Some folks celebrate birthdays with cake. Chris’s crew booked a boat.

Mark, Chris, Lily, and Ivy drove down from New Smyrna Beach to put Chris on something for his birthday. The plan was simple: head to the reef, find dinner, find a fight, and not necessarily in that order.

The Reef

We set up in about 100 feet of water off Alligator Light looking for yellowtail, and we found them — but the ocean wasn’t giving anything away easy. The current was absolutely screaming up the road, and the weed was nonstop. Every drift, you’d crank up a salad. Getting a clean bait down and keeping it in the zone was a wrestling match all morning.

Snotty is the word. Not dangerous, not unfishable, just snotty. The kind of conditions where every fish you put in the box feels earned.

We managed to pick enough yellowtail for lunch, which is all you really need on a half day. Nothing heroic on the numbers, but every one of those fish was a battle against the current and the grass, and the crew stuck with it.

Lily, Ivy, and Mark with the yellowtail catch at Robbie's The crew showing off the yellowtail haul back at Robbie’s. Not a bad way to spend a birthday.

The Birthday Fish

With dinner sorted, we went looking for something bigger — something to make Chris’s birthday reel sing.

Didn’t take long.

We got Chris hooked up on a big barracuda that gave him exactly the fight he came for. Those things are all teeth and speed, and when they decide to run, you just hold on and let the drag do the talking. Chris handled it like he’d done it before. Solid fish. Big grin. That’s the shot right there.

Back to Robbie’s

We ran it back to Robbie’s with yellowtail in the box and a birthday barracuda story to tell. Half day on the reef, conditions that made you work for every bite, and the birthday boy got his moment. Can’t ask for much more than that.