Tilefish readily inhale deep-drop baits.

When you find an area with potential, the first thing to do is record the numbers. That done, set up a drift and see how the current and wind combine to move the boat. Along much of the Florida Keys, for instance, you’ll find the current takes you parallel to the reefline toward the north and east if the winds are light. Finding a ledge that runs in this direction for some distance can offer fantastic fishing, as you’ll maximize your time over productive bottom. To confirm your spot really has some fish on it, you’ll need to make a confirmation drop. It can be very difficult in these depths to mark fish—even those holding a fair distance above any structure—with most recreational sounders.

To save our energy for making record attempts on manual gear, Albury and I made all of our confirmation drops with an electric reel. We had stump-pulling, industrial-grade gear that consisted of a Penn 130 fitted with a Lindgren-Pitman 24-volt electric motor and a bent-butt boat rod specially designed for deep dropping. This is an expensive outfit capable of fishing depths far in excess of those we fished. Other deep-drop reels available from makers like Dolphin, Elec-Tra-Mate, Fish-Ng and Kristal are also quite capable and some are a bit less expensive as well.

Our 130 Penn was spooled with 1,000 yards of 130-pound Spectra to minimize the weight needed to hit bottom and maximize sensitivity for bite detection. The terminal end of the mainline we doubled with a Bimini twist and then secured to a large ball-bearing snap swivel with an offshore swivel knot. Our multi-hook probing rig had three circle hooks about 18 inches apart. One end of the rig we secured to the mainline with the snap swivel while the other end carried a window sash weight to get down fast. We baited up with bonito chunks and pieces of squid.

Once on the spot where we wanted to start the drift, the rig was sent down, allowed to hit bottom, then brought up just a few feet. The idea is to keep the rig very close to the bottom without hanging up and snagging. This requires an angler to man the rod at all times, constantly alert as to where the sinker is in relation to the bottom.

This snowy grouper weighed 22 pounds, only six shy of the all-tackle record.

It’s inevitable you’ll hang a few rigs and let me tell you it is not pretty. With tackle this heavy you basically anchor the boat when you hang a rig. Line just slowly peels off the reel as the boat drifts away. The first thing we’d do to try and free up the rig was to power the boat back upcurrent, getting straight up and down or even a bit upcurrent of the spot, and then increase the drag to the maximum the rod could handle—that worked on most occasions. If it didn’t, we’d continue to hold the boat over the spot, back the drag all the way to freespool, then peel off enough slack line to secure the mainline to a stern cleat. It is simply too dangerous to try any other method to break off this heavy tackle. Once the line was secure on the cleat we powerdrifted with the current until the line parted. You only have to do this once before you begin to pay really close attention to your rig.

Gear for our record attempts was standard, conventional bottom fishing tackle. The only real modification consisted of topping off the reel with 300 yards of 50-pound Spectra. Even in strong current using the Spectra allowed us to drop to the bottom in 700 feet of water with 24 ounces of lead. Now that may sound like a bunch of lead, and it is, yet it’s still far less than you’d need if you tried to drop monofilament line deep. Low-diameter braided line makes all the difference in deep water. Some adventurous anglers go even lighter than 50-pound braid, facilitating the use of deep-jigs on astonishingly light tackle.