Wreck Fishing

January 16, 2020 By Florida Sportsman

Recent offshore fishing reports from the Southwest region.

Wreck Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

The ending to 2019 was pretty awesome. We had a bunch of great trips and stud fish caught. The wreck fishing was on fire for edibles, and hopefully wont slow down anytime soon. The weather forecast said it was going to be bumpy, but with only one available day to get out, off we went! We pushed out to 100 ft and worked the area. We were rewarded with some nice, fat red grouper for the box. We landed quite a few really nice lanes were caught that were released.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Venice Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: bigfinn35

We decided to head over to a wreck and some nearby rock piles in 110', and just have some fun with snapper, jacks, and whatever else was biting. We decided upon drift fishing after a few failed attempts to anchor. I was excited to try out the new slow-pitch jigs that had produced well on a Hubbard's Marina trip last month. As I expected, the jacks were all over them. Probably hooked 20 of them, but only got eight or nine to the boat without pulling the hook, breaking the line, or paying the numerous tax men I could see about 20 feet down. There was a ton of surface action on some roaming bait pods. My dad put a pinfish about fifteen feet down that got smoked by a large tuna of some variety. It could've been a monster bonita, but a blackfin was certainly a possibility that far out. After making some impressive runs on a 6000-sized reel with 65 pound braid, that fish was also unfortunately sharked.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Red Grouper Out of Red Fish Pass

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

The plan was to run out to grouper numbers that had been good producers before Irma and red tide made a mess of the fishing. We would be in 90 to 115 feet of water. Squid and 8oz to 12oz white jigs were our choice baits, as calm as it was, you needed a lot of lead to stay near the bottom. There was a grouper bite and we boxed a couple keepers and a number of shorts. It was so nice and calm, we decided to run out deeper to 130' and deeper to some snapper numbers I had archived. They were were all vermilion and red snapper shorts it was a lot of catch and release. Enough of this, time to box some grouper. We ran back towards shore which was 60 plus miles away. Bingo, we found good hard bottom and got our three man limit. And boy it was hot, hot, hot. The biggest fish were 28" to just under 29 inches.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Big Bites Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We pushed on out and our first drop was for some red grouper in 100 feet. There was almost zero current and no wind, but the bite was on fire. We got the two man limit in under 20 minutes. We headed out a bit deeper to a wreck in 130 feet of water. It was non-stop action from the time we got there until the time we left. Dropped down some big tomtates to the bottom and it was instant hookups to good-sized amberjacks. Keith had the hot-hand and landed some stud fish. The 'cudas were thick and a lot of flatlines got cutoffs pretty quickly. Watching the fish take the baits off the surface is always really exciting! We had a bunch of hookups, several doubles, some came unglued, some made it to the boat for quick pics and releases.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Southwestern Bites

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina & larrywitt

"The great weather continued for the last two days and made smooth rides in and out. It has been incredibly hot out there. As for the bite, it has been pretty darn good. Lots of bonus fish these past few days." says Capt Dan Medina.

"Boy, was it hot out there. The seas were flat the only wind was when we were running. It was lane snapper after lane snapper. I deployed frozen chum and after a short time the spanish showed up it was cut off after cut off, but some made it to the cooler." says larrywitt. For full details check out the reports below.

Click here to see Capt Dan Medina's report.

Click here to see larrywitt's report.

Snapper and Grouper

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We ran into a nice ball of bait out in the 60 foot range. We picked up about 100 live spanish and scaled sardines, along with a couple runners for good measure. A handful of pins and squirrels rounded out the livewell. We pushed out and made our first drops in 100 feet of water. Despite an amazing show on the fishfinder, only a few small red grouper were brought up. We switched it up and made a run a few miles away. We dropped down different baits and again, only some short red grouper coming up. We moved another quarter mile and we were promptly rewarded with some nice fat mangrove snapper. The big one of the day went 22". The bite slowed down and I made another half mile run to some more grouper grounds. The tide appeared to finally be moving and we caught two nice grouper on our first drift. The second drift resulted in another two keeper red grouper almost immediately.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Reef Reports

Florida Sportsman member: E.R. A/C, natecert & Joesaranti

There's been a few reports from the Southwest recently, including a chunky 27" yellowtail caught off Venice on a chunk of threadfin, while fishing for kings on 4/22. For more reports in this region, check out the links below.

Click here to see E.R. A/C's Venice yellowtail report.

Click here to see natecert's Stump Pass bottom fishing report.

Click here to see Joesaranti's south reef report.

Southwest Rundown

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

The theme for the trips was lane snapper and porgies. The rods stayed bent from start to finish with each trip averaging 40-50 fish put on ice. A few trips scored some very healthy and large porgies. Lots of short red grouper were caught and released. We mainly fished the 60-65' zone coming out of Punta Rassa boat ramp. For more info, check out Capt Dan Medina's full report below. For information about fishing around Bonita Beach, check out Fishbuster Dave's reports below.

Click here to see Capt Dan Medina's forum report.

Click here to see Fishbuster Dave's forum report.

Click here to see Fishbuster Dave's forum report.

Southwest Offshore Mixed Bags

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We pushed off the dock at the first sign of daylight and made our way out through Boca Grande pass. We tryed the bouys for bait, but it was non-existent. The hot zone for bait was the 50 foot zone with lots of spanish sardines, pinfish and a handful of blue runners coming aboard. We pushed on out to our first stop in about 80 feet with a bunch of lane and vermillion snapper coming up. Jeremy was first on the board with a solid 23" grouper caught on a whole squid. We bounced around to a few more areas where we continued to catch snapper and a few short red grouper, but nothing for the box. I made the call to run out to an area just shy of 110 feet and it was game on. We boxed another six keeper red grouper ranging from 21-26 inches. A handful of beautiful American red snapper were caught, along with four gag grouper that also had to be released. A doormat size trigger fish was landed and also released. We switched up gears and managed a few more snapper, along with a beautiful mangrove snapper that went over 20".

Click here to see the 3/26 forum report.

Grouper Madness 60 Miles Out

Florida Sportsman member: csheridan6159

We went 60 miles straight out of Ft. Myers on Sunday morning and were greeted with flat calm seas. We moved out to 60 miles and 113 feet of water. Once we got there the action was insane. We were getting three to four keeper red grouper at the same time. The biggest of the day was 31", my wife's biggest so far. She also caught a 29.5". We ended up getting our limit within five minutes (all 4 poles went off at the same time and they were all keepers). We continued to do the drift a few more times and ended up throwing back at least 12 more keepers that were up to 27". We saw all kinds of wildife also, including three types of dolphins, bottlenose, spinner and Atlantic spotted, along with the usual turtles. But something we saw that has not happened to us yet was a school of 50+ amberjack came right next to the boat. If I had a gaff, I could have stuck one, that's how close they were. The only bait we used were sand perch on chicken rigs.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Gettin' on the Grouper

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

Grouper fishing has been hot out of the southwest. Check out a few of the recent reports from users like Capt Dan Medina and Firetruck1.

Click here to see the 3/18 forum report.

Click here to see the 3/17 forum report.

Click here to see the 3/16 forum report.

Amberjack for Offshore Newbies

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We left Punta Rassa at 7AM and headed out to pick up some live bait. A dozen or so blue runners, some pinfish and squirrel fish rounded out the livewell. The seas were a washing machine with some large swell and chop going all different directions. We pushed on out to our destination. We were greated almost immediately by a small school of amberjack. Fired in a live runner and it was game on. We had a ton of hookups today, but our landed fish ratio wasn't great. We went three out of fifteen on landed fish and had one other leader touch that came off at the boat. Some of the fish were bruisers that got us back to the structure after long runs. Another straightened out an 8/0 2x strong circle hook. It was a very fun day and the guys were left with ultra sore and tired arms. Going to be hard for them to look at a bass the same after that! The weather finally laid down for us for our run back in. We saw a handful of porpoises as well as a bunch of turtles, one of which was a giant leatherback.

Click here to see the 3/14 forum report.

Seeing Red

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We headed out with a group of four for a 3/4 day trip out of Bokeelia. We pushed off the dock at 630AM and made the run out to find some grouper and snapper. Our first stop was in 95 feet of water, which produced the first keeper grouper for the box at 24 inches. After a quick drift and only a dozen or so short red grouper, we moved on out a little deeper. Here, we spent the majority of the rest of our fishing time pulling up red snapper and some nice red grouper. The big girl went a little over 30 inches. The bite was nice and steady until we caught a small tiger shark. After this, the bite turned off like a light switch. We moved back in a bit and got on to the some good size lanes and vermillion snapper. A bunch more grouper we're caught, but all shorts. We had a great day out with beautiful weather.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Grouper Offshore Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: csheridan6159

We went offshore a few days ago and the bite was really slow. I am assuming as the water continues to warm up the bite will get better. Sand perch and pinfish seem to be the preferred bait, they wouldn't touch a sardine. The day ended with us catching seven keeper red grouper, not a bad day at all. The smallest was a 23", then we had a 25", 26", 26", 26.5", 27 and a 28". However, all together we probably only caught ten or so grouper. I sadly lost a big one right at the boat. The hook actually broke in half, which I have never seen before. Check out the video in the report below.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Boca Grande Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We meet up at the Bokeelia boat ramp and headed out Boca Grande Pass with glass smooth conditions. We picked up some choice bait at the buoys and made the run out in search of some snapper and grouper. We made several drifts which resulted in several gag grouper, two of which would have been legal, if in season. We caught a bunch of nice vermillion and lane snapper, along with a few america red snapper. A nice 22 inch mangrove was added to the mix. After setting up on the anchor for a bit, the tide changed and made the call to go look for some red grouper. Pulled up to another spot and it was lit up. It was inundated with american red snappers. Below them were some big red grouper, a few of which made the ride home with us. A gorgeous 34 inch fat fish, two 26 inch and a 21 inch grouper rounded out my two guys red grouper limit.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Boca Grande Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We headed out Boca Grande Pass with beautiful, slick, calm conditions. We picked up a handful of tomtates, pinfish, blue runners and squirrels on the way out. At 100 feet, we fished some rock and live bottom areas which resulted in some nice lanes, vermillion and red grouper. Marked a bunch of fish that I am pretty sure were mangroves from previous trips, but could only get one to cooperate. I'm pretty sure the full moon played a big part in the bite. We put together a decent box with thre decent red grouper and lost four or five "Big Mommas" that outright beat them to the hole, or straightened out 7/0 circle hooks.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore 'Cuda, Kingfish and Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We pushed out of Boca Grande Pass about 20 miles in search of a bottom bite. The lane snapper bite was great, with some good size ones coming over the side. We managed a few short red grouper as well. Got ready to change spots and our youngest angler wasnt feeling so great and wanted to head back in. We started heading in and with the boat moving, he begin to feel better. Made the call to try fishing one of the artificial reefs/wrecks on the way back in. We marked a good show, and dropped down some bottom baits as well as put out a flatline. About 15 minutes goes by and the flatline goes off. The fish turned out to be a cobia which unfortunately came unglued. We put the flat line out again, and had two hits on it, as well as a couple big hits on the bottom that just didnt come to fruition. The bite slowed and we decided to see if we couldn't troll up some action. This was the perfect call. We deployed two lines, one with a big spoon, the second with a large lipped diving plug. The diving plug got all the action. It was hit after hit of good size barracudas, as well as kingfish.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Grouper Off Fort Myers

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

Bill managed to box his two keeper grouper over the next drift. At this point, we were over 50 miles from the lighthouse and decided to run back in to check out one of the previous spots that was lit up. Low and behold, Bill hooks up to a nice chunky 28" grouper, which was safely released after the photo.

Click here to see the full 8/13 report.

Click here to see the full 8/12 report.

Click here to see the full 8/10 report.

Redfish Pass Snapper Trip

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

The tide was running opposite the wave direction, not the best situation for chum flow. The water temperature was 88 degrees. Tileman had the hot hand first, pulling in doubles with his chicken rig. It was all lanes, porgys, tomtates, blue runners and some short red grouper. We tried one short drift and it was red grouper, after red grouper, shorts to 18 inch. We let all the fish ten and under go back down.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Red in the Rocks

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

After a couple of hits that broke my ten pound line with ease, I decided to rig one medium/heavy spinning rod with a bigger hook and leader line with a big piece of squid for bait. It got slammed. After a short fight, it got me rocked up big time. I gave the rod to Scott to hold, started the motor and ran 180 degrees to the fish. I think the crew were thinking, "Fat chance this is going to work." Once I take my rod back, in short order we net the fish and high fives begin. It was a 22 1/2" red grouper.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: Kracken

Seas were two to three feet with some white caps here and there. First stop was in about 125'. We dropped down with squid and picked up a mixed bag of red and lane snapper. We released everything and left them biting. Headed on out another eight miles to 155' feet of water. When we found them, we could hardly hit the bottom before someone was hooked up. We limited out easily. We could have easily limited out ten times over, but they were all in the 17" to 20" range. The haul for the day was eight red snapper, one mangrove snapper, about 22", ten bigger vermillions, and another big grouper, about 30". If someone went more than 45 seconds without hooking up, their bait was probably gone. The seas laid down in the afternoon and we cruised in about 35mph.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore Grouper and Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: Kracken

We ran out to 150' with great seas. We could have limited out on red snapper in ten minutes, but we released probably ten keepers before we kept a couple of bigger ones. We hooked a big shark and got him all the way to the boat on mono before he went on second big run and broke off. On the way back in, we marked some bottom in 125' and drifted it. We hooked up on a big fish that pulled the hook. We drifted it one more time and my boy landed a slob grouper.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Mixed Bag Trips

Florida Sportsman member: BlueWater Gear

We went out of our hometown, Sarasota, and went deeper than usual. Around 200', we trolled up some nice tuna and found some close to 50 pound african pompano. We also got a few nice red grouper as well as some ARS. It's nice to see some people not only catching them but allowed to keep them.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Grouper and Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

Our first stop was approximately 50 miles or so from the lighthouse. We pulled up on the spot and a variety of baits and sizes go down. Hot bite was on a diamond jig, with Jim putting a pair in the boat on the first drift. Jeremy had a monster hit on the snapper rod that beat him to the hole. A couple decent lane snapper made the box as well. On ensuing drifts, we added a few more grouper to the box. It didnt take long and we had our limit of red grouper.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Meat in the Box

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

On the run out, there were lots of bait schools moving around. We picked up about two dozen spanish sardines to go along with the the dozen or so horse pilchards I picked up. Our first drops were some lane and vermillion snapper. We put a few in the box and continued out. The next stop resulted in a great bite, with all six of our keeper grouper going into the box. We lost the tug of war to a few big girls, but we also landed a few of them with the biggest at 30.5 inches. We moved out a bit deeper and found some good sized lanes and vermillion to add to the box.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Goliath and Amberjack Heaven

Florida Sportsman member: Kenyakevin

The skipper set up a 7 foot Star Rod and Penn 4/0 reel loaded with 80 pound braid and heavy nylon leader with a thick wire trace and what seemed like a huge hook. Baited with a slab side of cuda, down it went. Not long after, the rod bends over and line creams out at a scary pace with me hanging on for my dear life.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Grouper, Snapper, Porgies and Dolphin

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

Our furthest point of the day was around 60 miles out in 140+ feet of water. Porgies, lane snapper, vermillion snapper and red grouper were all welcomed home for dinner.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

Fishing has been pretty good these last few weeks out to the 20 fathom boundary. Quality red grouper up to twenty pounds, porgies to eleven pounds, and mangroves to seven pounds.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore Fishing Variety

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We stopped in 85 feet over some good live bottom. We caught vermilion, lanes, and an endless supply of 18-19 inch red grouper. We only managed one keeper at 23 inches.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We headed out to 90 feet of water and were rewarded with lots of aj's circling the boat. We dropped down the vertical jig and it was game on.

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Venice Variety

Florida Sportsman member: Comandante

Only fished a half day today in 52 feet of water. This was the first king in the boat for the spring season. The surface temp was 69 degrees.

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Nearshore Reef Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Ron is hooked up to a real screamer that had him running all around the boat too many times to count. Under the anchor line, over the anchor line, near the boat, multiple times. Finally, we see color it is a Cobia. He's barely hooked with the no. 2 circle hook in the corner of his mouth.

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Surf Fishing Sharks

Florida Sportsman member: MuskyChaser

We dropped baits an hour before sunset and right after the sun went down my 50w started screaming. A short ten minute battle later I had a decent 6.5' lemon shark on the sand.

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Offshore Variety Catches

Florida Sportsman member: RMD

We wanted to burn more of the fuel so we headed out a bit deeper for some AJ's. We managed to get two keepers, and could have had more if it weren't for the giant cudas. The added bonus was four nice blackfin tunas.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Offshore Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: BlueWater Gear

Went out again two days ago and found some fish! Slick, calm, ran about 50 miles and got a nice mixed bag. Found some cobias on the bottom, African Pompanos, yellowtail and mangs, and 1.3 tunas (lost everything, but the head on one to the sharks.)

Click here to see the full forum report.

Snagging Some Sarasota Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: BlueWater Gear

During the day we fished out of Sarasota as deep as 150' and as shallow as 70'. Most fish were in the two to three pound range with a couple fatty six-seven pounders. Leader size and weight did not seem to matter, because our grouper rod set ups were getting inhaled by snapper! They also seemed to like medium sized squirrel fish.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Redfish Pass King and Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

I hear Frank yelling as line was flying off the reel. All he could do was hold on. After multiple runs and trips around the boat we start to see color. This was not a small king!

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Fort Myers Offshore Bites

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

Freelined chunk's of threadfin or squid on 30lb flouro have been the ticket. Some of the highlights have been large mangroves to 7lbs, red grouper topping the scales at 17lbs, yellowtail maxing at 5lbs, and an amberjack over 100lb+. Aj was caught prior to season opening and was released, ended up measuring 68" in length.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Venice Offshore Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: nfairbank

The water was calm so it was easy to see the schools of cigar minnows. We caught enough for the trip in about a half hour, then it was off to the first stop to 125'. Overall it was a great trip with a large blackfin about 30lbs, a 32" gag grouper, lots of mangroves up to about 6lbs, red grouper to about 30", and lane snapper.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Naples Surf Fishing Blacktips

Florida Sportsman member: MuskyChaser

We headed south to try and fish the Bonita Springs/Naples area. Welp...we found the sharks. Every night produces multiple sharks, all blacktips. My guess is we caught them migrating south. On our best night, where we had eight runs and landed five sharks.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Cape Coral Offshore Variety

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

We caught tons and tons of grouper, lots of which were too small to keep. We did manage some very nice ones up to 28", as well as a couple dozen lane snapper, porgies, and a couple really nice sized key west grunts. We must have caught another dozen or so dinner plate sized triggerfish that had to go back because the season is closed.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Sarasota Snapper, Mackerel and Grouper Bites

Florida Sportsman member: sk018

We anchored up in 45 feet on some hard bottom. It was an okay bite. We fished with shrimp on jigheads mostly. One big gag ate a live grunt. Managed one other legal gag on the snapper rod with a tiny live squirrel fish, which also produced the biggest mangrove snapper. Added a keeper red grouper on a bucktail, a couple spanish mackerel that were attacking baits on the way down and a handful of lanes and mangroves.

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Trolling and Hard Bottom Fishing Sarasota

Florida Sportsman member: BlueWater Gear

We loaded up on bait of all kinds and got out to 150'. We hit some new ledges and hard bottom areas and found several species. Got some nice mangrove snapper and red grouper with gags, yellowtail, too many amberjack, small kings, and a nice blackfin to join the ice bath party.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Cape Coral Grouper and More

Florida Sportsman member: Capt Dan Medina

As Darwin's theory suggests, the biggest fish always comes on the smallest rod. This held true this trip as well, with the biggest grouper at 27" coming on a 4000 penn battle with a 2/0 circle hook and 30 lb leader. A 25" Grouper followed suit on the same combo.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Offshore Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: Firetruck1

We managed a couple nice toads and even a red snapper. Hurts to release red snapper, but rules are rules. Kept four out of nine grouper caught. Not much on trolling. We used mostly octopus and dead finger mullet for bait. For whatever reason, lives weren't receiving any interest.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Trolling Tuna and Bonito

Florida Sportsman member: BlueWater Gear

Tons of birds, fish clearing the water, a big piece of bamboo, and "yellow gold" in the form of a ginormous weed patch that I have only seen in the keys. We immediately put the spread out and first pass 3 rods go off. Two bonito and a nice blackfin.

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Southwest Offshore: Pulley Ridge Trip

Florida Sportsman member: NaplesSnapper

While running we marked a ton of spots, the bottom out there is just stupid good. Each spot produced a few fish, however we hit the motherland after going over a spot we randomly found. First drift, my buddy on the bow throws a 20 pound scamp over, another guy in the back throws a 12 pound mutton in, and another guy in the middle throws a 33 inch red grouper on the deck.

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Southwest Offshore: Going Deep

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We did a deep trip this past weekend, four of us for a long trip. Started out in 200' catching red grouper up to 23lbs. Average size was 18 pounds overall. Picked up a few large porgies mixed in as well. Squid and bonita strips worked well on knocker rigs. Moved out into the deeper 450' and started catching some blueline tiles, yellow eye snapper, and blackfin snapper.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Southwest Grouper and Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Bait was shrimp, squid, fish heads from my last trip and cans of chum. The bite was steady on the lanes and short reds and mangos the two keepers came on lane fish heads.

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Southwest Bottom Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We fished with a father and son that reside in Fort Myers. Fished in 160' of water landed their limits of american reds, red grouper, gag grouper and a huge scamp (that they let me catch!). Knocker rigs on with 60 pound flouro produced with a whole squid.

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Making the Run

Florida Sportsman member: Strippedmyclutch!

Headed to a grouper spot we found last year and it was pretty steady. We drifted with two-speed conventionals with 60 pound braid to a 150 pound swivel to 80 pound flouro, 10 ounce weight and a 10/0 circle hook. The current and wind were great and made the drifts slow and easy. Caught four cookie cutter gags at 33 inches, as well as scamps 23 to 29 inches.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Season Finale

Florida Sportsman member: Strippedmyclutch!

Snapper season extended two days meant we were itching to get back out. Friday had some decent rain storms and we were hoping for better weather on Saturday 6/11. After watching the radar we said go, go, go at 3 am, glad we didn't call it.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Overnight in the Gulf

Florida Sportsman member: Strippedmyclutch!

Once on the hook, we cut chunks and set the chum block out while we ate some food before the mayhem began. Shortly after midnight we had two red snapper on board that were caught on the way down. I threw down a vertical jig and had a nice 12 pounder to the boat.

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Southwest Variety

Florida Sportsman member: dccheek2112

Captain Kyle put us on the fish, wind was brutal and cut our fishing time way down. Highlights were a 20 pound mahi that swam up to the boat all lit up, a fat double header of yellow edge, 25 pound black, and a pretty nice queen.

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Runnin' and Gunnin'

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

As we rolled out to our number we find two boats already anchored up. Moved a few miles to the north and began picking away at nice ARS and red grouper. Average grouper was 13 to 15 pounds. Also pulled up two gags with the larger one being 18 pounds, a decent scamp and couple porgies were also added to the box.

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Mangrove Madness

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We setup immediately and began catching some quality mangrove snapper. 20 pound flouro on knocker rigs as well as chunking thread-fin and free lining squid worked well for us. The largest Mangrove I pulled up weighed 7 pounds on the scale with the majority in the 4 to 5 pound range with a few smaller.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Southwest Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: RMD

It was a bit sporty in the morning and calmed down as the day went on. We had about 25 mangos, 3 sheepshead, 3 tripletail, and 3 nice hogfish. The fish all preferred shrimp presented on a jig head or fishfinder rig. The knocker rig did not fare as well.

Click Here to read the full forum report

Fort Myers Grouper

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

I had a trip offshore this past Monday, with following seas we made it out to 115 feet. Five people aboard, we caught their limit of grouper up to 17 pounds. Made two stops for the grouper, did stop on a wreck to try and get the snapper biting but to no avail the tide switched and ran against the wind.

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Deep Water, Big Fish

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

Around 75 feet was where we found nice blue water and headed out right to the edge of the 20 fathom mark. Current running against wind and the full moon we kept one decent AJ for the smoker. Made three stops for red grouper pulling in all 27" plus fish, biggest one weighed in at 18 pounds

Click Here to read the full forum report

Southwest Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We have had a solid bite on amberjack in nearshore on the artificial public numbers, the largest we landed was right in the 40 pound range. Mangrove snapper have also been hot, we landed about a dozen up to 18 inches nearshore. The kings have been hit or miss throw a free line out there and you may get a straggler!

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Fishing with Family

Florida Sportsman member: Angler22

With a few tips from Larry, some cut threads, and live shrimp we were able to have an exciting day. We caught a variety of fish including keeper size red grouper, short red grouper, short gags, flounder, nice lane snappers, mangos, too many blue runners, and a cool looking fish that I have never seen before.

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Fort Myers Offshore Fun

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

I took the wire off and the AJ's began biting, the bigger ones have made a big push in closer and there is an abundance of them offshore. Some of the bigger ones may have been in the 80 to 90 pound range. Live chumming fired everything up out there, before we left the wreck about a 100 yards back there was a big school of 50 to 75 pound AJ's cruising the waves which was pretty spectacular.

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Sarasota Cobia

Florida Sportsman member: jbsrq

We ended up anchoring on a spot in about 30 feet of water and as soon as we got situated a big school of cobia cruised by the boat. My buddy threw a bucktail jig which was quickly eaten and it was game on. We ended the day with 12 cobia to the boat and kept a 4 person limit of 4.

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Southwest Snapper Bite

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Dropped a marker at the first number Med. spin rods 14 pound flouro leader, small no 2 circle hooks, squid for bait, grunt bite was instant. Most were small and sent back. After chum had been out for about 30 minutes or so I decide to drifted a shrimp back (keys style) just a small split shot , open bail just feeding the line out with the slick.

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Southwest Hogs

Florida Sportsman member: RMD

We used our structure scan to find some nice ledges and rocky areas. Our first spot we landed a few beautiful shallow water gags that were absolute monsters for being within sight of land. We then switched over to hoggin' and had a banner day, getting 20 keepers to the boat.

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A Trip to West End

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

Sunday morning we woke up and a strong breeze had kicked up from the south west, packed our things and went out to do some more high speed trolling on the outgoing tide. Worked our way north to Memory Rock to do a little deep dropping, found some nice bottom in 550' and started catching yellow eyes!

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Southwest Bottom Bite

Florida Sportsman member: Angler22

Once we had our fill of that we headed back west and settle in 125 or so feet. We worked around but never really found anything much. After a few stops I did boat a nice 31 inch red grouper. We worked the area some more and picked up another red at 21 inches, a stout 28 inch red, and a few shorts.

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Tangling with Triple Tail

Florida Sportsman member: voltman

I got up early today and decided to target some tripletail, I caught one last week so thought I might find one this week ,started off losing a bruiser and snapping a fishing rod in the process, but all in all the wife and I caught 4.

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Deep Water Giants

Florida Sportsman member: Captain Ross

We hit some of my numbers that I try to fish during red snapper season and hoped for the best. Light seas, winds and current allowed us to drift fish the entire day.

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Due West for Grouper

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

The winds laid down so a slow drift was in order. It was fish on, first three over the sides were all keepers. The bite was steady and in no time we had our limit of reds of two each up to 25 inches. in fact we had to release 2 more to 24 inches as we were pulling our lines in.

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Long Runs and Big Fish

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We left that spot and continued in, not more then two miles we found another spike. Very similar and could see the hard rocky bottom down 150 feet. Did a few more drifts and produced some more nice red grouper and massive scamps.

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Southwest Grouper Bite

Florida Sportsman member: RMD

We moved and anchored on a different show and this spot was absolutely on fire with red grouper. We were trying to target mangos, but we could not get a bait past the red grouper. They were so aggressive that we had our limit in probably 30 minutes or less.

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Plan B Pays Off

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Lines were dropped to the bottom and there were instant hits but no fish ever made to the surface. You could get it four to ten feet off the bottom and then the rod was almost ripped from your hands till the line would break. We were using 60 pound main line and 80 to 100 pound leader.

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Fishing the Ledges

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

The bite was relatively slow, we fished with 20lb fluorocarbon using a 1/2-1 oz knocker rig on a #2 mutu light hook. Live pilchards were the go to bait, we had bought a some shrimp to try for any hogfish as well. The bite picked up after we put in a chum block, with smaller fish around 13 to 14 inches. The larger ones starting biting as soon as we brought out the grill and cooked some hot dogs!

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Catching While You Can

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

First spot was only 7 miles out where i have had a good lane snapper bite plus some nice flounder in the mix. We set up on the spot the bite was constant grunts, porgys, mangrove snapper, and the first black sea bass I have ever seen caught on this coast.

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Night Time Snapper Bite

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We used 5000 sized spinning gear with 15 feet of 20 pound flourocarbon leader. We used knocker rigs in the beginning and then switched over to 1/0 mutu light circle hooks free-lined with pilchards and squid. We had some quality yellowtails for only being in 55 feet.

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Grouper Prospecting

Florida Sportsman member: Angler22

We ended up working our way back south due west of Doctors and began drifting around 1:00 in 75 feet of water. The red grouper were active but a lot of shorts. We finally put a keeper in the boat. Slowly we started adding more keepers. At around 2:00 they turned on with us ending the day with 8 keepers and 40 to 50 shorts.

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Grouper Grapple Win

Florida Sportsman member: PigskinCapt

We managed a 79 pound black to take first place. Also weighed a 23 pound gag and a 17 pound red grouper. The gag fishing this summer has been a little slow in the deeper water. We only managed to catch 2 gags in some areas that generally hold some nice fish. Weighed one 12 pound mutton snapper, the winning fish was just under 18 pounds.

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Nearshore Mangrove Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: RMD

Found a nice little mango spot in 70 feet of water. The fish were pretty selective today. A few mangos were picked up on chicken rigs, but the majority of fish landed were caught on a 3/8 ounce jig head tipped with live shrimp. We also caught a handful of nice lanes, grunts, and porgies. The prize of the day was a fat hogfish.

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Venice Offshore Bite

Florida Sportsman member: perlman1234

Forum member perlman123 got into some nice fish off of Venice recently. prospecting his new home water, he brought home the filets! Nice work.

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Groupers out of Redfish Pass

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Very fast drift, 8 ounces minimum to stay near bottom. First 6 fish were keepers, 21 to 24 inches so we worked the area till the tide stopped as did the bite. Found some good bottom set out the hook and broke out the chum. Took 10 to 15 minutes to turn the bite back on. Never did go deeper as planned. oh well always a next time. Final tally 12 in the box to 25 inches.

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Hitting the Deep Water

Florida Sportsman member: ThePigskinCaptain

Made one night spot where we picked some nice yellowtails and a few muttons. The barracudas were ferocious and, as it's been for the last few months, the amberjacks and almacos were a real pest. Caught a 60 pound jack in 900 feet of water deep dropping.

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Fort Myers Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: GDM Phil

We got about 25 miles out and setup. It was non stop action all day! Between huge gags, that had to be thrown back and the red grouper. We managed 3 keepers grouper, a bunch of Grover's, lanes and grunts.

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Full Moon Grouper in the Southwest

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

He also brought some cat fish that he had for tarpon season on one rod for quite awhile no takers so he took it off threw it over board . Puts on a pin fish and it gets slammed! We get it on deck and what does it spit out? the cat fish we had thrown overboard. Go figure!

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Deep Trip : Swords, Sails and Black Grouper

Florida Sportsman member: Feeding Frenzy

We recently did a long range trip from Venice, Fl to Orange Beach, Alabama to fish around the oil rigs and did fairly well. The fishing in Orange Beach was horrible as all of the run-off from the mid-West's springtime heavy rains finally made their way down the Mississippi River and out into the Gulf. We fished the rigs 100-125 nm out and found the water to be a coffee color and very warm. While our target quarry was yellowfin tuna and marlin, it did not work out. The rigs however were very impressive to see.

We fished three rods at varying depths; all rigged with large squid baits from Baitmaster's of Florida. At about 11:30 pm we got a bite on the far right rod and had a pretty decent fish on the line. After about a 45 minute fight, we had a nice swordfish on the leader. Turns out, the silly fish ate all three baits in the spread and certainly wasn't going anywhere.

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Punta Rassa Red Grouper & Yellowtail

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We headed out right before dawn, the thunderstorms surrounded us at Punta Rassa and made it out there regardless. Needless to say we did not get wet at all after breaking out the rain gear. We made a pitstop in 50 feet to load up on some pins and headed straight to the stoney. We immediately set up and got the chum working, in about 2-3 minutes, Joe Isley hooks up to a big fish. All of us are laughing right now as we think it is a big blue runner or a almaco jack. Fish comes into sight and it is a TRUE flag!! We land that sucker and it measured in at 28.5 inches the biggest one i've seen on our coast. My record tail was 27 inches so my record was beat.. We caught two more tails, regarding bait, they were all caught on live shrimp tipped on 1/2 oz jig heads with 30 pound yozuri flouro. We booked it to some red grouper grounds where we managed a couple red's nothing too big, just barely keepers at 21-23 inches.

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New Pass : Gags, Red Grouper & Amberjack

Florida Sportsman member:capeangler

Fished somewhere around 60 miles out of New Pass today on a Gag specific trip. Plan was to fish a handful of ledges in the 26.** line. All bait caught the night before died, so we got out pretty late, after refilling the well with big baits. Caught a limit of Gags and even 2 Reds. All fish were in the 30 inch + range. Fishing was slow but consistent until the AJ's showed up and seemed to follow us everywhere. Released a dozen or so AJ's. Lost some monster gags to the ledges today. 65/60 was just a little too light.

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Armed Forces Grouper fishing

Florida Sportsman member:larrywitt

Had the privilege of fishing with Brooke and her dad Keith, she just finished basic and is going to her first posting.We wanted to get an early start targeting grouper. We met at Tight Loops boat at 6am and began to prepare for the day. I put in the numbers on his GPS for our first stop. As we were still preparing his boat we could see and hear the thunder and lightning in the gulf towards the south west, the exact direction we were heading. My hopes were that it would be heading away from us WRONG!! As we were heading out the front was moving closer so I decided to detour the Edison drop a line and see what the weather was going to give us. Drift was really fast because of the wind requiring six to 8 ounce weights to even get close to the bottom.In no time Brooke was pulling fish over the gunnels, she even caught a stone crab.Wind, waves, and dark clouds Brooke never flinched. We could see a slight clearing in the clouds so we made the run for it. Arrived at the first number and dropped in our lines still 3 to 4 mile south drift porgys,grunts,lanes and red shorts were caught. seas were laying down a little I put in another line and made a move. Brooke got hammered on a white jig head Tight Loops put on for her. It was fun to watch.

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Wild Moon Red Grouper

Florida Sportsman member:Bluefin

The target was red grouper yesterday, and the day did not start out very promising. Rounding up live pinfish is usually pretty easy. Not this time. After chewing up quite a bit of time at three different spots, we only managed half a dozen live baits. I was starting to worry that the super full moon was going to somehow shut down the fishing. We ran out of New Pass to about 100 feet anyway and started our drifts using live bait on one rig, and a jig and squid combo on another.

Almost immediately, Peter had a fish on, and a minute later I was into a fish. We had a double red grouper hook up, except both fish were shorts. Again I started fussing that the full moon was going to screw up the fishing and that it's not a lot of fun to run out to 100 feet for a bunch of shorts. Well the action was pretty steady over the next few hours. We ended up with 6 nice keepers ranging from 22 inches to 26 inches, with a bunch of shorts thrown into the mix. The type of bait used made no difference...

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Boca Grande Bottom Fishing

Florida Sportsman member:SJC

Headed 20 miles west of Boca Grande member Ptrshenry as a buddy boat. With another false forecast from NOAA it was a manageable but, not a very fun ride out in a 20 ft bay boat, thankfully the seas died down through the day and turned into a beautiful day for fishing.

We stoped and an artificial reef and after a couple drifts found where the fish were holding and dropped anchor. It was lane Snapper after lane, porgy after porgy. Then the red grouper woke up and it was non stop for about 2 hours. A lot of shorts I bet we threw back 20 that were 18 inches or smaller than that. We did end up with a keeper from the group...

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Successful Red Snapper Trip

Florida Sportsman member: Angler Systems

It was a solid day on the water today and a great start to Red Snapper season. On the way out we did try trolling for an hour in 100 feet but without any action we continued out to our first spot in 158 feet. First two lines down brought up two keeper fish a Red Snapper and Scamp. The bite continued for about an hour but then slowed significantly. With keeper fish consisting of three Red Snapper, three Scamp and two Red Grouper we began to worry. We moved around and fished in 156 feet to 162 feet marking a mess but catching only a few. We fished the next two hours only putting two more fish on the box. Then like it often does all craziness broke loose and we achieved our goal for a Red Snapper limit. We caught 16 Grouper up to 30 inches, three Scamps, a nice Mango Snapper and a 24 inch gator porgy.

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A Busy Day Offshore/strong>

Florida Sportsman member: Gamekilla

Headed out of Weeks around 7. Tried Big carlos for bait but there was no current, so we headed off to the tripod and loaded up with a few casts of the net. Cruised past the group of boats off Knapps point and headed out to some wrecks about 12 miles offshore. It was a nasty ride out on the pathfinder but worth it. Constant action all day with some big kings, released gags, bonita and amberjack. We probably lost 30-40 fish (probably kings) but some took us in the wreck so you never know. We used white bait all day and had times when we had three rods going off all at once! It was a great day.

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Grouper : Southwest of Sanibel

Florida Sportsman member: conch50

Took my son and some of his high school buddies out Sunday. Started in 80 feet and picked up a few reds in the 22 to 24 range. Bite was not bad but still a lot of barely 20 or just under that went back. Was too busy venting to get many pictures and the ones I did get had my thumb in the middle lol. Decided to try a couple of ledges out in about 100. Dropped down a couple of good sized pins and rods bent. Couple of nice gags about 26 inches.They were vented and sent back down to hopefully be seen again in a couple of months. I put down a light rig with live shrimp and get slammed. After a few minutes of battling up comes the biggest porgy I have ever caught. One of the boys hooks up on a goliath. These guys play football and are always bragging about how much they can bench or squat. By the time he finally got him up-five good runs and about 30 minutes he had 2 of his buddies on the rod lifting to reel in. In the picture I'm not sure if he is smiling because of the fish or just that it was over with[...]

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Starting Off Grouper Season the Right Way

Florida Sportsman member: jocofi

We hit our usual producing grouper grounds but didn't get much. On Sunday we caught lots of bait, then we headed to our usual grounds again. We picked up a few small fish and then decided to head out a bit further to search for new grounds. In 70 feet of water we drifted over a magical spot, surrounded by mackerel and broom stick bending grouper. We continued to run the same drift with similar results. Heavy leadheaded jigs tipped with various types of fish did the trick. We also had a dolphin hanging around us for a few spots. Most of the undersized fish made it safely back down but one grouper hung around the surface too long and was captured.

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Venice Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: nfairbank

After a rather late start due to the fog, managed to catch a few baits and then off to 140 feet. First fish in the boat was an African Pompano about 27 inches.The AJ fishing was good with lots of decent size fish, 45 - 70 pounds, for all on board. After boxing our limit of AJs, it was off to grouper fish.

The gag grouper were biting and of course returned to live until opening day. The juvenile red grouper were biting but could not find any decent fish. We went to some spots we fished last Friday where caught some really nice reds up to about 18 pounds.

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Sarasota Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Captain_Tim

Went offshore Superbowl Sunday with the intentions of catching a mako, but like always the weather man was wrong again, was suppose to be 10 to 15 knots with 2 to 3 foot seas but after hitting the 20 mile mark it was easy 4 to 5 feet with a few 6 footers mixed in. So changed plans on the way out and decided to opt out of targeting a 200-to 400-pound high jumping shark and go for some snapper and amberjack.

Ended up with a 20-pound cobia, some nice 4-to 5-pound mango snapper, some yellowtail snapper, beeliners, porgies, AJ's in the 30-to 40-pound class, oh and an African pompano.

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Limiting out on Red Grouper

Florida Sportsman member: Angler Systems

Mission accomplished for us yesterday. The plan was to limit out on Red Grouper before the season closes at the end of the month. We had an older boat wishing to follow us (some history of motor issues) so we wanted to stay as close as possible but still get into some keeper fish. We left the dock at 7:45, broke the pass by 8:30 and were fishing by 9:10 in 75 to 80 feet[...]

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Grouper off Ft. Myers

Florida Sportsman member: nuclearfishn

Headed out past the 240 ledge. Saw too many boat out there so went another 8 miles. Picked up a few grouper and snapper in the 70-75 foot range. Grouper are real spread out. Not one fish broke the surface all day. Caught this fat 27 inch grouper dropping a jig. Fattest grouper I have ever caught for this size. had to go close to 20 pounds [...]

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Grouper Southwest of Sanibel

Florida Sportsman member: conch50

Went out yesterday with my 15 year old. Fishing 65-70 feet of water. Bite was pretty decent and conditions were just about perfect. Kept 4 reds with the largest 27 inches, couple of nice mangroves around 17 inches. Sometimes when things are breaking down or a trip doesn't go right, I start complaining to myself about the money it takes to keep a boat. Then you get a day like yesterday, beautiful water with just you and your son (and best friend) and it all makes sense why it's worth it.[...]

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Sarasota Trolling Bite

Florida Sportsman member: FlatzBroke

Headed offshore Wednesday in search of a trolling bite, mainly looking for wahoo and tuna. Stopped in 140 feet and found plenty of bonito. Not quite what we were looking for so we headed out to 160 feet again, more bonito. But, we did find a decent dolphin. So we headed to our last spot in 180 feet that drops off to over 200 feet. As soon as we got in the area we spot a frigate bird. Ok, things are looking up. I steer the boat right under him and he leads me right to the ledge, as soon as my arrival alarm sounds BAM! Tripled header of blackfins! Alright things are looking much better. Anyway, we troll around for the next couple of hours or so and end up with at least 2 triple headers multiple doubles and singles. And plenty of lost fish too. Total for the day was 14 blackfins, 2 red grouper and a dolphin [...]

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Tripletail Hunting

Florida Sportsman member: InshoreSlam

Headed out this morning with a good buddy of mine for tripletail. With the livewell full of shrimp, we headed out off the lighthouse offshore to find a nice string of crab pots. In about 25-30 feet of water we found a nice string and followed it all the way to redfish pass. During the run we wound up seeing a trip around every 5 to 6 pots down. Most of the ones we caught were small...around 10-12 inches, but managed 2 keepers, a 15 inch and a 23 inch. We wound up catching around 7 or 8 total. It was a great day, the seas were calm and the sun was out![...]

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More Triple Tail Action

Florida Sportsman member: Feeding Frenzy

The tripletail fishing this past week has been phenomenal !! I have fished in SW Florida for a long time and this is the best season, by far. The trips have been holding on the deeper (30ft plus) trap balls. Today, we caught 18 and saw well over 30 fish, with some trap balls holding multiple fish. If they weren't bigger ones, we did not even turn around on them. Some have been pushing the 10 lb mark over the past 7 days or so[...]

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Monster Triple Tail off SRQ

Florida Sportsman member: Captain_Tim

Went out for a few hours today with one of the mates that I work with to target some triple tail, since he told me he has never caught or eaten one. So we left the dock around 12:30pm with a few dozen hand pick shrimp in search of some triple tail. We started running the crab pots and with in minutes we had our first tail in the box, only about 16 inches but a good way to start the day. For the next half hour or so we probably caught 7-10 shorts between 12-15 inches and then I see the beast of triple tail hanging on a buoy. We throw the biggest shrimp we had on a circle hook, put it right in front of his nose and he sucked it down! Ended up fighting that fish for almost 15 min but we finally got him in the boat and we put him on the scale to see what he weighed 18 POUNDS![...]

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Southwest Offshore; Red Grouper,Permit

Florida Sportsman member: Veikx

We managed to make it to some red grouper grounds out 40 miles. The early morning was brutal with the thick fog close to shore. Thank god for radar, as one boat came within 70 feet of us buzzing by. Around 7am we were out looking for bait, the closer bait spots of mine had been wiped clean from this past red tide we had. We trekked out further to about 50' and found a nice new spot. We Loaded the well with hardtails and made our way to 80' of water. Headed to some ledges with 4-5' of relief and bagged 4 red grouper. Marked some new bottom and then decided to head to our red grouper grounds 11 miles further out. [...]

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Action Packed Two Day Adventure

Florida Sportsman member: Captain_Tim

Around the end of September I get a call from a buddy of mine that is a camera guy for a new fishing show that will be on NBC Sports in January 2013 called Gaff Life. He calls me and said they were going to shoot a show in North Carolina but there was some bad weather so it got canceled and would I be able to put a offshore trip together for the show? So of course I said hell yeah, called my boss who owns the Flying Fish Fleet and I tell him what we want to do and we quickly put a trip together [...]

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Venice Bottom Bite on Fire

Florida Sportsman member: RMD

We left New Pass at around 7 a.m. and headed out to about 160 feet. Spent a few hours trolling and picked up a few bonita for bait, but the pelagic bite was slow. Decided to switch gears and do some bottom fishing which was very productive. The seas were smooth and winds were calm, which provided perfect conditions for drifting [...]

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Summer Gags

Florida Sportsman member: YoungRx

A buddy and I reluctantly decided to give it a try on Saturday even though all the "regulars" were otherwise occupied and the surf was pretty loud from my place north of the Jetties (a good indication that the seas are to be reckoned with). I just had the engines serviced and wanted to give them some exercise prior to a deep run, so we decided to check out the conditions and stay inside 15 to 20 miles, depending. We picked up 6 dozen handpicks and a few chum blocks, then stopped outside the jetties for the obligatory sabiki dip [...]

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Naples Grouper and Hogs

Florida Sportsman member: Naples Spearo

Went out this past Saturday for the 4th weekend in a row with Dan (Dcheek2112) and our normal grouper diggin' crew, along with 2 other guys which was there first trip on my boat. The plan was to do some diving/spearing and some hook and line in between dives. We had some new spots we found in around 120 feet of water a few weeks ago that we wanted to dive and see what was down there [...]

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The Dark Night

Florida Sportsman member: Anzuelo

As the weekend approached we made plans to leave Friday after work. We knew that it would be a pitch black night with the moon setting at the same time as the sun, but hoped that the so-called minor/minor would produce a hot bite [...]

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ARS, Gags, Wahoo, Dolphin and Mangs

Florida Sportsman member: Feeding Frenzy

The past two days offshore have been fantastic. If you have the ability to run deep while the seasons are open, do it. As other reports have indicated, the Gulf has been extremely flat and waves nonexistent. That being said, it has also been very hot due to the lack of any wind. Drink plenty of water. We have been running just past the 160' mark to our usual marks and found the bottom bite to be fantastic. Ars on the first 5 drops, then the RG's and chunky gags chimed in. We found some large AJ's down on the bottom as well [...]

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Red Grouper on the Troll

Florida Sportsman member: nuclearfishn

Headed out looking for gags. Was thinking about the 240 ledge area, but saw way to many boats headed that way. Started trolling about 5 miles north of the ledge in 65 feet. trolled NW out to 80 feet. Did not mark any new spots, but did manage 4 keeper reds, biggest one around 26 inches caught in 75 feet. The woman out fished me again! Lost a big kingfish at the boat, and lost something big that pulled the hook on the troll. Next time I will go deeper [...]

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Mangroves and Kings

Florida Sportsman member: Tight Loops

I am a new offshore guy. Normally spend my time with a fly rod in the backcountry but I heard the near shore mangrove snapper bite was going off and wanted to try it. Hooked up with Larrywit and took off with the only "intel" we had which was 50 feet off of Sanibel. Hit a spot and chummed with some home-made nuclear chum but not much action [...]

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American Red Snapper Run

Florida Sportsman member: Angler Systems

Mission accomplished today, left the dock at 5:45AM (back by 6:00 PM), ran 54 miles out to 155 - 160 feet.. Got our limit today on American Red Snapper (12) to about 10 lbs, 8 Mahi Mahi, 7 Red Grouper to 18 lbs, 3 Scamp to 10 lbs and a variety of other good stuff. Just finished having some Mahi on the grill...excellent!!! Can't wait to run off again.

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Out of Redfish Pass

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Decided to not run way out to grouper spots. Stopped at 7 miles set the hook ,no chum slick set out not too active red shorts real short. Decided to run out to catch one of Marys favorite eating fish porgys and snapper 16 miles out, circled to find the right bottom, set the hook. Let out the chum, down sized the leader line to 20 lb floro. small 2or 3 size hook lite to med spin rods took about 30 min for the fish to show [...]

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Opening Day out of Venice

Florida Sportsman member: chico

I was waiting for one of the guys who made it out with Joe Miller to post something, until then, I got this message from one of the guys: " All in all it was good. Joe did his usual and put us on the fish. We limited out on the grouper and caught a bunch of nice mangrove's and lane's. I hooked and fought about a 5-6 foot spinner shark off the back on a free line that jumped twice completely out of the water before breaking me off about 3 minutes later [...]

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Excellent Kingfishing

Florida Sportsman member: Feeding Frenzy

Fished in the Venice Indians Grand Slam Fishing Tournament today and based on the weather and marine forecast decided to strictly target Kings. Other categories included inshore (redfish and trout), snapper and Wildcard, but decided our best bet would be kings. After spending the better part of 4 hours yesterday cast-netting mullet, we had a few decent baits in the baitwell for the ride out. My buddy Kirk did an outstanding job on the rod when the fish hit, landing this 37.2 lb King to secure our first place win in the kingfish division [...]

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Looking for Dinner?

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Well as you know it was not 2 footers, more like 2-4's. Mary and I ran out to a spot we were last week, I had the guys catching porgy's and grunts and nice lanes. It was kind of hard to anchor up just right, set the hook and this time I mixed some chum in an old salt container put it in a chum bag to it I attached a 5 pound weight so I could lower it to the bottom, I used some old red line I had laying around (mistake) it took about a half an hour for the bite to start [...]

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Cobia and Mangs

Florida Sportsman member: Feeding Frenzy

Got this decent cobia today while snapper fishing on the county reefs just off Sarasota. 20 lb test fluorocarbon leader, 1/0 circle hook and a big fat shrimp right on the bottom. The fish fought for 45 minutes on light tackle. Managed about 15 or so really nice mangs (sorry no pics) and some porgy as well. Needed to chum really heavy to get the bite started, most likely because of the big moon. Even managed a decent tripletail yesterday on the ride along the beach [...]

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Offshore from Redfish Pass

Florida Sportsman member: larrywitt

Got a late start with a crew of two from Naples. Did not leave the dock till 10AM planned for a short run to catch some nice grunt for a fish fry. Stopped at about 7 miles out started catching grunts at first drop and grouper gags and reds..at around 12:30 it really laid down i suggested we run another 10 miles to where i have had a good bite lately [...]

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Fishing on the Wrecks

Florida Sportsman member: Captain Scott

The past week the wreck fishing has been amazing. The choice of bait is frozen shrimp on a 3/8 jighead. The sheepies have been in the 3 to 5 pound range. Off these wrecks my clients have been pulling in some nice snapper,flounder and grouper. Inshore fishing has been hit or miss. Back in the creeks has been good for reds and snook. Make sure you chum them up. The reds are around 15"to 25" and the snook are on the small side [...]

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