Last Updated Wednesday, April 02, 1997
This is where we spend most of our fishing time...offshore. Here on the west coast of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico is mostly a great, barren sand desert. This is both good and bad. The bad part is that you just can't go anywhere, drop a line and expect to find fish. You have to go find them. The good part is that the fish are generally concentrated in specific areas. They tend to congregate around items of structure. This includes:
Ledges are fairly common and probably the easiest to find. They are remnants of ancient shorelines and typically run in a north-south direction. If you have a decent bottom machine, you can find a ledge fairly easily by running a westerly course and watching the machine. There are some major breaks about 12 miles out. If it's a weekend, and you've found a major ledge you probably also found a lot of other boats. These aren't exactly secret spots. The better ledges for fishing are generally the smaller breaks of 1-2' which don't run very far. They're a little harder to find which also helps keep the pressure on them to a minimum.
This is a nice gag grouper caught off a ledge about 20 miles west of Clearwater Pass. The area has
a lot of break lines and big areas of hard (limestone) bottom. It's also a well known spot and gets hit very
hard. Larger fish like this one are rare to take in this area, but culling through the smaller ones is always fun!
Gag grouper, commonly (and mistakenly) called Black Grouper, are one of our prime targets in ledge areas. Gags congregate in areas which have some relief to them such as ledges, wrecks and artificial reefs. Red grouper, a fish with far less intellect, don't seem to care much for these areas and instead prefers hard bottom with occasional holes. These areas are commonly referred to as "swiss cheese" bottom which is a pretty good description. While gags are a nicely proportioned fish, a red grouper is about 50% head, making them the true "geeks" of the grouper clan! Taste-wise, they are hard to tell apart (we can't) and both make excellent table fare whether fried, grilled or blackened. The fried grouper sandwich is a staple for most of the seafood restaurants in this area.
The size of the ledge doesn't seem to have much to do with the size, or numbers of gag grouper that
will be attracted. The grouper that Dave Roberts (that's a hogfish in Dave's left hand) and Jay are holding
up were taken from a very small area of undercut ledge and rubble. The highest relief on this spot was
only 1 to 1-½ feet. The fish won't always be right on the ledge, either. They often school up in fairly
tight groups over hard bottom patches on the top of the ledge, many times 20-50 feet away from the
actual ledge itself.
Other fish which you can commonly expect to catch while bottom fishing around ledges include:
This is a nice catch of amberjack Alan Ross and Jay made off an old barge about 35 miles
northwest of Clearwater Pass. Amberjack, often referred to as AJs, are a very strong fish and
one of the few jacks that are actually edible. Some local seafood joints call them "gulf tuna"
(ha-ha). AJs can have a pretty strong flavor, but by removing the dark red meat along the lateral line and
marinating the filets, they do grill up very well. They are also excellent blackened. We caught these
fish by drifting over the wreck with the current and drifting live sardines about 20-30 feet down. The
school stayed with the fish that were hooked and we wound up catching a limit by always leaving one
fish in the water. We had difficulty catching bait that morning and caught less than a dozen sardines
and pinfish. It turned out to be all we needed though and we had our limit in less than an hour.
AJs are roamers and sometimes a wreck will be loaded with them, other times not a one. A
few weeks after Alan and Jay caught those AJs, they returned with their wives, Meredith and Cheryl,
to let them enjoy a few pulled muscles trying to land a fish or two. Not an AJ was to be around,
however Meredith soon found herself struggling with a large cobia that had taken up residence on
the wreck. It took several minutes before the fish even showed and it eventually broke off right
at the boat! We were all disappointed, since we hadn't had much action up to that point and
everyone had seen that it was a big fish. Nearly an hour later, Alan was hooked up with a big
fish that we did manage to land. It turned out to be the same cobia that Meredith had hooked
earlier with the hook and tag of line firmly embedded in the fish's upper lip! The fish weighed in
at just under 35 pounds and there was plenty of filets for everyone. Cobia have extremely firm,
white flesh and are excellent on the table. It's rare to find it offered in a restaurant, but when
you do, buy it!
Other fish which are more common around wrecks include barracuda, snapper and permit. We've yet
to catch a permit, but barracuda aren't hard to find. Sometimes you wish you could stop finding them!
We often lose fairly large amberjack to a hugry 'cuda. It's a little un-nerving to pull in the front half of
a fish which is larger around than your thigh and has been sheared in half with one strike from the
barracuda. Many times it will be waiting right beside the boat, as if asking (demanding?) that you
return their fish!
This barracuda was taken during a night fishing trip for snapper. We didn't catch any snapper that night, but this big boy certainly woke us up! We were both a bit surprised to catch a barracuda on a pitch black night. It seems when you're at the top of the food chain, midnight snacks are available. Barracuda are fun to catch and put up a good fight, their table quality is questionable and they have been linked to ciguatera poisoning. They also have a very strong musty odor which is unmistakeable. We think it's better to let them go, but be careful! Those teeth are big and sharp, so it's often easier to cut the line rather than risk injury over a 50 cent hook. If the fish is too wounded to release alive, you can use them for cut bait. Sharks have a strong appetite for 'cuda filets.
In addition to bottom fishing, trolling is also a very productive method for fishing. It's also much
more enjoyable on days when seas are dead calm, there's no breeze and it's 95 degrees. Almost any fish
can be caught trolling, but some are more common than others. King mackeral (Kingfish, or Kings)
are one of our favorites. They are speedy, readily take a bait (usually) and excellent on the grill.
Larger ones, 20 pounds and up, are often referred to as "smokers" for their ability to run long
distances while making your drag scream, heat up and start to smoke!
This smoker king didn't follow the kingfish code. It was caught on a glass calm day in the middle of July while bottom fishing for grouper. We could see several large fish running through our chum slick. Cheryl caught a large grunt and Jay hooked it through the back and free-lined it into the chum slick. Almost instantly four large shapes began to circle the hapless bait. It knew the end was near and went into convulsions which prompted an immediate strike! As big as the fish was, it couldn't fight for long against the heavy gear we were using for grouper and was soon gaffed and placed in the fish box.
Kingfish are caught on a variety of tackle, the most common being trolling spoons on planers. We think the better fish come on live bait and the action is a lot faster. Live bait can be almost any fish, including some fairly large blue runners. Horse minnows are a favorite and slow trolling one anywhere near a kingfish is an almost certain strike.
Another fish which is generally caught trolling is the dolphin. No, not Flipper, that's a mammal
not a fish. Seafood restaurants often call it mahi-mahi to avoid any misunderstanding. It's excellent
grilled or blackened. Dolphin are extremely fast growing and biologists claim that a 50 pound dolphin
is probably about six years old.
Cheryl caught this 22 pounder while trolling off of Looe Key. Dolphin are extremely beautiful and brightly colored fish. When fighting, their color almost seems to be electrically powered. The color quickly fades after capture and they look horribly drab back at the dock.
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